The Urantia Book Fellowship

An Introduction To Some Concepts Of God
As Used In The Urantia Book

David Kantor

References: [brackets: designate Uversa Press reference] (parentheses: designate First Edition reference)

1. Why Study The Urantia Book?

This is an introduction to the *concept* of God, the intellectual understanding of his nature and the way its distribution and internal relationships constitute reality. This is different from our *experience* of God. Why study this?

In the contemporary world, knowledge is often viewed as a commodity, something to be acquired and "owned" like a material object. It is closely tied to economic success. From the perspective of The Urantia Book, knowledge is related to a grasp of meanings which is essential for a discovery of values. As we personalize the values we discover by integrating them into our interpersonal relationships, we then set the stage for a grasp of additional new meanings. The process continues and constitutes a mechanism of real growth.

So what is the purpose of studying The Urantia Book?

From the Introduction to Bill Sadler's A Study of the Master Universe:

"The Urantia Book is not written like a textbook; it is written more like a symphony. Wonderful themes of concept and movements of unfolding truth appear and reappear as the long story unfolds. Parts of this story are very melodious. The melody develops with such appealing simplicity that the reader is held enthralled. The story of Jesus is like this, a beautiful story of a man among men who grew up to become a living revelation of God among men. We all love this story.

"Some of the Papers in the book are not so easy to understand; the movements of the harmonies of truth are more complex; the melody is not so easy to grasp. But the beauty is still there, even though it is less obvious. It is necessary to study this material carefully in order to bring out the beauty of the complex melody movements in the Urantia Papers, Many of the Papers which seem to be complex, obscure, and "far away," are filled with exquisite movements of concept in the portraiture of living truth. And if the truth in the complex beauty of these passages can be grasped, then we might acquire a new horizon-line against which to evaluate the things of this life and this world - and then we could perceive these things with the greater insight of a new perspective, the most far-ranging perspective that our minds can grasp.

"We are all a part of God's plans for the future. And these plans are so alive, so adventuresome, so challenging, and so beautiful that it does seem important we learn to appreciate, however dimly, that these plans do affect us. It is the magnitude and the complexity of God's challenge to us that obscures our comprehension of this challenge. It is the vastness of the unfolding adventure that makes it hard to understand. It is the endlessness of the eternal future that staggers our imaginations, And all of this is contained in the symphony of the concept of the master universe in the Urantia Book.

God's plans are partially disclosed in the master universe. And if we can comprehend these plans just a little better, we may be intrigued, challenged, and even inspired by the grandeur of the magnificent adventure that is being offered to us. If, perchance, our study can bring God's plans just a little closer to our comprehension - closer to our feeling for the living truth of expanding growth, to the thrilling beauty of high adventure, and closer to the rewarding goodness of intelligent love - it will have been well worth the effort."

2. Universe Frames (The Urantia Book's big disclaimer):

All philosophical, theological and metaphysical systems face the challenge of dividing the fundamental unity of reality into categories which will make it possible to compare and evaluate, thus leading to understanding. The categories thus selected provide the intellectual architecture of the subsequent undertaking and condition the conclusions which may be derived from it. In addition, all information is interpreted within the context of the individual's set of previously acquired information. The Urantia Book alerts us to these problems in its discussion of "universe frames."

[115:1.1] (1260 - §2) "Partial, incomplete, and evolving intellects would be helpless in the master universe, would be unable to form the first rational thought pattern, were it not for the innate ability of all mind, high or low, to form a universe frame in which to think. If mind cannot fathom conclusions, if it cannot penetrate to true origins, then will such mind unfailingly postulate conclusions and invent origins that it may have a means of logical thought within the frame of these mind-created postulates. And while such universe frames for creature thought are indispensable to rational intellectual operations, they are, without exception, erroneous to a greater or lesser degree.

[115:1.2] (1260 - §3) "Conceptual frames of the universe are only relatively true; they are serviceable scaffolding which must eventually give way before the expansions of enlarging cosmic comprehension. The understandings of truth, beauty, and goodness, morality, ethics, duty, love, divinity, origin, existence, purpose, destiny, time, space, even Deity, are only relatively true. God is much, much more than a Father, but the Father is man's highest concept of God; nonetheless, the Father-Son portrayal of Creator-creature relationship will be augmented by those supermortal conceptions of Deity which will be attained in Orvonton, in Havona, and on Paradise. Man must think in a mortal universe frame, but that does not mean that he cannot envision other and higher frames within which thought can take place."

[118:6.7] (1300 - §3) "Volition, the act of choosing, must function within the universe frame which has actualized in response to higher and prior choosing."

3. Deity, Divinity and God: (Review of some important terms)

But the bottom line is:

[56:9.10] (645 - §5) "And God the Father is the personal source of all manifestations of Deity See definition of Deity above) and reality to all intelligent creatures and spirit beings throughout all the universe of universes. As personalities, now or in the successive universe experiences of the eternal future, no matter if you achieve the attainment of God the Sevenfold, comprehend God the Supreme, find God the Ultimate, or attempt to grasp the concept of God the Absolute, you will discover to your eternal satisfaction that in the consummation of each adventure you have, on new experiential levels, rediscovered the eternal God--the Paradise Father of all universe personalities."

[118:2.2] (1296 - §4) "As mortal and morontia ascenders you progressively discern God through the ministry of God the Sevenfold. Through Havona you discover God the Supreme. On Paradise you find him as a person, and then as finaliters you will presently attempt to know him as Ultimate. Being finaliters, there would seem to be but one course to pursue after having attained the Ultimate, and that would be to begin the quest of the Absolute. No finaliter will be disturbed by the uncertainties of the attainment of the Deity Absolute since at the end of the supreme and ultimate ascensions he encountered God the Father. Such finaliters will no doubt believe that, even if they should be successful in finding God the Absolute, they would only be discovering the same God, the Paradise Father manifesting himself on more nearly infinite and universal levels. Undoubtedly the attainment of God in absolute would reveal the Primal Ancestor of universes as well as the Final Father of personalities."

4. Introduction to God the Sevenfold

In "A Study of the Master Universe", the chapter, "God the Sevenfold: Creative Deity," we find:

"The creative-association of God the Sevenfold began to function when the seven superuniverses were organized. God the Sevenfold is a creative associative expansion of the Paradise Deities into time and space; this is their method of making contact with all the creatures of the super and  local universes. God the Sevenfold provides the living ladder of divine personalities that bridges the gap between man and the Paradise Father. This deity association functions on seven levels and its members are classified in three major groups:

"We are familiar with the Paradise Deities - Father, Son, and Spirit. The Corps of the Supreme Creators is something new. These are the creators who make their appearance after eternal Havona; they are the post-Havona creators. Theirs is the work of organizing and perfecting the seven superuniverses and the projected 700,000 local universes. Each of the Master Spirits pervades one of the superuniverses, thus determining its individual nature. By threes, the Ancients of Days function as the direct rulers of the seven supercreations. The Creator Sons and their associated Creative Spirits organize the local universes, and create (or evolve) the living beings who are native to these realms. The Supreme Being is an evolving, experiential Deity. He is slowly emerging, as a result of the successes of the Supreme Creators in the time-space realms, as a result of their successful collaboration with the Paradise Deities, and as a result of his own efforts to grow."

[0:8.1] (11 - §5) To atone for finity of status and to compensate for creature limitations of concept, the Universal Father has established the evolutionary creature's sevenfold approach to Deity:

To do: Memorize the structure of God the Sevenfold and the complementary sevenfold controllers.


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The Urantia Book Fellowship
Serving the Readership since 1955