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How should a Urantian Live?
This is a problem that all dedicated readers of the Urantia Papers must face. Many of us received them in circumstances that were highly unusual, sometimes appearing to border on the miraculous. And so we were tempted, as Jesus was tempted, to conclude that we are special, selected, in some way different, maybe even superior to our fellows.
There is nothing new under the sun. So if we seek we shall find. The answers to most, if not all such problems confronting Urantians can be found in the life experiences of Jesus. In this instance, the temptations Jesus underwent during the forty days following on from his baptism offer a fertile arena for investigation.
Among the accounts of this period there is a lengthy paragraph warning us to bear in mind that although Jesus, at this time, had become totally aware of his place in the order things as a Creator Son, effectively God to his own universe, he nevertheless elected to complete his bestowal as a man, and with the mind of a man. (1521)
Jesus now had the capability of fully separating his mind as a man, Jesus of Nazareth, from the mind of Michael, creator of a universe.
The mind of Jesus, we are told, was that of a first century Jew, conditioned by Jewish culture and Jewish aspirations of that time. His mother, Mary, for example, had attempted to mold it to be in accord with Jewish scriptures such as:
"The Lord said to me, 'You are my Son; this day I have begotten you. Ask me and I will give you the heathen for an inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; you shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel.'" (1521)
Jesus' "humanity was genuine, natural, wholly derived from the antecedents of, and fostered by, the actual intellectual status and social and economic conditions of that day and generation." (1521)
Thus it was a purely human Jesus who, on being given a vision of the assembled celestial hosts of Nebadon during the forty days after his baptism, was tempted to make use of these mighty personalities in connection with the program of his public work to come.
In this, the first of six major decisions that followed after his baptism, Jesus elected, "not to utilize a single personality of the vast assemblage" unless it be his Father's will.
In our task of following Jesus, how does this apply to us? We have an authoritative revelation from celestial beings that reveals virtually all that is important for human beings to know in order to ensure their eternal future. Can we assume it includes the delegation of some kind of celestial authority, or power that we can call to our aid? And might this have the effect of elevating our social status, making us special in some way?
From Jesus' example in rejecting all proffered celestial aid other than the help of the Father, the answer is very obviously no, and is illustrated in these statements:
"He (Jesus) would return to Galilee and quietly begin the proclamation of the kingdom and trust his Father (the personalized Adjuster--for us our Thought Adjuster) to work out the details of procedure day by day." (1523)
"By these decisions Jesus set a worthy example for every person on every world throughout a vast universe when he refused to apply material tests to prove spiritual problems, when he refused presumptuously to defy natural laws. And he set an inspiring example of universe loyalty and moral nobility when he refused to grasp temporal power as the prelude to spiritual glory.
"If the Son of Man had any doubts about his mission and its nature when he went up in the hills after his baptism, he had none when he came back to his fellows following the forty days of isolation and decisions."
Jesus' second and third decisions involved the violation of natural law, possible to him but not relevant for us. His fourth decision was concerned with attracting attention to himself by using his superhuman powers for what might appear to be the legitimate purpose of ensuring a respectable and respectful following.
Since we believe the Urantia Papers were authored by celestial beings, it becomes relevant to ask whether it would be valid to attempt to attract attention to the message of The Urantia Book on the grounds of the authority of its authors or the claim for its status as the fifth Epochal Revelation. Or is there some other more effective and important way for us to achieve this task?
Jesus answer to his fourth problem was again no. He steadfastly refused to use his superhuman powers for purely selfish or personal purposes. Hence, since Jesus would not
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