Can Islam Ever Come to Embrace The Urantia Book?

I've been wondering if the first pillar of Islam (There is no God but God...) prevents Muslims from accepting our revelation's spiritual cosmology, which includes more than one Deity.

If they can't accept the Trinity of God the Father, Son, and Spirit, how could they ever accept the truth of the experiential deities of God the Supreme, God the Ultimate, and God the Absolute? Pat, I'd be interested in learning your views on this.

Islam Brief

George: You have certainly posted a nice sampling of quotes drawn from diverse Islamic sources. For Westerners, and North Americans, the key things to remember about Islam are the following:
(a) It is NOT an Arab religion for Arab peoples. There are 1.5 billion followers of Islam on this planet. That is roughly one in five people in the world who call themselves "Muslim." Indonesia is the largest "Muslim" nation on the planet with 175 million people. The United States of America has between 6-8 million Muslims, of which over 6000 of them are serving in the Armed Forces.
(b) Islam is NOT a monolithic faith. Besides the Five Pillars of Islam, and the basic belief in the Qur'an, and the prophethood of Muhammad, Muslims appear to disagree on everything else. The Prophet's intention was to have NO formal clergy or institution (like the Church/Vatican) in Islam. The Muslim develops his own inner spiritual life with Allah (a pre-Islamic Arabic word for God and used by Arab-Christians and in the Arabic Bible). It is this room for interpretation that allowed a 1000 years of Muslim civilization and empire which hailed many scientific discoveries and contributions to Western civilization. Muslims see no contradiction between Science and the Qur'an: it is this attitude that allowed many of the great Greek texts to be translated in Arabic and were thus preserved at a time when Europe considered such books to be "heretical" to the Church and society.
(c) PBS has a great DVD series on Islam called" Empire of Faith: Islam" (3 hours) and has a companion volume available with it which I highly recommend.
(d) I am in the process of developing a PowerPoint presentaton on Islam and it will feature a segement on "Islamophobia" that seems to grip our culture perpetuated in TV shows. etc.

Respectfully,

Pat

Bridging Islam: Some Great Islamic Sayings

You are most welcome here, Pat. I have changed the title of
this web log from Bible-Urantia Book Bridges and edited the
description in order to accomodate your highly valued vision,
experience, and zeal.


Here is a selection of some of the Islamic sayings I found
that may help to cast this religion in a more benevolent and
hope-filled light. I feel they contain much in common
with the truth and love presented in The Urantia Book,
and, with further development, may serve as one of the bridges
between our revelation and the Islamic scriptures. Input from Pat
and interested team mates is just what is needed. So I invite
you all to chime in on this one in order to create some
much-needed harmony.

Take firm hold, all of you,
On the rope of God.
Do not break up into divisions.
Be mindful of the grace of God to you,
How you were formerly enemies,
And He united your hearts
In mutual bonds, so that by His grace,
You became brothers. Qur’an 3:103, ISLAM

The lamps are different,
But the light is the same:
It comes from beyond. Rumi, ISLAM

The creation
Is as God’s family;
For its sustenance is from Him:
Therefore the most beloved unto God
Is the person who does good
To God’s family. Hadith, ISLAM

Do you love your Creator?
Love your fellow beings first. Hadith, ISLAM

The Eternal Wisdom
Made all things in love.
On love they all depend,
To love all turn.
The Earth, the heavens,
The sun, the moon, the stars,
The center of their orbit find
In love. Attar, ISLAM

Blessed is the man
Who has drunk of the cup of His love
And tasted the joy of communion
With God Most Glorious
And has approached Him
With delight in his love for Him. Abu Sa‘id, ISLAM

Do not say that,
If people do good to us,
We will do good to them;
And if people oppress us,
We will oppress them;
But determine that,
If people do you good,
You will do good to them;
And if they oppress you,
You will not oppress them. Hadith, ISLAM

Thus said the Lord,
“Verily those who are patient
In adversity and Forgive wrongs,
Are doers of excellence.” Hadith, ISLAM

There is no man
Who is wounded and pardons
The giver of the wound
But God will exalt his dignity
And diminish his faults. Hadith, ISLAM

Charity is a duty
Unto every Muslim.
He who has not
The means thereto,
Let him do a good act or
Abstain from an evil one.
That is his charity. Hadith, ISLAM

Hi George, I am here!

George Z: Thanks for the invite! I am here, and I plan on posting about Islam, if that is okay? Pat

Acts 17:28 Continued

Here is the sixth citation that I have found in the UB for Acts 17:28:

P.22 - §5 The Universal Father never imposes any form of arbitrary recognition, formal worship, or slavish service upon the intelligent will creatures of the universes. The evolutionary inhabitants of the worlds of time and space must of themselves--in their own hearts--recognize, love, and voluntarily worship him. The Creator refuses to coerce or compel the submission of the spiritual free wills of his material creatures. The affectionate dedication of the human will to the doing of the Father's will is man's choicest gift to God; in fact, such a consecration of creature will constitutes man's only possible gift of true value to the Paradise Father. In God, man lives, moves, and has his being; there is nothing which man can give to God except this choosing to abide by the Father's will, and such decisions, effected by the intelligent will creatures of the universes, constitute the reality of that true worship which is so satisfying to the love-dominated nature of the Creator Father.

This quotation in Acts 17:28 is generally attributed to a sixth-century BC poet, Epimenides of Crete. Isn't it interesting how Paul seems to be building bridges of his own by quoting Greek poets to his Greek audience?

In Him We Live, Move, And Have Our Being (Acts 17:28)

Luke presents Paul as saying these marvelous words in the Book of Acts. They are extremely simple words, but carry very deep meaning and spiritual value. They might even serve as a focusing thought leading to a worshipful experience.

The Urantia Book treats these words in several ways in five paragraphs scattered throughout the book. This is a great example of how the UB can help us attain greater understanding of an important Biblical passage, thus serving as an effective bridge.

P.29 - §6 It is literally true: "In all your afflictions he is afflicted." "In all your triumphs he triumphs in and with you." His prepersonal divine spirit is a real part of you. The Isle of Paradise responds to all the physical metamorphoses of the universe of universes; the Eternal Son includes all the spirit impulses of all creation; the Conjoint Actor encompasses all the mind expression of the expanding cosmos. The Universal Father realizes in the fullness of the divine consciousness all the individual experience of the progressive struggles of the expanding minds and the ascending spirits of every entity, being, and personality of the whole evolutionary creation of time and space. And all this is literally true, for "in Him we all live and move and have our being."

P.35 - §4 Divinity and eternity the Father shares with large numbers of the higher Paradise beings, but we question whether infinity and consequent universal primacy is fully shared with any save his co-ordinate associates of the Paradise Trinity. Infinity of personality must, perforce, embrace all finitude of personality; hence the truth--literal truth--of the teaching which declares that "In Him we live and move and have our being." That fragment of the pure Deity of the Universal Father which indwells mortal man is a part of the infinity of the First Great Source and Center, the Father of Fathers.

P.139 - §1 It is a mystery that God is a highly personal self-conscious being with residential headquarters, and at the same time personally present in such a vast universe and personally in contact with such a well-nigh infinite number of beings. That such a phenomenon is a mystery beyond human comprehension should not in the least lessen your faith. Do not allow the magnitude of the infinity, the immensity of the eternity, and the grandeur and glory of the matchless character of God to overawe, stagger, or discourage you; for the Father is not very far from any one of you; he dwells within you, and in him do we all literally move, actually live, and veritably have our being.

P.1155 - §4 7. The Universal One of Infinity. I AM as I AM. This is the stasis or self-relationship of Infinity, the eternal fact of infinity-reality and the universal truth of reality-infinity. In so far as this relationship is discernible as personality, it is revealed to the universes in the divine Father of all personality--even of absolute personality. In so far as this relationship is impersonally expressible, it is contacted by the universe as the absolute coherence of pure energy and of pure spirit in the presence of the Universal Father. In so far as this relationship is conceivable as an absolute, it is revealed in the primacy of the First Source and Center; in him we all live and move and have our being, from the creatures of space to the citizens of Paradise; and this is just as true of the master universe as of the infinitesimal ultimaton, just as true of what is to be as of that which is and of what has been.

P.1283 - §1 The Supreme Being did not create man, but man was literally created out of, his very life was derived from, the potentiality of the Supreme. Nor does he evolve man; yet is the Supreme himself the very essence of evolution. From the finite standpoint, we actually live, move, and have our being within the immanence of the Supreme.

My Sheep Recognize My Voice (John 10:27)

After spending a big chunk of my formative years hearing the Bible sliced and diced and then pieced back together in almost every imaginable configuration, I decided, in my early twenties, to read it--the whole thing--for myself. By the time I had read the final "Amen" at the end of Revelation, there was one biblical element in particular that stood out, that in fact leapt off the pages: the words of Jesus.

Growing up actively involved in the church-going experience, I can't honestly remember a first introduction to the living Jesus, but I do know that reading, as Robert ("Mr. Happy") puts it, M-M-L-J, deepened my relationship, my knowing, and my loving Jesus. Within the words printed in red letters, I truly discerned the Master's voice.

Jump ahead twenty years as I held The URANTIA Book in my trembling hands; I knew from the first moment that this was something, and that it was going to change my life. I also knew that there would be inevitable challenges in having my worldview adjusted. But as I began reading the words of Jesus in Part IV, I made the startling and ever-so-comforting discovery of hearing, of knowing, of recognizing the Master's voice in these pages too. Could there be a more solid or enduring bridge?

The bridge of the scroll of Daniel

I have finally made it to the Bible-Urantia Book Bridges Blog. Amen. I come from the population that loves the words of Jesus that appear in the gospels of M-M-L-J. When I gave up my life to my Lord in 1983 at the age of 42, the Lord suggested I study the words that Jesus said in M-M-L-J. I did this for three years.

When I was given the UB in 1990, I went to Section Four and studied the words of Jesus for three years to see if they did indeed line up with the words of Jesus in M-M-L-J. THEY DID. I have been called to be "one like the Son of Man" (Revelation 14:14).

My mission is to distribute copies of "Joy of Living No More Stress Just Happiness" plan to God's people and to ask them to give copies to others. Please let me know if you would like to receive a free copy.

Here is my question for discussion: In Chapter 12 Verse 4 of the Book of Daniel, Daniel is told to shut up the words and seal the book until the time of the end. IS THE UB THE SCROLL OF DANIEL? I say "yes". Is it possible to "bridge the gap" between the Bible and the UB by adding a line to the title of The Urantia Book? Could we produce copies that would be called: THE URANTIA BOOK - THE SCROLL OF DANIEL ?

What Ought To Be

Donna provides a useful guideline when she says: "Bridge building uses the shared truth of religions and hopes to offer what ought to be in place of what is when growth is needed.

I am reminded of what the UB tells us about Progress Angels:

P.1255 - §5 2. The progress angels. These seraphim are intrusted with the task of initiating the evolutionary progress of the successive social ages. They foster the development of the inherent progressive trend of evolutionary creatures; they labor incessantly to make things what they ought to be. The group now on duty is the second to be assigned to the planet.

We are told: P.1256 - §8 None of these angelic groups exercise direct or arbitrary control over the domains of their assignment. They cannot fully control the affairs of their respective realms of action, but they can and do so manipulate planetary conditions and so associate circumstances as favorably to influence the spheres of human activity to which they are attached.

And that: P.1256 - §9 The master seraphim of planetary supervision utilize many agencies for the prosecution of their missions. They function as ideational clearinghouses, mind focalizers, and project promoters. While unable to inject new and higher conceptions into human minds, they often act to intensify some higher ideal which has already appeared within a human intellect.

It's great to know that they can help us to focus our minds, and intensify our higher ideals--all the while promoting our worthwhile projects. Like this one, for instance.

From a Religion about Jesus to a Religion of Jesus

While we may not have quantity (in the number of participants), we sure do have quality on this forum. Cheryl and Donna offered some very thought-provoking and inspiring comments on the "why" question.

Cheryl calls for the dedicated construction of a bridge to take mankind from the tomb of tradition (the Christian theologic religion about Jesus), all the way to a new revelation of the living Jesus (the living religion of Jesus contained in The Urantia Book).

The last sentence of the paragraph that Cheryl partially quotes is an eye-opener:

Indeed, the social readjustments, the economic transformations, the moral rejuvenations, and the religious revisions of Christian civilization would be drastic and revolutionary if the living religion of Jesus should suddenly supplant the theologic religion about Jesus. P.2090 - §3

This tells us that such a transformation of a religion about Jesus to a religion of Jesus will necessitate drastic revisions of Christianity. But how can this be accomplished? Retired Episcopalian Bishop John Shelby Spong seems to have his own opinion about this. His book, Why Christianity Must Change or Die sounds like something aspiring Bible-UB bridge builders should read. Another of his books, Rescuing the Bible From Fundamentalism also sounds like it might be relevant.

Bishop Spong has an internet site called A New Christianity for a New World. On June 15th he made the remarkable statement in his weekly Q&A article that "Religion is primarily a search for security and not a search for truth." So it is no wonder that Cheryl says: "From personal experience I also know that as a Christian it can be terrifying to even consider that God allows and encourages us to believe more and even to believe better."

Urantia Book readers believe more and believe better because they have access to the supernal teachings of Jesus. And with that knowledge comes a responsibility to use it in the service of mankind.

P.1041 - §5 All Urantia is waiting for the proclamation of the ennobling message of Michael, unencumbered by the accumulated doctrines and dogmas of nineteen centuries of contact with the religions of evolutionary origin. The hour is striking for presenting to Buddhism, to Christianity, to Hinduism, even to the peoples of all faiths, not the gospel about Jesus, but the living, spiritual reality of the gospel of Jesus.

P.2082 - §7 But paganized and socialized Christianity stands in need of new contact with the uncompromised teachings of Jesus; it languishes for lack of a new vision of the Master's life on earth. A new and fuller revelation of the religion of Jesus is destined to conquer an empire of materialistic secularism and to overthrow a world sway of mechanistic naturalism. Urantia is now quivering on the very brink of one of its most amazing and enthralling epochs of social readjustment, moral quickening, and spiritual enlightenment.

P.2082 - §9 Religion does need new leaders, spiritual men and women who will dare to depend solely on Jesus and his incomparable teachings. If Christianity persists in neglecting its spiritual mission while it continues to busy itself with social and material problems, the spiritual renaissance must await the coming of these new teachers of Jesus' religion who will be exclusively devoted to the spiritual regeneration of men. And then will these spirit-born souls quickly supply the
leadership and inspiration requisite for the social, moral, economic, and political reorganization of the world.

P.1041 - §5 All Urantia is waiting for the proclamation of the ennobling message of Michael, unencumbered by the accumulated doctrines and dogmas of nineteen centuries of contact with the religions of evolutionary origin. The hour is striking for presenting to Buddhism, to Christianity, to Hinduism, even to the peoples of all faiths, not the gospel about Jesus, but the living, spiritual reality of the gospel of Jesus.

P.2090 - §4 To "follow Jesus" means to personally share his religious faith and to enter into the spirit of the Master's life of unselfish service for man. One of the most important things in human living is to find out what Jesus believed, to discover his ideals, and to strive for the achievement of his exalted life purpose. Of all human knowledge, that which is of greatest value is to know the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it.

P.2086 - §7 The hope of modern Christianity is that it should cease to sponsor the social systems and industrial policies of Western civilization while it humbly bows itself before the cross it so valiantly extols, there to learn anew from Jesus of Nazareth the greatest truths mortal man can ever hear--the living gospel of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.

Vern Grimsley in the closing speech at the 1981 Urantia Brotherhood Conference in Snowmass, Colorado sums all this up as follows: "We are called to be transformed people and herald forth this transforming truth... Jesus emphasized outreach; that it's not enough that we find this wonderful truth for ourselves, but we have a mission to all of humankind, to this entire globe, to help bring a great spiritual renaissance across this earth.