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Summary: Great edition of an interesting book.
Review: Regardless of what you believe before or after reading this book, this obscure text is a must-have for any serious student of religion. Whether you believe it or not, it is an intersting read and raises some intreaguing questions--most particularly about its origins, which is hardly addressed within the text. The book is very friendly to readers of any religious background, although there will certainly be some differences of opinion. Even if you're like me, and not convinced about he validity of the text or its relevance, it's still a great book to own and study. If anything, the leather edition looks great on the shelf; also, this is a HUGE book, very-well packaged, and worth the price. My only complaint is in regard to the Biblical references, which are obviously identified with quotation marks, but not so much as a footnote to help you find the passage in the Bible (of course, that's not a problem to everybody, i realize). On the plus side, for being a religious text there is suprisingly no pressure to convert or join a cult (unlike other holy books saturated with proselitizing manipulation).
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Summary: Replete Work, Amazing Consistency
Review: "The Urantia Book" is a replete work, incredibly consistent. It's four parts begin with the total or superuniverse, looks at the "local universe" or creation of Jesus, then goes to the history of Earth which it designates as "Urantia," and finishes with the most amazing, detailed and thrilling account of the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. The book appeals to readers from all faiths, discusses the major world religions, and develops a sense of cosmology and sense of belonging to a friendly universe greater than we are. I love this book because it has made God more clear to me, more certain. It diverges from Christianity in three doctrines: atonement, virgin birth and Adam & Eve as the first humans. The story and history of the Lucifer Rebellion are chilling. For me, the 3rd part of the book that discusses our planetary history was the authenticator. Things I can see in the world are discussed with The Urantia Book stating the causes. Like the Pharisees of old, many are threatened by new religious writings as if they would invalidate the old. The Urantia Book expands that which we have today gracefully and lovingly. For the spiritually hungry, it is a MUST READ. Read & expand.
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Summary: The Tempest - Act I, scene 2, line 116
Review: The Urantia Book is an extraordinary religious text with an equally remarkable and intriguing history. The massive tome, 2097 pages in its official and no longer preferred Urantia Foundation-published versions, is divided into four parts comprised of 196 Papers that address a myriad of topics that may interest and challenge even the most advanced reader. Parts I and II offer the most sophisticated and detailed cosmology ever presented in the English language. Part III is a history of the planet. Part IV, titled "The Life and Teachings of Jesus," is far, far more comprehensive than New Testament records. And there's the rub, or one of them. The Urantia Book's authors present a meticulous and, to many readers who have perused it, a thoroughly convincing account of Jesus' life, religion, teachings, and times. This expanded account of Jesus' life and teachings, though it confirms much of the New Testament record of the same life and teachings and many of the New Testament's authors' assertions, offends some traditional Christians. Inerrantists are likely to find The Urantia Book to be highly politically incorrect. (Remember what Shakespeare said: "It is a heretic that makes the fire, not she which burns in 't." --The Winter's Tale Act II, scene 3, line 114.) Other people have found the Book's teachings about race to be provocative. Some long time readers have supposed that the book's troubled history--it has been the subject of a legal dispute over copyright ownership for several years--is a direct result of its candid discussion of two inherently controversial topics, religion and race. Others have said the book has been the target of a quiet campaign of suppression. That the Urantia Foundation arbitrarily de-listed the Book with booksellers in the early 1990s and has engaged in a long string of punitive legal actions against enthusiastic reader/believers seems to support such claims and lends credibility to those who say powerful religious and ethnic special interest groups have targeted the nascent community of Urantia Book readers for efforts designed to subvert and marginalize it. All in all, the Urantia Book is likely to impress the faint-hearted as a lot of work, and it probably won't strike the average materialist as a thrilling page-turner. But if you are minded to seek out the esoteric (and if you've read this far, you may be a candidate), well, as some forgotten sage once said, "The truth is where you find it." Enjoy!
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Summary: Faith and Hope
Review: Hope of a better life.
Love of adventure, curiosity, and dread of monotony--these traits inherent in evolving human nature--were not put there just to aggravate and annoy you during your short sojourn on Earth, but rather to suggest to you that death is only the beginning of an endless career of adventure, an everlasting life of anticipation, an eternal voyage of discovery. On Urantia, our planet, you pass through a short and intense test during your initial life of material existence. After your death in the flesh, you traverse the phases of ascension. You pass through the true spirit stages of progression and intellectual, spiritual, and experiential attainment. And there is a definite task to be achieved during each of these stages. Continuing astonishment, unending wonder, is the experience of those who traverse these stages. Curiosity--the spirit of investigation, the urge of discovery, the drive of exploration--is a part of the inborn and divine endowment of evolutionary space creatures. These natural impulses were not given you merely to be frustrated and repressed. True, these ambitious urges must frequently be restrained during your short life on Earth, disappointment must be often experienced, but they are to be fully realized and gloriously gratified during the long ages to come. Death in the flesh should be an occasion to witness the ascension of a loved one. What a contrast to those earlier ages when mortals had to commit their dead to the embrace of the terrestrial elements! The scenes of weeping and wailing characteristic of earlier epochs of human evolution are now replaced by hope, serenity and enthusiasm as these God-knowing mortals bid their loved ones a transient farewell as they are removed from their material associations. Funerals are occasions of hope for a better life. The souls of these progressing mortals are filled with faith and assurance. The spirit permeating those gathered around the loved one resembles that of the joyful friends and relatives who might assemble at a graduating exercise for one of their group, or who might come together to witness the conferring of some great honor upon one of their number. And it would be decidedly helpful if less advanced mortals of a disordered and backward world like Urantia could only learn to view natural death with something of this same cheerfulness and lightheartedness.
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Summary: Stay away, far away!
Review: There are so many terrible things about this book, another book has been written just to criticize it. If you insist on reading this book, at least do a favor to yourself and to truth by also reading Martin Gardner's book entitled "Urantia." The science in the URANTIA Book is completely false and misleading. As to the spiritual guide which it is supposed to be, those who get involved in this side of it usually end up abandoning their roots and their families to take up with the cult-like following which surrounds this book. The only reason I would recommend reading this book is to become familiar with it if you have a loved one suffering from its delusions. Then being informed may help you to counteract its lies and deception in order to avoid having your loved one waste their time learning lies. Even setting aside all that I have written above, the book is badly written ,poorly organized, and a tedious narrative in every way.
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Summary: Strange - Mysterious - Thought Provoking Cosmic Bible
Review: Could any of this be true? You bet! Does this book have value? Yes! Will it replace your Bible? No! Put this book on your coffee table and bookmark the section on the history of Urantia (Earth) and watch your guests get lost in wonder and amazement.
I've owned this book since 1976 and will say this, it is a book you will return to many times, regardless if you love it, or hate it, you will never forget it...
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Summary: Poorly written science fiction
Review: If you're interested in science fiction and fantasy, there are many well written novels available from Amazon. The Lord of the Rings, for example, surpasses the Urantia book in every possible respect, in addition to which, LOTR is far more realistic. I find it fascinating that the authors of the Urantia book profess to know hidden cosmic truths yet are incapable of writing in a clear, concise or literary manner.
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Summary: Sadly deceptive
Review: Dear friend,
There is One Truth, and that Truth is Jesus. Seek and you will find him. This book is but a cobblestone of that wide road that leads to destruction. Won't you come and drink freely of the Living Water?
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Summary: NOW I UNDERSTAND THE BIBLE
Review: After years of reading and studying many religions, I found the URANTIA BOOK, it led me back to the BIBLE if not for that I would still be searching. I feel that only true seekers of truth and knowledge will grasp the great value of this gift.
Rating: 
Summary: A real tough one...
Review: and a very hard book to review. If you read it, read it carefully. One suggestion I've heard was to read and ponder the first 3 parts, but don't just believe they're true because they're in the book. Another suggestion I've heard is "Don't put it down when you read something new or strange, put it in the back of your mind and just move on. Let them digest in your mind as you read the whole work."
The fourth part (The Life and Teachings of Jesus) is great. Our survival as a species and as a planet can be spared and brought up from the murky depths we've sunk to by accepting the fact that WE KNOW NOTHING and maybe we need to start thinking outside of the box.
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