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Summary: Growing Into the Universe
Review: Before reading this book my relationship with both God and Christ was pretty rocky. In fact, I was slipping away from even believing in spiritual things as I was a philosophy major when I first discovered the book. However, after a complete reading and careful study of the text, I found this book to be a spiritual goldmine! The message of Christ, the one far to overlooked by mainline churches is elucidated with perfect clarity by this text, and once having tasted the sweet nectar that a personal relationship with God and his son Jesus brings, there is nothing beneath the stars that can now ever tear me away from them. Before becoming a reader, I was spiritually doubtful. Now after three years of study, I live in a spiritual state where God is both father and friend. Read this book and live the teachings of Christ Michael. Your life will forever be changed!
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Summary: How I Appreciate The Urantia Book!
Review: I have been reading The Urantia Book for about 30 years!!! Any edition is fine with me. This is a metaphysical book that is best when studied with a study group, of which there are many nationwide and worldwide. When you read it alone, it is fine, but this book has some very difficult to digest ideas, not immediately understood, but sharing the reading with others, you get their ideas and you then can see the book's words from another perspective, and they can see it from yours. Reading this book, you see yourself as a cosmic citizen, not just earth-bound. If you are wondering about the nature of God, this book starts you out in section one with that, and that can really be studied indepth! Further sections go into history of our planet, Adam and Eve and other beings from that era, examining other worlds, universes and the creatures who are sharing this with us, and the heirarchy of angels and other beings and how we fit into the picture in our eternal futures. Last section looks at the life, teachings, and significance of Jesus of Nazareth, where did he originally come from and why and what was his message to us, and how it compares to the biblical version. This book is a wonderful, epochal revelation. Get it and study it with a friend (better get your friend a copy, too)!
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Summary: An Overview of the Urantia Book
Review: Seldom do you find a book that has so much concentrated truth. It is transcendent in its scope and beyond any other in depth. It begins by describing the attributes of God, the make up of the physical, mental and spiritual universes, and ends with the story of Jesus' life as you have never heard it before. Every confusing aspect of the Bible, of Buddhism and of Islam is cleared up and built upon. When you are ready for truth, you are ready for the Urantia Book.
Good reading my friend, you have found the pearl of great price, don't overlook it because it doesn't appear in a way you thought it might. Enjoy, you owe yourself this one.
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Summary: New Agey version of the Bible, PEOPLE! COME ON!
Review: I always try to keep an open mind to alternative explanations of earth, god, and the universe, and gave this book a try. First of all, this book reads like the bible, feels like the bible, and has most of the bible's stories all mixed up!!!! For a Christian that wants to open up to some alternative "Christian Stories", this book might be good. But I just found this book a very new agey version of the Bible [...]If you want to search deeper meaning beyond what we know about our race, how we got here on earth without the mother goose story, read something else.
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Summary: The "Genuine Article"
Review: I would recommend the Urantia Book to ANYONE. While the Bible is still my primary "manual for living", this incredible work takes being a truly Godly world citizen to a whole new level. If you're serious, do yourself a favor and get this version of it. It handles like a high-quality Bible and is well worth every dollar. I would recommend the paperback version only for those buying it simply because they are curious. Given its size, the paperback edition self-destructs pretty quickly and will not stand up to consistent use. The issue of acid-free paper is another reason to avoid the paperback. In about ten years, its pages will yellow and crumble beneath your fingers. A work this valuable certainly deserves a place in anyone's library, if not for yourself, then for posterity's sake. So spend a few more shekels and get the leather-bound edition. The large hard-bound edition, my very first Urantia book (I now own four of them) was the only version available when I began to read it. It, too, has a tendency to self-destruct, but by virtue of its own sheer weight and size. It really requires a reading stand to prevent the spine from falling apart under its own weight, which has been the fate of my first copy. This "new" edition, first published in 1999. has proven to be a God-send for hard-core Urantia readers like myself. The only warning I would issue about the Urantia Book is to avoid imitations. The only true authorized editions are those published by the Urantia Foundation itself. Further, as guardians of this amazing work, the Foundation is truly worthy of support. Saving a few bucks on a holy book and depriving the Urantia Foundation of the support it so richly deserves is just plain uncool. If that's the case, buy yourself a book of Garfield cartoons. It is also your only assurance of getting the genuine article. Be especially wary of excerpts. This is a sizable work, but makes sense only when parts are not taken out of context. Got it? Get it!!!!!!!!!
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Summary: chaos
Review: I have only browsed online excerpts from this book, however just based on them, I find this book very chaotic and without real value. I agree, that if you are interested in a real revelation, go for the "Poem of the Man-God" by Maria Valtorta ! It is a detailed account of Jesus life and teaching. Even a hasty look at Urania tells me they Urantia teachings are completely contrary to those of the Poem's. One example: "My brother, good and evil are merely words symbolizing relative levels of human comprehension of the observable universe. " (Urantia) "There is nothing entirely harmful in creation. Only the Evil is exclusively harmful, and woe to those who let them be bitten by it. One of the fruits of this biting is the inability to distinguish Good from Evil" (The Poem of Man-God) I want to keep away from the NewAge babble..
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Summary: Makes Sense
Review: I have been a student of the Urantia Book for eighteen years. It came into my life at a time when I needed to understand the forgiveness of God and his love for us. It saved my life!
I was delighted to find answers in this book about creation, evolution, (alongside of biblical history), God's personality, origin and purpose of all the heavenly beings, other universes, and the Jesus papers.
The Jesus papers cover his entire life. I disagree with the other reveiw which states that Jesus is an alien. He is a son of God, and lives in the heavenly realms. Yes, the names given to the heavenly realms are different then what we may call them, yet, most are unknown to us.
The book unravels truths that were not even discovered when the Urantia book was first coming thru in the 1930s, and then published in 1955. I knew many of the original people who were formed as a secret forum as the book was coming through. They have since passed.
This book will take you through many marvelous enlightenments, and philosophies! Good reading!
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing Transforming here
Review: Debates have been written about this book about whether it was written by some "higher order spiritual beings" or a mortal person(s). I have a different approach to this. Either way, it does not matter. Well over a thousand pages is given to a cosmology of the universe that sounds like science fiction, and the other is history which has things that are correct, and that which cannot be verified is simply unknown. My main point with this review is that you can read this book, study it and you will not be one step closer to loving your neighbor or your God. If you were a higher spiritual being looking down on the earth, on the verge of self destruction, would you right such a book? Cosmology? History? This is doing nothing to help us. Listen, I can respect truth seekers for reading this, I believe I am one of those too. However, I would recommend those type of people to consider reading the series of books called, Poem of the Man-God by Maria Valtorta. It is much more consistently rated higher and it does have some very profound, life changing things within it.
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Summary: Good fiction....typical religion...total absence of science
Review: I first discovered this book as a 19 year old teenager, and having read it perhaps in a Walter Mitty sort of mood, I kept it on my shelf throughout the years. It is really an odd book, perhaps because of the claims it makes regarding being a "revelation from God". A movement has started because of its publication, and so this gives those interested a real-time opportunity to study how a religious movement gets started and how fast it can proliferate in the modern information age. I would classify the book as pure fantasy, and I read some parts of it from time to time when I feel the need to read fiction. It actually has great entertainment value, and I mean this without any underlying sarcasm. It goes without saying that whoever the authors were, they possessed a keen imagination, and their reluctance to reveal themselves is not suprising at all. No empirical evidence is given for any of the assertions made in the book, nor is there any hint of a persuasive tone. The authors never attempt to persuade the reader to the essential correctness of its doctrines, and in that regard, it is similar to all religions. Its dogma is elaborate and deeply symbolic, but not mathematical and definitely not scientific. As a branch of aesthetics though it is interesting, perhaps rivaling the ancient stories of the Hindus and Greeks. The foreword to the book outlines what the reader can expect, and it overviews some of the terminology employed in the book. "Urantia", it seems, is the real name of our planet, and it is similar to many inhabited planets which comprise the local universe of "Nebadon". The reader is not told how close these other planets are, nor given any hint as to where to look for their discovery and study. But this book is religion, not science... Nebadon further makes up the superuniverse of Orvonton, which has a capital "Uversa". Orvonton is one of seven evolutionary superuniverses of space-time that circle the central universe of "Havona", at the heart of which is the dwelling place of the eternal God. Is any observational evidence given of the gravitational interactions between these seven different superuniverses? No, none is given. But this book is religion, not science. The book supports an evolutionary conception of universe building, but the motion of matter was adjusted by the intelligent efforts of the "power directors" so as to produce the present aggregation of space bodies. These bodies travel along together as a contiguous unit over the orbits of the superuniverse. And what are the shapes of these orbits, and to what degree are they perturbed by the "power directors"? Do the power directors themselves expend energy in the process? No answers are given. But this book is religion, not science. Some odd astrophysical phenomena are discussed in the book also. For example, when stars are 30 times the size of our Sun, they can split into two separate bodies, either becoming the centers of new systems or else remaining in each other's gravity and revolving about a common center as a double star. As example of double star explosion, the book quotes the light observed in the daytime in 1572. But is the physical mechanism for this explosion into two "stars" explained or elaborated on? No, it is not. But this book is religion, not science. The book also does not used the metric system, but instead "pounds" and "inches" are used to describe weight and length. Any reason for these units? And why the mysterious appearance of the number "7" in the architecture of the superuniverse? Perhaps to tie in with the Biblical notion? No answers to these questions are given. But this book is religion, not science. In terms of physics alone, forgetting all the revelations on the "spirtual" architecture of the superuniverse, would not revealed truth give us insights that were not apparent before? Would not a revelation of this degree give us answers to vexing physics questions that remain unanswered to this day? As such, the book gives none, and introduces more oddities than answers. A good test for the "validity" of a revelation would be the answering of scientific questions that would advance its frontiers considerably. There are none in this book. But this book is religion, not science.
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Summary: Personality/Spirit/Mind
Review: About 18 yers ago I came across this book, just a short time before I had to undergo Heart Valve replacement. When my Doctor questioned my state of mind/anxiety the night before, I told him my only concern was having a stroke but that if I died on the operating table I wasn't worried because I knew where I was going and what was in front of me. He had the most profound look on his face and I could almost read his thoughts "maybe I should operate on this guy's head instead of his heart". Do I fear God? No - why should I fear pure Love, Understanding and Mercy? Am I afraid of going to Hell when I die? No, why should I fear someplace that doesn't exist? You've read about Lucifer, Satan, the Devil, Beelzebub, etc and you think they're different names for the same entity but there're not - all different entities. Curious isn't it? It's pleasant to read about a Creator Son of God of the Michael Order who lived a mortal life here as Jesus of Nazareth (profoundly interesting the 'why' of it). In the middle of the book, just tucked away, is a description of the Star of Bethlehem which notes the birth of Jesus as August 21, 7BC. What the book states is that the 'star' was really the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter on May 29th, September 29th and December 5th. Well, I asked a computer literate friend to check that out for me and look from Cairo, Egypt. Using mapping software called Mystars he checked.
His reply? "The conjunctions took place and are viewable at 0200 hours on May 29th, 1800 hours on September 29th and 1300 hours on December 5th. Quite Amazing!" This might cause people to wonder why such a verifiable fact would be just 'tossed in' a tome of 2097 pages. Part III was a significant 'validation' for me in that the book was put together in the 1934/35 time frame, originally published in 1955, and every day, in ways too numerous to mention, that 'old' information is being validated by modern day science. Of course you don't have to read it, but if you have a curious mind and are adept at using logic and reasoning, this book is a genuine Gold Mine.
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