Meredith Sprunger's Synopsis of The Urantia Book
Synopsis of Paper 132
THE SOJOURN AT ROME
1. Tiberius.. referring to Jesus, remarked to the aide standing on his right., "If I had that fellow's kingly bearing and gracious manner, I would be a real emperor, eh?"
2. His desire to study and mingle with this cosmopolitan aggregation of Urantia mortals was the chief reason why Jesus consented to make this journey. Jesus learned much about men while in Rome, but the most valuable of all the manifold experiences of his six months' sojourn in that city was his contact with, and influence upon, the religious leaders of the empire's capital.
3. Never once did he attack their errors or even mention the flaws in their teachings. In each case he would select the truth in what they taught and then proceed so to embellish and illuminate this truth in their minds that in a very short time this enhancement of the truth effectively crowded out the associated error.
4. The significance of this remarkable doing can the better be understood when we record the fact that, out of this group of thirty‑two Jesus‑taught religious leaders in Rome, only two were unfruitful; the thirty became pivotal individuals in the establishment of Christianity in Rome In his labors for these individuals the scribe of Damascus never met more than three of them at one time, seldom more than two, while most often he taught them singly.
5. The materialistic scientist and the extreme idealist are destined always to be at loggerheads. This is not true of those scientists and idealists who are in possession of a common standard of high moral values and spiritual test levels. In every age scientists and religionists must recognize that they are on trial before the bar of human need. They must eschew all warfare between themselves while they strive valiantly to justify their continued survival by enhanced devotion to the service of human progress.
6. The spiritually blind individual who logically follows scientific dictation, social usage, and religious dogma stands in grave danger of sacrificing his moral freedom and losing his spiritual liberty. Such a soul is destined to become an intellectual parrot., a social automaton, and a slave to religious authority.
7. An experience is good when it heightens the appreciation of beauty, augments the moral will, enhances the discernment of truth., enlarges the capacity to love and serve one's fellows, exalts the spiritual ideals, and unifies the supreme human motives of time with the eternal plans of the indwelling Adjuster ... Goodness is living, relative, always progressing, invariably a personal experience, and everlastingly correlated with the discernment of truth and beauty.
8. The possibility of evil is necessary to moral choosing, but not the actuality thereof. A shadow is only relatively real. Actual evil is not necessary as a personal experience... Evil becomes a reality of personal experience only when a moral mind makes evil its choice
9. Truth cannot be defined with words, only by living ... Knowledge originates in science; wisdom, in true philosophy; truth,, in the religious experience of spiritual living. Knowledge deals with facts; wisdom, with relationships; truth, with reality values... Revealed truth, personally discovered truth, is the supreme delight of the human soul... There is never conflict between true knowledge and truth... But truth can never become man's possession without the exercise of faith
10. Universe progress is characterized by increasing personality freedom because it is associated with the progressive attainment of higher and higher levels of self‑understanding and consequent voluntary self‑restraint.
11. Jesus' usual technique of social contact was to draw people out and into talking with him by asking them questions. The interview would usually begin by his asking them questions and end by their asking him questions. He was equally adept in teaching by either asking or answering questions. As a rule, to those he taught the most, he said the least.
12. As might have been expected, such a versatile and aggressive man could not thus function for six months in the world's metropolis without being approached by numerous persons who desired to secure his services in connection with some business or, more often, for some project of teaching, social reform, or religious movement ... Jesus was very fond of doing things—even little things—for all sorts of people.
13. "Justice makes a nation great, and the greater a nation the more solicitous will it be to see that injustice shall not befall even its most humble citizen. Woe upon any nation when only those who possess money and influence can secure ready justice before its courts!"
14. "That part of your fortune which represents the earnings of your own mental and physical efforts‑if your work has been done in fairness and equity‑is truly your own. No man can gainsay your right to hold and use such wealth as you may see fit provided your exercise of this right does not work harm upon your fellows.
15. "You know, Ganid, most human beings are like the lost child. They spend much of their time crying in fear and suffering in sorrow when, in very truth,, they are but a short distance from safety and security, even as this child was only a little way from home. And all those who know the way of truth and enjoy the assurance of knowing God should esteem it a privilege, not a duty, to offer guidance to their fellows in their efforts to find the satisfaction of living."
16. Then said Gonod: "I perceive that you really are a philosopher. You must write a book for future generations." And Jesus replied: "Not a book—my mission is to live a life in this generation and for all generations. I—"
17. "You cannot reveal God to those who do not seek for him ...Man must become hungry for truth as a result of the experiences of living, or he must desire to know God as the result of contact with the lives of those who are acquainted with the divine Father ... If we know God, our real business on earth is so to live as to permit the Father to reveal himself in our lives, and thus will all God‑seeking persons see the Father and ask for our help in finding out more about the God who in this manner finds expression in our lives."
18. "Your Buddha was much better than your Buddhism. Buddha was a great man, even a prophet to his people, but he was an orphan prophet; by that I mean that he early lost sight of his spiritual Father, the Father in‑ heaven... You see, Gonod, Buddha knew God in spirit but failed clearly to discover him in mind; the Jews discovered God in mind but largely failed to know him in spirit. Today, the Buddhists flounder about in a philosophy with out God, while my people are piteously enslaved to the fear of a God without a saving philosophy of life and liberty.
19. Then exclaimed Ganid: "Teacher, let's you and I make a new religion, one good enough for India and big enough for Rome, and maybe we can trade it to the Jews for Yahweh."... That which the lad wanted most to do he was unconsciously actually doing. And it was, and is, ever thus. That which the enlightened and reflective human imagination of spiritual teaching and leading wholeheartedly and unselfishly wants to do and be, becomes measurably creative in accordance with the degree of mortal dedication to the divine doing of the Father's will. When man goes in partnership with God, great things may, and do, happen.
Discussion Questions
1. Would Jesus' technique of emphasizing the truth in the beliefs of people and ignoring their errors work today? Should we ignore the blood atonement doctrine in Christianity?
2. Are theologians today intellectual parrots of "correct" religious theories or creative spiritual leaders?
3. If truth cannot be defined by words, what is the purpose of theology?
4. Why must truth be validated by faith?
5. Why did the revelators decide to bring the Fifth Epochal Revelation in the form of a book instead of a living personality?
6. Are scientists more influenced by facts or the philosophic interpretation of those facts?
7. What is the meaning of the statement, "Buddha knew God in spirit but failed to clearly discover him in mind?"
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