Urantia21: A Restatement of The Urantia Book for the 21st Century

The teaching about the realm of the Creator and an “announcement about going to the Passover set all the followers to thinking that Jesus was going to Jerusalem to inaugurate the temporal rule of Jewish supremacy. No matter what Jesus said about the nonmaterial character of the realm, the Jewish hearers were still convinced that the Messiah was to establish some kind of nationalistic government wi...

The concept of the realm of the Creator has no one specific meaning. “At different times and in varying circumstances it appears that Jesus may have presented numerous concepts in public teachings, but to the apostles Jesus always taught the realm of the Creator as embracing one’s personal experience in relation to others on earth and to the Creator.”

During the final week at Pella, “Jesus was very active in teaching the multitude and instructing the apostles, preaching every afternoon to the crowds and each night answering questions for the apostles and certain of the more advanced disciples residing at the camp.” Meanwhile, “The Pharisees and the chief priests had begun to formulate their charges and to crystallize their accusations.” “And so...

This paper tells the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus’ friend, Lazarus. “Though many believed in Jesus as a result of this mighty work, others only hardened their hearts. By noon of the day after Lazarus’ resurrection this story had spread over all Jerusalem. Scores of people went to Bethany to talk with Lazarus, and the alarmed and disconcerted Pharisees hastily called a meeting of th...

The work continued to progress, with large numbers of followers attending the sessions. “This was a period when the teachings were proclaimed with power, without miracles, and most of the time without the personal presence of Jesus or even of the apostles.” The Pharisees, however, persisted in their efforts to entrap Jesus at every opportunity. Jesus, while consistently pointing out the fallacies...

The “...entire mission of three months in Perea was successfully carried on with little help from the twelve apostles, and the presentations from this time on reflected, not so much Jesus’ personality, as the  teachings.  But the followers did not long follow instructions, for soon after Jesus’ death and resurrection they departed from the teachings and began to build the early church around the m...

The seventy were sent for a three-month mission of teaching and preaching. “This was the final period of the teachings, and there was, accordingly, an absence of miracle working.” Attendance at these sessions grew to over four thousand people who came to hear Jesus or Peter preach each morning. “The Master chose to terminate the bestowal on earth when interest had reached a high point, the highest...

“Jesus, taking Nathaniel and Thomas, secretly went to Jerusalem to attend the feast of the dedication. Not until they passed over the Jordan at the Bethany ford did the two apostles become aware that their Master was going on to Jerusalem. When they perceived that Jesus really intended to be present at the feast of dedication, they used every sort of argument against going. But their efforts were...

Jesus chose seventy well-trained and experienced disciples to engage in public teaching. Jesus talked to this company each morning. “Peter taught methods of public preaching; Nathaniel instructed them in the art of teaching; Thomas explained how to answer questions; while Matthew directed the organization of their group finances.” After being ordained as teachers, the seventy went out in pairs for...

Jesus took the apostles to Jerusalem for the feast of tabernacles. “Long before they fled from Galilee, the followers of Jesus had advised going to Jerusalem to proclaim the doctrine of the new age in order that this message might have the prestige of having been preached at the center of Jewish culture and learning; but now that Jesus had actually come to Jerusalem to teach, they were concerned a...

A topic of much debate between Rodan and the apostles was the personality of the Creator. “Rodan contended that the fact of personality consists in the coexistent fact of full and mutual communication between beings of equality, beings who are capable of sympathetic understanding. Rodan readily accepted all that was presented regarding the attributes of Deity, but contended that the Creator is not...

Rodan was a Greek philosopher who had recently become a disciple of Jesus, and “was now earnestly engaged in the task of harmonizing a personal philosophy of life with Jesus’ new religious teachings...” This paper presents for consideration Rodan’s philosophy about human life, civilization, the meaning of life, problem solving, wisdom, maturity, the importance of meditation, and the true nature of...

This was a four-week teaching and preaching tour of the cities of the Decapolis. Jesus “...directed that each of the apostles should associate with one of the twelve evangelists, and they should go out in twelve groups...” During this time Jesus took the opportunity to explain the nature of the Jewish Scriptures, noting that “The Scriptures have been gathered together as we now have them only in r...

Jesus took three close apostles up Mount Hermon to witness the arrival of celestial beings who came to address “the transaction of important matters having to do with the progress of the bestowal mission as this experience was related to the local universe.” Their experience of this event powerfully impressed them. “The apostles were truly afraid; they were a silent and thoughtful trio as they pre...

In this paper the apostles grapple with understanding Jesus’ divinity. “Jesus had spent long months in training these apostles and realized that the time had come when it was necessary to teach them more about having a divine nature and a personal relationship to the new realm.” “Since the occasions of the baptism by John and the turning of the water into wine at Cana, the apostles had, at various...

“The apostles and evangelists were greatly cheered by the manner in which the gentiles of Sidon received their message...” “In many ways these gentiles appreciated Jesus’ teachings more fully than the Jews.” “These gentiles were not afraid of Jesus, whose message they dared to accept.” “The theme of Jesus’ instructions during the stay at Sidon was spiritual progression. Jesus told the associates t...

The apostolic group left Capernaum for a journey through northern Galilee. During this two-week period, “The apostles learned that the Jews were spiritually stagnant and dying because they had crystallized truth into a creed; that when truth becomes formulated as a boundary line of self-righteous exclusiveness instead of serving as a signpost of spiritual guidance and progress, such teachings lose...

At the Capernaum synagogue, “There was much talk about Jesus’ preaching doctrines which were upsetting for the common people; the enemies maintained that these teachings were impractical, that everything would go to pieces if everybody made an honest effort to live in accordance with these ideas. And the people of many subsequent generations have said the same things. Many intelligent and well-mea...

As Jesus spoke at the Capernaum synagogue, “more than thirty of the leaders and rulers of the neighboring synagogues were also present. These Jewish religious leaders were acting directly under orders from the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem, and they constituted the orthodox vanguard which had come to inaugurate open warfare on Jesus and the disciples. Sitting by the side of these Jewish leaders, in the s...

This paper describes the event in which Jesus fed five thousand people from a few scraps. “The feeding of the five thousand by supernatural energy was another of those cases where human pity plus creative power equaled that which happened.” This apparent miracle so impressed the crowd that they immediately began to associate Jesus with the predicted coming of the Jewish Messiah. “For a long time t...

During this time “James and John were with Jesus much of the time, Peter being more than occupied with the many responsibilities having to do with the welfare and direction of the new corps of evangelists. While waiting before starting for the Passover at Jerusalem, the evangelists spent this time visiting from house to house, providing personal ministry in Capernaum and the surrounding cities and...

Now the apostles of Jesus, along with an equal number of John’s followers, “were joined by the tested evangelists, about seventy-five in number...” “The evangelists were sent in groups of five, while Jesus and the twelve traveled together most of the time. For a period of almost three weeks Abner and the apostles of John also worked with the evangelistic groups.” During this time Jesus astonished...

A second preaching tour of Galilee lasted for almost three months. “On this tour only James and John traveled with Jesus. Peter and the other apostles each took with them about one dozen of the evangelists and maintained close contact with them while they carried on their work of preaching and teaching.” “Jesus and the two companions traveled extensively during these three months, often visiting t...

During a five months’ period an enormous camp was set up and maintained to accommodate an ever-changing population of truth seekers, healing candidates, and curiosity devotees, numbering from five hundred to fifteen hundred. During this time “several thousand came and went at this encampment. Interested persons from every part of the Roman Empire and from the lands east of the Euphrates were in fr...

Jesus and the apostles made a journey to Jerusalem for the Passover. It was a time for much teaching and healing. One lesson Jesus taught was in relation to the various interpretations possible for what is known as the “Golden Rule.” “Jesus attended many...semiprivate meetings and banquets with the high and the low, the rich and the poor, of Jerusalem before finally leaving with the apostles for C...