Spiritual Unity

Spiritual Unity

“It is the destiny of religion to become the reality of the spiritual unification of all that is good, clean and true in man's experience.”

5:4.7 (67.5)

A Thought for Consideration from The Urantia Book

Spiritual Unity

The followers of Zoroaster had a moral religion, the Hindus a metaphysical one, the followers of Confucius an ethical one. Jesus lived a religion of service. All these religions are of value in the sense that they are virtuous gateways to the religion of Jesus. It is the destination of religion to become the reality of the spiritual unification of all that is good, clean and true in man's experience.

5:4.8 (67.6)The Greek religion had as its watchword the “know thyself;” the Hebrews centered their teaching on the “know thy God;” the Christians preach a gospel centered on “knowing the Lord Jesus Christ;” Jesus proclaimed the good news of “knowing God and thyself as a son of God. These different conceptions regarding the purpose of religion determine the attitude of individuals in different life circumstances and predict the depth of their worship of God and the nature of their personal prayer habits. The spiritual status of any religion can be determined by the nature of its prayers.

5:4.9 (67.7)The representation of a half-human, envious God is an inevitable transitional stage from polytheism to sublime monotheism. An exalted anthropomorphism is the highest level a purely evolutionary religion can reach. Christianity has elevated the representation of anthropomorphism from the ideal of the human to the level of the transcendent, divine representation of the person of the glorified Christ. And this is the highest anthropomorphism that man will ever be able to conceive.

5:4.10 (67.8)The Christian representation of God is an attempt to combine three separate doctrinal systems:

5:4.11 (67.9)1. the Hebrew representation - God as upholder of moral values, a just God;

5:4.12 (67.10)2. the Greek representation - God as unifier, a God of wisdom;

5:4.13 (68.1)3. the representation of Jesus - God as a living friend, a loving Father, the divine presence.

5:4.14 (68.2)So it should be clear to you that composite Christian theology faces great difficulties in achieving logical coherence. These difficulties are compounded by the fact that the doctrines of early Christianity were generally grounded in the personal religious experience of three different persons: Philo of Alexandria, Jesus of Nazareth, and Paul of Tarsus.

5:4.15 (68.3)When you study Jesus' religious life, see him positively. Note not so much his sinlessness as his righteousness, his loving service. Jesus raised the passive love inherent in the Hebrew concept of the heavenly Father to the higher level of the active love of a God who loves his creatures and is the Father of every individual human being, even the evildoer.

A Thought for Consideration from The Urantia Book