Adapted from the Urantia Book original paper here
While Jesus, Gonod, and Ganid were staying in Alexandria and then later in Rome, Jesus and Ganid started a project to record the teachings of the many world religions so Ganid could take them back to India. With his father’s money, Ganid hired over sixty people to translate the writings in the library at Alexandria to complete his collection. Jesus and Ganid listed all of the various ways of belief in a singular God under ten headings, and the following are the main points of each at that time in history.
Cynicism
The Cynics taught that there is only one God, and that God is the Most High in heaven and on Earth. Like a loving parent, God loves his children. Those who believe and trust in God and call his name will be heard and saved, but God will not force us to believe in him. Worship God and give thanks if you would shun evil and rise to heaven. God is perfect, forever, and changeless: the sole maker of the universe. He is merciful, compassionate, and forgiving. What God wants, is. God is Truth, the Infinite and the Immortal. God knows all that is inside of us, and he knows what each of us needs and deserves. We can hide from men, but we cannot hide from God. God is not far away, but rather everywhere. God is in creation, and creation is in God. We search for God, and then we find him in our heart. We worship God, and only God. To know God, keep a pure heart and love others, for all men, rich or poor, are brothers. We defeat error by loving truth; we return good for evil. Those standing with faith in God are fearless of all creation. We don’t do to others what we don’t want done to ourselves. God brings peace and protects all who fear and trust him. God has united body and soul and given man his own spirit. We grow in knowledge through experience, and in wisdom through contemplation of God. With faith we seek the joining of our mortal soul with the spirit of God knowing that the seeds planted in this life will bring forth fruit in the next.
Judaism
God is our Father. God created heaven and Earth and all in between. No one can hide from our God for he is everywhere. Those who search for God with their whole heart will find God. We are supposed to love and trust God with all of our soul, heart, and might. God knows everything; he knows how many stars are in heaven, and he calls them all by name. God is merciful, gracious, compassionate, and true to those who fear him; he is our refuge and our strength in times of need. God heals the broken hearted, and cares for their wounds. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom; those who reject God shall perish, while those who return to God will be pardoned. God wants us to be perfect, to release our pride, and to control our spirit. He will help us, strengthen us, and protect us. Fearing God and keeping his commandments is our whole duty; peace comes to those who love God’s law. God’s commandments are to love him with all of our heart, to put no other gods before him, to not take his name in vain, to remember to keep the sabbath day holy, to honor your mother and father, to not kill, to not commit adultery, and to not steal, lie, or yearn for material goods.
Buddhism
While Buddhism didn’t have a personal or universal God, Jesus and Ganid found earlier writings that did speak of a soul and the Infinite, and that were similar to the other beliefs. With a pure heart man reaches the Infinite where his soul is filled with trust, bliss, and peace. In the Infinite man dwells in security without fear, sorrow, or anxiety. Faith is man’s gift of virtue; our true wealth. Man’s faith in the Immortal sustains him and creates modesty, courage, wisdom, uprightness, and perseverance. With faith, we learn to be righteous and to meditate on mercy and justice. Avoid evil by seeing things the way they are and embracing the truth. Evil is wrong thinking and false beliefs: It’s degrading, despicable, and contemptible. Repent your sins, gain restraint, and end your misery. We work out our own eternal salvation with perseverance, forever free from lust, envy, hatred, and delusions of wealth. No one can take away our freedom of thought. All acts receive their just rewards: sorrow for evil, pain for sin, and joy for living a good life. What we do to others will be done to us. No one escapes the result of their deeds. There is no enlightenment for those who are lazy and selfish, or who lack shame and strength of character. But for those who are sincere, passionate, reflective of the past, and thoughtful of the future their rewards are cheerfulness, gladness, and the supreme enlightenment of Immortal wisdom while still on Earth and later in heaven.
Hinduism
God is one God and the only God. God is Truth. He is the great parent of the Earth and the heavens. God is the cause of creation; pure, kind, bright, changeless, and self-existent inhabiting all seven universes. He is our maker, the goal of our soul, and is found in our heart. God protects us, and if we know him, makes us immortal. He leads us from unreal to real, from darkness to light, and from death to immortality. God is loving, glorious, and adorable. He is everywhere. Where we gather, God is there. We cannot escape God’s presence. He knows our virtues and our vices. We worship God and he hears our prayers giving us the wisdom to attain him. God is our father, brother, and friend. We pray to God as one who loves us; he’s our savior, comforter, and protector. God is in our soul. To be perfect he wants us to know him. To know God is to not know death. Knowing God prepares us to awake in a new form in the house of God. He tells us not to be afraid because he’s with us. Our greatest goal is to be one with God. Our duty is to not do to others what we don’t want done to ourselves. We are not to embrace sin, nor return a blow with a blow. We’re to control our anger with mercy, and diminish hate with kindness. Evil we leave behind in this life; virtue follows us to heaven.
Zoroastrianism
God is the source of all things. He is the creator and protector of the justice of the universe. He is holy, good, all-wise, righteous, and glorious. God sees all and knows all. He reaches out to all men, both the good and the wicked. As we desire in our hearts, we shall be. Immortality is for those who think and act purely. God is generous and lives in our souls. He helps us to meet our greatest duty, to know him and become one with him. We are to aspire to perfection, to aspire to be like God. Worship God by joyfully walking his path of light. God guides us in our mortal lives, and prepares us for our spirit lives. When we confess from our heart, our sins are removed from our souls. Those who follow the truth will know eternal salvation, while those who do evil will be punished.
Jainism
The God of heaven is supreme. Knowing truth assures us of life hereafter. To reach the highest heaven and attain perfection, walk in the path of righteousness. Those who sin will not ascend to God. Our greatest foes are our greatest passions: anger, pride, deceit, and greed. Our greatest victory is the conquest of ourselves. When we ask for forgiveness, we are delivered from fear. Treat all men as you yourself wish to be treated.
Shinto
The Prince of Heaven reveals himself in the beauties of nature and the virtues of men. All men receive his divine power and mercy. He is the maker of the Earth and the heavens. All obey his will. He rules over all creatures on land and in the four seas. He hears the prayers of even the poorest man on Earth, and he grants the desires in the hearts of all who worship him. Anxiety and fear move men away from God. Those who want God’s help first must release their pride, for it hides God from men. God will hear the prayers of those with clean hearts and a soul that reflects truth like a mirror. To gain immortality men must forsake the world for God.
Taoism
The one supreme God is the honored ancestor of all things. Changeless he was before the heavens and Earth existed. He is the world’s mother, supports creation, and lives inside all true men. To know the Eternal is to be enlightened; your body will die but your spirit will live in service to God. Ignorance of the Eternal brings forth evil, misery, disaster, and man’s passions for sin. God guides men to excel, to survive, and to become perfect as he is. Worldly knowledge is not needed to conform to the will of God. God is the source of all life and sustains it all. He is truly good blessing all things, harming none, and leaving us free to choose his will. To be wise, accept all men as your brothers. Treat others as you would be treated; give kindness for injury. To be great, humble yourself. Know your sonship with God. Love people to bring them to you. Know the evil of your ways, apologize for your sins, and seek forgiveness. God rewards man not for what he is, but for who he is. Do good without expectation of reward.
Confucianism
All originates from the Great Heaven which is real, divine, and without error. The One God is our Father and Mother, and appoints assistants to uplift his inferior creatures. He has given morality to even inferior people. His kindness is man’s greatest gift. His nobility conditions our soul, and virtue is our reward. Those with the faith to know God fear nothing. Our purpose forms our soul: good and evil happen for cause. Quickly know your sins and repent them. Man’s goal is the perfection of heaven. Seek for truth, live free of fear and doubt, and hold no grudges. Treat others as you would be treated, and punish with compassion. Creatures die and return to Earth, but the spirit of the noble man rises to the light of God in Heaven.
Our Religion
After they took notes on the world’s religious beliefs, Ganid decided to write down what he thought was the truth based on Jesus’s teachings. When speaking to Jesus and his father, Gonod, Ganid called this collection of ideas, “our religion.”
There is one God, and we should love him with all of our mind and heart. We are to love others as we love ourselves. With God the creator of all things, all things are possible. God is in the heart and soul of all sincere people. We reveal God to others through living his will. God is known by personal experience, not external knowledge. The mind of man is mortal, but the spirit of man is immortal. God is all-wise, and he blesses his children with their needs. We live in God, and God lives in us. All men are brothers, and all who desire God will find him. Those who know God are led to repent and no longer sin against his will.
Ganid went on to write about his dedication to God. He committed to worshiping God with the help of the Spirit of Truth, and learning to do the will of God on Earth. Ganid decided to not just treat others as he, Ganid, wanted to be treated, but to treat others as God would want them to be treated, the highest level of the golden rule. Loving service to the children of God increases our ability to know God and to experience the joys of heaven. Ganid wrote that he would thank God every day for all he does. To Ganid, God was the Almighty, the Creator, the Power, the Mercy, and his spirit Father. To search for God is to become God like, and faith in God brings peace with God. Our religion is one of joy and enduring happiness. Faithful to death, I’ll receive eternal life with God my Father. I’m learning to do the will of God. I’ll rejoice in the Fatherhood of God, and learn to embrace the brotherhood of man, for if all who call on God to be saved are, then all men must be my brothers. From here on I will do good deeds in secret, pray when I’m alone, not judge my brothers, and learn to love my enemies. God is my spiritual Father and I am his child; by no other means than desiring to be like him, I will eventually find him and eternally serve him. Ganid also wrote that while he saw God in the other religions, the God of their religion was more loving, merciful, personal, beautiful, and positive. Ganid now at last had a religion with a God he could believe in, and it was a marvelous God of eternal salvation.
Okay, folks, that’s it for Son of Man: Urantia, Chapter 10, “The World’s Religions.”
Next week’s Chapter 11 is titled, “While in Rome.”
Have a fantastic week out there.
Bob