1. The Appearance at Sychar2053
2. The Phoenician Appearance2054
3. Last Appearance in Jerusalem2055
4. Causes of Judas’s Downfall2055
5. The Master’s Ascension2057
6. Peter Calls a Meeting2057
194. Bestowal of the Spirit of Truth2059
1. The Pentecost Sermon2060
2. The Significance of Pentecost2060
3. What Happened at Pentecost2062
4. Beginnings of the Christian Church2066
195. After Pentecost2069
1. Influence of the Greeks2071
2. The Roman Influence2072
3. Under the Roman Empire2073
4. The European Dark Ages2074
5. The Modern Problem2075
6. Materialism2076
7. The Vulnerability of Materialism2078
8. Secular Totalitarianism2081
9. Christianity’s Problem2082
10. The Future2084
196. The Faith of Jesus2087
1. Jesus—The Man2090
2. The Religion of Jesus2091
3. The Supremacy of Religion2093
The Urantia Book
<< Contents of the Book | Parts | PART I >>
Foreword
0:0.1 (1.1) IN THE MINDS of the mortals of Urantia—that being the name of your world—there exists great confusion respecting the meaning of such terms as God, divinity, and deity. Human beings are still more confused and uncertain about the relationships of the divine personalities designated by these numerous appellations. Because of this conceptual poverty associated with so much ideational confusion, I have been directed to formulate this introductory statement in explanation of the meanings which should be attached to certain word symbols as they may be hereinafter used in those papers which the Orvonton corps of truth revealers have been authorized to translate into the English language of Urantia.
0:0.2 (1.2) It is exceedingly difficult to present enlarged concepts and advanced truth, in our endeavor to expand cosmic consciousness and enhance spiritual perception, when we are restricted to the use of a circumscribed language of the realm. But our mandate admonishes us to make every effort to convey our meanings by using the word symbols of the English tongue. We have been instructed to introduce new terms only when the concept to be portrayed finds no terminology in English which can be employed to convey such a new concept partially or even with more or less distortion of meaning.
0:0.3 (1.3) In the hope of facilitating comprehension and of preventing confusion on the part of every mortal who may peruse these papers, we deem it wise to present in this initial statement an outline of the meanings to be attached to numerous English words which are to be employed in designation of Deity and certain associated concepts of the things, meanings, and values of universal reality.
0:0.4 (1.4) But in order to formulate this Foreword of definitions and limitations of terminology, it is necessary to anticipate the usage of these terms in the subsequent presentations. This Foreword is not, therefore, a finished statement within itself; it is only a definitive guide designed to assist those who shall read the accompanying papers dealing with Deity and the universe of universes which have been formulated by an Orvonton commission sent to Urantia for this purpose.
0:0.5 (1.5) Your world, Urantia, is one of many similar inhabited planets which comprise the local universe of
0:0.6 (1.6) The seven evolving superuniverses in association with the central and divine universe, we commonly refer to as the
0:1.1 (2.1) The universe of universes presents phenomena of deity activities on diverse levels of cosmic realities, mind meanings, and spirit values, but all of these ministrations—personal or otherwise—are divinely co-ordinated.
0:1.2 (2.2) DEITY is personalizable as God, is prepersonal and superpersonal in ways not altogether comprehensible by man. Deity is characterized by the quality of unity—actual or potential—on all supermaterial levels of reality; and this unifying quality is best comprehended by creatures as divinity.
0:1.3 (2.3) Deity functions on personal, prepersonal, and superpersonal levels. Total Deity is functional on the following seven levels:
0:1.4 (2.4) 1.
0:1.5 (2.5) 2.
0:1.6 (2.6) 3.