The Urantia Book claims to be a new revelation of Jesus’ life and teachings based on the reality of the new testament. It is not a new religion, but rather a modern, epochal revelation aimed at bringing together modern science, religion, and philosophy into a more comprehensive new understanding of reality. Skeptical claims of spiritual revelation were found to be peaceful and positive in nature and not worthy of being labeled a cult or lumped into Waco or the Gate of Heaven in the Urantia Movement. The Urantia Book (also called The Urantia Papers or Fifth Epochal Revelation) is a spiritual, philosophical, and religious book written in Chicago from 1924 to 1955. Due to its religious and scientific content, its unusual length, and the absence of a well-known author the book has attracted various interests, from praise to criticism. The history of the book comprises 484 pages and 110 illustrations.
While Martin Gardner and Larry Mullins raised the issue of the contentious nature of Urantia Foundations, the pattern solidified when Martin Myers, on the basis of the continued foundation, claimed ownership of the copyright to U.B. The concentric circle is also used to indicate that other organizations are affiliated with The Urania Foundation, the original publisher of The Urantia Books. In the United States, the Foundation holds a trademark on the circle and places a representation of the circle on the cover of the books.
Gardner draws fascinating parallels between the doctrine of Seventh-Day Adventism in the writings of Ellen G. White, one of the founders of the sect, and the teachings of The Urantia Book. An interesting connection that draws Gardner between the Urantia teachings and Dr. Sadler’s philosophical beliefs and the scientific views in Sadler’s earlier books. Gardner’s service to the Urantia Movement is emphasized by the timing and erroneous dates scattered throughout the first three parts of the book.
The claims and revelations in The Urantia Book have been criticized for various reasons. The information in this book comes from extra-planetary personalities, humans, demonic spirits, or a combination of these sources, and is not always trustworthy. Gardner makes it clear, however, that much of the science in The Urantia Book reflects the views popular in the scientific and semiscientific literature of the 1920s.
If we compare the teachings of The Urantia Book to those of the Bible we discover that they are not compatible with biblical Christianity, nor do we deny or distort the basic teachings of the Christian faith. While acknowledging the existence of one God, she rejects biblical trinitarianism in favor of her own view of the Trinity (Trinity, UB 1170-73). Martin Gardner has stated that the explanation of the origin of the book is plausible and that celestial beings contacted the commission for which William Sadler was responsible.
The study group of Sadler submitted written questions to contacts who came to believe that the Urantia Papers were a new revelation of God equivalent to the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Fellow advertiser Clyde Bedell, a member of the original forum, helped publish the posts as a book. The members of the Inner Circle financed their printing, and the first edition appeared in 1955 with 2097 pages. The Fellowships Outreach program has put thousands of books, presented the book in numerous public lectures, and held hundreds of public exhibitions since 1989. Fellowship members from a variety of sources have contributed thousands of dollars to the U.S. base’s outreach and dissemination efforts.
We are told that in the last ten years there has been a veritable explosion of alleged contacts with UB deities. The Urantians claim that at the end of the time they were contacted with messages from the Heavenly.