See the general introduction to these questions at the
beginning of the questions for Part I.
A Divine Counselor says that “the most enlightening and
spiritually edifying of all revelations of the divine nature is to be found in
the comprehension of the religious life of Jesus of Nazareth, both before and
after his attainment of full consciousness of divinity” (33.2).
How does your comprehension of Jesus’ religious life reveal the divine
nature to you? Suppose we want to focus on “the religious life of
Jesus.” What aspects are we going
to emphasize, and what sense are we going to make of the material thus assigned
to the background?
Sometimes the guidance we need in a particular situation is given by seeing how Jesus responded to a similar situation. Do your best to identify situations and responses as you read—and attempt to generalize, to discern the lessons.
1.
Note the many statements of the purpose of Jesus’ bestowal.
Review them as you have time to do so. (596.3; 1308.4; 1324.1; 1331.4;
1417.5; 1510.1; 1512L; 1541.1; 1558.7; 1597.2; 1663.5; 1675c; 1683.1; 1710.4;
1711.5; 1712.2; 1749.1; 1750.3; 1850L; 1904.1; 1964.3; 1965a).
How is Jesus’ mission like that of Melchizedek?
2.
Can Jesus’ sole concern—unbroken communion with the Father
(1326.1)--be ours as well?
3.
Why did Jesus need to avoid “all entanglements with the economic
structure and the political commitments of [his] day”?
(1329.5)? Why may similar
warnings be given to those who would be religious teachers today?
4.
Why is the counsel against forming an organized cult given (1330.1)?
Are there implications for the fifth epochal revelation as well?
1.
Why was this particular time and place selected for Jesus’ bestowal
(1332.2)?
2.
Explain the idea that one must first know God in order to find him
(1336.2). Isn’t it the other way
around?
3.
What is the nest of issues about sorrow, death, and sin called “the
human problem” (1337.last)?
4.
Who have been the seven outstanding human teachers
(1339.0)?
5.
For what purposes is it helpful for readers of The Urantia Book to
know the New Testament?
6.
What is the significance of the author’s remark of having in many ways
“served more as a collector and editor” of human writings than as “an
original narrator” (1343L)?
1.
Consider this paper as a case study in information management.
The management of an epochal revelation is, to a significant degree, an
exercise in managing information. Who
tells what to whom, and with what restrictions?
What were the motives of the superhuman and human communicators?
What were the results of the way they managed information?
Note the full cast of characters: Gabriel, the messenger to Joseph,
Elizabeth, Zacharias, Mary, Joseph, Simeon, Anna, the strange religious teacher
(1317), the Chaldean priests, the believer in Herod’s court.
2.
What does it mean that Joshua will “inaugurate the kingdom of heaven on
earth” (1346.5) in the light of some of the definitions of the kingdom and the
spiritual achievements of some humans of earlier ages?
3.
What is the import of the fact that it was already clear that Jesus’s
own people “will hardly receive him” (1347.3)?
1.
The series of papers beginning with this one and culminating with
Paper 129, The Later Adult Life of Jesus, show the normal progress of a human
being from birth to full maturity and readiness for Adjuster fusion.
Read these papers as a blueprint of how coping with the problems of
ordinary life moves you through the psychic circles.
The questions on this paper are to be used for the whole series.
List the various aspects of growth mentioned in this
paper. Consider these aspects in
your own personal history. To what
extent to you need to pursue these aspects further—to make up for
developmental gaps, or just to continue interests well begun earlier?
What could you do to further activate these potentials in yourself
(or promote them in others)?
3.
Note Jesus’ habit of having a little talk “with my Father in
heaven.” What kind of
relationship does it take to do this? Is
this the ideal starting point for us all?
4.
Study the story on 1365.4 telling of Jesus’ decision procedure.
Note that he expressed his conclusion along with the main reason that
seemed to be decisive. Is Jesus’
procedure a pattern for our deciding, especially when we are uncertain of the
answer to our prayer for guidance?
1.
What are the physical, intellectual, and religious acquirements of
manhood—and womanhood (1368.2)?
2.
Study Jesus’ three-year process of reconciling the tension between his
own highest sense of duty and the duty to obey his parents (1372.6-1373.0).
Jesus refused to give up on either duty.
And out of four virtues—loyalty, tolerance, friendship, and love—he
formed a concept of group solidarity. In
this light of this story: what is a concept?
How does it differ from an idea? What
ingredients go into a concept? What
does it take to form a concept? How
does the concept Jesus formed apply to tensions you face?
3.
What is the place in this narrative of the beauties of nature as
highlighted, e.g., at 1374.5?
4.
What do you think is the import of why Jesus was named after Joshua
(1375.1)? What does the text offer
no comment on the matter?
5. Note
Jesus’ “affectionate pity for the spiritually blind and morally ignorant
multitudes” (1376.1). Beholding
such multitudes, what would a natural reaction be?
Try to let the spirit upstep your feelings toward such people (realizing
the differences between Jesus’ situation and our own, now that the Spirit of
Truth has been poured out on everyone).
6.
Note the structural marker at the end of the paper (1376.4) about the
stage of Jesus’ life now completed.
1.
Consider this paper as a study in questioning.
What are the tensions about religion that are manifest there?
What provides the occasion for questioning?
2.
How would you describe Jesus’ inner struggle to find answers?
3.
How does Jesus manifest the social art of questioning?
What growth do you have to achieve before being able to engage in such
Jesusonian questioning?
4.
Write down a list of questions that you could imagine being ready to ask
in certain situations in which you can imagine yourself.
5.
Explore the ethical principles behind Jesus’ way of making adjustment
when different kinds of duties came into potential conflict.
1.
What was Jesus’ test for “every institution of society and every
usage of religion” (1388.last)? How would present institutions and usages measure up?
2.
Consider Jesus’ thoroughness in thinking through the forest of problems
associated with his project—his lifework (1390-91).
What problems do you face in designing your project?
Are you prepared to think them through painstakingly?
3.
Notice that (to some extent, not completely: 1386.1) the term
“adolescent” [Latin, “becoming adult”] is reserved for after the
time of “dangerous and difficult” transition from childhood and “the
consciousness of approaching manhood with its increased responsibilities and
opportunities for the acquirement of advanced experience in the development of a
noble character” (1394.1). How do
the authors’ statements about typical stages of development give perspective
on what teens go through today?
4.
Note that—even after the visitation of the celestial messenger calling
him to begin his mission (1376.2)--Jesus did not go through an agonizing search
for the will of God when his father Joseph died.
He “rightly reasoned” that his duty was to remain at home (1389.8).
What problems can sturdy moral reason solve today that are otherwise much
debated?
5.
Imagine that you were invited to read some selections, as Jesus did, as
part of a religious service (1391#4). Consider
making a list of scriptural quotations that express your main mission.
(Jesus used Isaiah 61.1-3, Amos 5.14-15, Isaiah 1.16-17, Micah 6.6-8, and
a collage from second Isaiah: 40.18, 40.22; 40.26, 40.29, 41.10, and 43.10-11.)
6. Does Jesus resolute dealing with financial problems inspire you when you need to compromise by postponing idealistic goals to confront immediate needs?
7.
Note another stage marker at the end of this paper: the career of
“the Nazareth lad” is over.
1.
Jesus made key decisions to protect his mission.
Compare and contrast the dramas over the issues of political involvement
(section 2) and marriage (section 5).
2.
Why are Jesus’ parenting techniques (section 4) so successful?
3.
Jesus organized his intellect “by the force of his own decisions”
(1389.4). How do decisions organize
the intellect?
4.
How did Jesus manage to present teaching by using scripture without
having to comment on it (1399.7)?
5.
Look for the lessons on thinking in the discussion of Jesus’
concentration and patience. How are our concepts of those qualities enhanced by the
description (1400.7-1401.0)?
6.
Study the definition of adulthood on 1405.4.
Item by item, recall examples in your life—or develop them.
7.
List the areas of knowledge you already have.
Classify your knowledge. How
can you organize it for service (1405.6)?
8.
Note again the closing paragraph of the paper, remarking that Jesus is
“now” a full-grown man.
1.
How did Jesus withdraw from family responsibilities?
2.
By what methods did Jesus help win Jude to family responsibility
(sections 6-7)?
3.
Is there any sense in which Jesus can be an example to us in leaving his
glory behind (1408.4)?
4.
What were the elements of Jesus’ technique of conversation with Stephen
(1411.5)? Was he eager and hasty?
Did he reveal any great epochal fact?
5.
Why the repeated emphasis on the bestowal purpose(s) (1331.5; 1407.2;
1417.6)?
6.
Discuss the ethical issues behind Jesus’ “white lies” regarding (a)
his reasons for not returning home at night (1410.4) and (b) his “detaching”
the episodes of his life (1413.2-4).
7.
Notice the phrase “evolutionary revelation” (1408.5; cf. “revelational
evolution 2094.14). Normally we think of these terms as involving separate
categories. What does it imply to
combine them?
8.
It was evident to some farseeing and forward-looking people that “any
uprising of the Palestinian Jews would be equivalent to national suicide”
(1414.1). In this light, was
Jesus’ refusal to get involved in political issues an act of political
responsibility?
9.
What does the term “spirit” mean at 1415.2?
10.
Note the stage marker at the end of the paper: before beginning his
public ministry, his adult life has two phases—one phase at home, and one
“home-detached” phase (1418.6).
1.
Why are we given so many details about financial management?
2.
What are the advantages of broad and balanced socialization (1420.7;
1424.3)?
3.
Note that during his time building boats at Capernaum Jesus spent five
nights a week at “intense study.” What
study—in addition to The Urantia Book—would help you with your
project?
3.
What increasingly effective methods of communication with the Thought
Adjuster have you discovered (1425.3; 2089)?
4.
“There was something special and inspiring” associated with [Jesus’
life] for every world in Nebadon (1424.1).
Does it seem, then, that a study of Jesus’ life introduces us to these
worlds? Imagine starting a
conversation: What about Jesus’ life was especially addressed to your native
world?
5.
Notice the stage marker at the end of the paper.
Jesus has completed the essentials of the mortal life.
If we can live our lives by the same means, if he is “the new and
living way from man to God,” then how can we live the rest of our day so
as to make something approaching the progress that Jesus would make if he were
engaged in the sorts of challenges that we face?
1.
Give examples of how Jesus developed friendships that led to spiritual
teaching that had significant repercussions.
Tell these stories. Can we
not do likewise?
2.
What does Jesus here call “the supreme experience of living”
(1431.1)?
3.
How can we make friends (1439.1)?
4.
How does Jesus mobilize the faith of Fortune (1437-38)?
5.
How does Jesus help Ezra to know God (1440.3)?
6.
Outline the teaching in the Discourse on Reality.
7.
What teachings are given in this paper about evil?
8.
What happens if we run away from duty (1428)?
9.
What might we consider if we find ourselves being dominated by a person
who does not practice the ways of truth (1430)?
10.
Why is Jesus in no hurry to become a public teacher (1436.5)?
11.
What about Christian preaching made Christianity attractive to those
Jesus had taught?
1.
What are the values of such a collection of scriptures?
2.
What do you find most illuminating in each?
3.
Consider making a collection of gems from each tradition you read.
4.
Study Ganid’s summary. Did
anyone during Jesus’ life gain a better grasp of his teaching?
1.
Where are we to seek the standard of true values (1465#1)?
What other candidates for standards exist?
Why are they inadequate? What
are the problems of asserting a divine standard?
2.
How did Jesus instruct the religious teachers in Rome (1456.0)?
What truths do you find in religious teachers today?
How can you “embellish and illuminate” it?
3.
What advice is given for scientists and religionists today (1457.3)?
4.
What are the different levels of discrimination between good and evil
(1457#2)? Why does Jesus discuss
the perspectives of the universe ascent? In
what situations is it appropriate for us to do so today?
5.
What concept of truth does Jesus present (1459)?
How does it compare with the corresponding part of the Discourse on
Reality (1435.3; cf. 2094.2)? What
are the associated teachings on faith?
6.
What were Jesus’ techniques of personal ministry (1460#4)?
Study these as carefully as you can.
How did he relate to overburdened, anxious, and dejected mortals? How did he help them?
7.
Think of people whom you meet regularly and what you could imagine saying
to them comparable to Jesus’ remarks on 1461 and 1474#4.
8.
What is the distinction between “personal ministry” (section 4) and
“social ministry” (1465#6)? Why did Jesus engage in both?
9.
What does Jesus say about those not hungry for truth (1466.2)?
10.
What is Jesus’ analysis of Buddhism (1466-67)?
11.
How could someone so full of truth be so broadminded, fair, and tolerant,
free of feelings of resentment and reactions of antagonism (1467.4)?
12.
What does your enlightened and reflective imagination of spiritual
teaching and leading wholeheartedly and unselfishly want to do and be (1467L)?
1.
What is Jesus’ policy of non-resistance to attack (1469)?
What is the all-powerful truth of the friendly universe that he insists
on believing (1470.0)? How can you
make sense of this truth, given appearances to the contrary (1946#3)?
2. What
is the pattern for the partnership between human parents that Jesus reveals
(1471.2)?
3.
How does Jesus explain the conditions of the Corinthian prostitutes
(1472.6)?
4.
How may we elevate the drudgery of service to a fine art (1475.2)?
In what sense is serving others serving God?
5.
Imagine things you might say to those you encounter in daily life, things
comparable to what Jesus said in his personal work in Corinth.
6.
How easy and successful are our human attempts at talking with the
Thought Adjuster (1475.4)?
7.
How does Jesus reveal the cosmic truth of eternal life (1474-75)?
8.
What are Jesus’ key teachings on science(1476#5)?
What is the secret of a unified philosophy (1477.3)?
9.
Can you recognize your soul, as distinct from your mind, on the basis of
what Jesus teaches in 1478#6)?
10.
What factors unify the mind (1479#7)?
11.
What is the value of the Hebrew proverb at 1481.1—“Whatsoever your
hand find to do, do that with all your might” (1495.4)?
12.
Note the stage marker: “the mission of Joshua the teacher” ends.
What does this phrase mean here, given the fact that Jesus continued to
teach?
1.
What aspects of his bestowal does Jesus come finally to approve after his
Mediterranean Trip? Note that he then approved of “the program of openly
manifesting his true nature . . . [in] his native Palestine” (1483.2; 1749L).
2.
What work of Jesus’ Thought Adjuster is reported during these
transition years (1484.4; 1492.6; 1493.3-41494.4; 1495.4)?
3.
Describe Cymboyton’s school (1485).
Why are we given so much data about it?
4.
What teaching does Jesus give at Urmia about how different religions
should relate to each other?
5.
Why does our planet face continuing risk of world war?
6.
How did Jesus terminate the Lucifer rebellion?
What insights could you convey working simply with Matthew 4 or Luke 4?
7.
Why did Jesus not begin his public work immediately?
8.
Note that Jesus only now completes the traversal of the psychic circles
(1492.6; 1493.3; 1209#6). How does
that fit with the earlier telling of the completion of later adult life of
Jesus?
9.
Consider: “In any universe contest between actual levels of reality,
the personality of the higher level will ultimately triumph over the personality
of the lower level” (37.3) What
does that imply about the power of Jesus’ faith in his encounter with Satan
and Caligastia (1492#8)?
10.
What is the spiritual watchman’s vigil (1495.2)?
11.
What was Jesus’ craftsmanship (1495.4)?
12.
What is the meaning and value of consecration (1492.6; 1512.2; 1583#9)?
1.
What were the major similarities and differences between John and Jesus?
(Cf. 1509.1)
2.
What various concepts of the kingdom of heaven and the Messiah were
current? (Cf. 1509#1)
3.
Ask information (epochal revelation) management questions again here: who
says what to whom with what restrictions and with what result?
Note especially the voice of the Personalized Adjuster and the accounts
of the voice, John’s utterances about Jesus, and Jesus’ last message to
John.
4.
How did John utter a prophecy (1507.1-2)?
5.
How did Jesus reassure John (1507L)?
1.
Why did Jesus submit to John’s baptism?
What
degree of self-mastery is required for a person to make life-long commitments?
2.
Can mortals look forward to the same thing being said of us when we fuse
that was said at Jesus’ baptism (1511.2; 538.2)?
How is
3.
What are the common themes running through these great decisions?
4.
What decisions do you confront that are somehow parallel to those of
Jesus?
5.
Do you experience better results in your decisions when you withdraw to
commune (1515.4)?
6.
How would reviewing highlights of planetary history aid in decision
making (1514.6)?
7.
What techniques of compromise, diplomacy, influence, and worldly wisdom
might a religious leader possibly deploy (1520.5)?
8. What are some of the “natural, difficulty, ordinary, and trying” methods of carrying the gospel for us today (1521.2)? What alternatives do we have to such methods?
9.
Does premature sharing of, and publicity for, The Urantia Book
exemplify the use of power analogous to what Jesus decided against?
10.
Why did Jesus think through the revolutionary alternative to the
Father’s wisdom (1522.1)?
11.
Why did Jesus formally begin his public career and only afterwards go
apart to formulate his major policies? What
aspects of his work had he already decided on?
1.
What advice about anxiety does Jesus give at 1525.3)?
2.
Observe Jesus’ willingness to draw apart—three times—during the
wedding at Cana (1528#4), in order to commune with the Father.
How could he have the social courage to behave in such a way?
3.
What compromise does Jesus make about the Messiah concept and why
(1532.1)?
2.
Why did Jesus and the six apostles tarry (1533-34)?
3.
Why were Jesus and the apostles not going to align with any particular
religious group (1534.4; 1535.4)? What
are the advantages and costs of such a policy?
Should we infer that no Urantia Book reader should join a
religious organization?
4.
Note that Jesus and the six “spent two evenings each week . . . in the
study of the Hebrew scriptures” (1535.6).
What scriptural study would we do today if we aspired to a similar
training?
5.
What happens if you overteach (1535.6)?
5.
Restate the several leading themes in Sermon on the Kingdom (1536-37).
What does it take to become a son of God (1537.3)?
6.
Can we grasp why the Father loves us with an infinite love (1537.4)?
What happens simply by believing it?
1.
Why should experience in personal ministry precede public preaching
(1538.3; 1539.4; 1540.3; 1543L)?
2.
Why did Jesus ask his apostles to “seek for the sinners; find the
downhearted and comfort the anxious”?
3.
How did Jesus separate himself from John the Baptist (1538.3; 1542.5;
1544.1; 1545.4; 1545.9)?
4.
What erroneous beliefs would Jesus never hesitate to correct (1543.2)?
5.
Why was Jesus so content with this slow, quiet, undramatic process
(1543.3)?
4.
Is it possible that the enemy of the kingdom might seek to draw people
away from being teachers in the gospel movement today (1544.2)?
4.
How did Jesus show the value he placed on individuals (1545.10)?
5.
For a school of feeling, what teaching is given here regarding
merrymaking, joy, and recreation (1540d; 1541a; 1542d-43a; 1547c)?
6.
Observe that in the organization of the twelve there was no segregated
role for preacher or teacher. Why
did those who excelled in those roles had jobs just like the others?
1.
Consider these sections as a set of character studies.
What elements are usually found in each description?
2.
Write your own similar biography.
3.
What do we learn of Jesus from these studies?
4.
What different aspects of courage come out in these sketches?
5.
Compare 2047#2. What would Jesus say to you?
6.
Jesus would ever defer “his slightest wish to the Father in heaven”
(1555.2). Do we have to wait until
reaching the first circle of Adjuster communion to attempt such cooperation?
7.
What is the value of saying “Come with us while we show and share with
you the better way” rather than “Go and do this and do that” (1557.2)?
8.
In what sense is pride acceptable (1558.4)?
9.
Explain the balance Thomas found in the Master (1562.1).
10.
Why is it said that “only a divine institution could ever have ben
built upon such a mediocre human foundation” (1564.3)?
11.
What are the complex battles of the kingdom today (1564.5)?
12.
Imagine how Simon Zelotes worked with a prospective believer (1564L;
1565.3).
13.
What does this paper teach about the range of people with whom Jesus
identified?
1.
Comment on the significance of the Creator placing the affairs of the
divine brotherhood under the direction of human minds (1570).
2.
What about the risk of pride in establishing a kingdom elite?
Should everyone today solemnly shun conceiving themselves in parallel
with the twelve apostles (1570.2)? Are
you the salt of the earth, the light of the world?
Conversations sometimes get heated in trying to apply the concept of
apostle to the present day. Various
interpretations of the concept include—and exclude different people.
What is the wise approach to this issue?
3.
What does it mean to not judge men (1571.5; 1576.3; 1585.2) given the
fact that Jesus warns against ravening wolves?
4.
What is the point of the warning about pearl-casting (1570.6)?
5.
How do the beatitudes contribute to a philosophy of living (1572-8-73.2),
and how do the suggestions there help us interpret the ordination sermon?
How are environmental and social attitudes involved in the beatitudes?
6.
How would you express—in your own words—the philosophy of living
highlights you find in the sermon?
7.
What is the difference between character building and character growth
(1583.2)?
8.
How might a literal-minded teacher transform Jesus’ teachings about
being righteous and doing righteousness into rules for personal behavior
(1584d)?
9.
What are the implications for gospel messengers today of the teachings in
section 8? If The Urantia Book has significant social, economic,
and political teachings, is there not a implication that the book does not have
an explicit place in the leading edge of a gospel message today?
10.
Why a day of consecration after the ordination?
11.
Why is it understandable that Simon Zelotes should ask whether all
men are the sons of God? In
addition to any possible effects of his Zealot passions, does not Jesus
sometimes use the term “sons of God” to refer to those who are faith-members
of the kingdom? Why does Jesus give
such a simple and definite answer to Simon?
12.
What are the three essentials of the kingdom (1585.7-86)?
What is the relation of the gospel to the master philosophy of life
presented in the ordination sermon?
1.
As the paper opens, we see Jesus weeping (1587.2).
What would happen to his religion of joy if he suppressed the genuine
occasions for sorrow?
2.
The first quarter of Jesus’ public career is spent in “quietly taking
over John’s work” (1588.3). Can you imagine anything comparable in the phases of the
fifth epochal revelation?
3.
Why is it liberating for the Father’s will to become your will
(1589.0)?
4.
What response is roused in you by the portraits of the master’s
character (e.g., 1589.5-1590.3; 1594.6-8)?
5.
The meaning of a word is significantly determined by contrast.
Jesus’ concept of God as Father is presented, not in contrast with God
as Mother but with God as Judge (1590.4). How
can you help others understand the fatherhood of God today?
6.
In our eagerness to share truth, do we overlook the afflicted and the
sick (1590.7)? Why did Jesus direct
the attention of his apostles to them?
7.
Carefully explain the section on spiritual unity (1591#5).
Is the apostles’ spiritual unity based on the fact that they are part
of a new epochal revelation?
8.
What implications for introducing others to The Urantia Book do
you find in Jesus’ teaching, “Do not undertake to show men the beauties of
the temple until you have first taken them into the temple”?
What is the wisdom of Jesus’ teaching?
What happens if you overlook that wisdom?
9.
How is evangelism ideally supposed to work (1593.4)?
What should we do if our lives are not attracting others’ inquiry?
10.
Do we in fact see people acting as though their salvation depended on
something other than faith (1593.7)? Explain.
11.
Why is truth liberating? (Consider
that liberal educators and Sigmund Freud have made the same claim.)
1.
Once Jesus had trained the apostles, he took them to Jerusalem.
For what reasons? Can you
imagine analogues of such a move today? What
kind of preparation would it take?
2.
What was the central message of Jesus and the twelve in their initial
teaching in Jerusalem (1596.3-7? Would
you make any changes if you were doing such a thing today?
Why?
3.
Suppose you meet someone who is worried about the wrath of God.
Prepare a few thoughts so that you could respond, like Jesus (1597#2),
with something better than a flat denial and a contrary affirmation.
4.
If you are interacting on religion with people rooted in the Bible, how
helpful would it be to be able to explain the concept of God (1598#3) not just
based on your knowledge of The Urantia Book (which might not yet be
appropriate to mention in conversation) but based on your own knowledge of the
Bible?
5.
What are the values of art (1600.2-3)?
6.
What could you say, in the light of the discourse on assurance (1601#5),
to help those who are worried in their faith?
7.
What does it take to enter the kingdom of God (1602.6)?
Did you think it was easier? Discuss.
8.
How can we use Jesus’ lesson on the family (1603#7) to deepen our
relationship with our Father? To explain the fatherhood of God today? Jesus insists that Thomas should not literally apply his
teachings to “the material, social, economic, and political problems of the
age” (1605.2). To what extent
does that answer suffice to answer feminist objections to the fatherhood of God?
9.
What were Jesus’ tactics here when opposition grew hot? (1605#8;
1617.7)
1.
The response to the preaching at Archelais was a new note of
“courageous dominance” and growth in “the spirit of positive
aggression” (1609.1). How did
Jesus stimulate that response? Why
are we so afraid of developing those qualities today, even though we long for
and warmly respond to those that have them?
How does that preaching relate love, world history, the gospel, and
courage?
2.
Carefully explain the lesson on self mastery (1609#2).
How are we to convince the world that we have passed from bondage to
liberty? To what extent are the methods of self-examination still with
us? How can The Urantia Book
be utilized to create new methods of self-examination? Do some of these questions seem at times to move too far in
that direction? The incarnate
Creator Son was sometimes not highly conscious of time.
In saying that those born of the spirit are “ever and always masters of
the self” was he collapsing together phases that go beyond rebirth (381)?
Or should we simply beware of our own tendency to set the bar too low,
mobilize ourselves, and live the spirit cooperation portrayed here?
How can you live to facilitate the “constant spiritual renewing of your
mind”? What liberation is
described here?
3.
In what types of circumstance are diversion and relaxation (1610#3)
indicated for problem solving? (1611.6; cf. 299.3; 547#4; 1540d; 1541d;
1542d-43a; 1547.9; 1558d; 1562.1; 1578d; 1589.3; 1590.3; 1595d).
Note the many times the Master has his group rest (1542L; 1564.8; 1646L;
1677.3; 1694.6; 1696.L; 1699.3; 1711L; 1718#2; 1734.4; 1741.4; 1751L; 1752.1;
1798L; 1802.2; 1831.1; 1847L; Paper 177).
4.
What are the key elements in the narrative of Jesus’ encounter with
Nalda (1612.5)?
5.
Note the connection of the themes of friendship and the fatherhood of God
at 1615L (“In preaching the gospel of the kingdom, you are simply teaching
friendship with God” 1766.5). How
do teachings like this liberate us from dogma and help us as teachers?
6.
Regarding the teachings about prayer and worship (1616#7), explain the
specific needs for balance at 1616.5. Why
does prayer make us less thinking? How
does worship anticipate the better life ahead?
What’s the difference between self-reminding--sublime thinking—and
superthinking? If I become distracted from my worship and use a device to
bring myself back, is that self-reminding?
If so, how will I move from prayer to worship?
Explain “restful spiritual exertion”?
What is it like to identify with the Whole? What is an attitude (cf. 1227.5; 291.3)?
1.
How do the featured teachings of the period of time covered by this paper
fit with the overall activities of the same period (September, October, 27)?
How did the teachings on prayer prepare the apostles for the conference
with John’s followers?
2.
Aggressiveness is balanced by tact.
Explain the tact of Jesus’ delay during these two months (1617.3)
Why was it important to effect union with the followers of John the
Baptist before launching forward openly and with power?
Analogies for today?
3.
Note the spontaneity of prayer (1618L; cf. “when to pray, I will not
say. Only the spirit that dwells within you may move you to the utterance of
those petitions which are expressive of your inner relationship with the Father
of spirits" 1640.0). Why,
then, do services of group worship, with their activities of prayer, remain
legitimate?
What are
the differences between praying with little faith and praying with genuine faith
(1619.3)?
4.
Why was Jesus averse to praying in public?
Where did he recommend? Why?
(1620.2-3; 1635.1)
5.
Study the believers’s prayer along with the other forms (1621#5).
How do the implied environments differ?
6.
Regarding the conference with John’s apostles (1624#6), what were
Jesus’ three topics as he prepared them?
Why was unanimity important? What
did the twenty-four learn to do together? How
can we learn likewise without practice? What
practice might we organize? What
are the disadvantages of establishing baptism as a ceremony?
Why did Jesus accept it?
7.
Discuss your interpretations of Jesus’ teachings at 1627.4-5.
1.
What variations on the theme of miracle-mindedness do we observe today?
2.
In his sermon (1629#2) Jesus cites passages from the scriptures.
How does his way of teaching differ from that of the scribes?
3.
What was the result of the mass healing at sundown on the rest of
Jesus’ career?
1.
What teachings, if added to the gospel, would religion more appealing to
some group you know today? What
would be the advisability of including such teachings (1637.5)?
2.
Regarding prayer (1628#2), discuss your responses to the teaching that
the Father “does not hear” every prayer and that some who seek him in
distress will fail to find him. What laws of spirit, mind, and matter are we expected to
recognize (1638.3)? Why are we
judged as we judge others (1639.1)? What
if we stop our ears to the cry of the poor (1639.1)?
How are we to appropriate the good gifts in store for those who ask
(1639.3-4)? How does Jesus present
a prayer (1639.5)? What is the
relation between prayer and action (1639L)?
What does 1640.0 imply about having regular times for prayer?
What might be the reasons for keeping your real petitions secret
(1640.1)? Who should be praying for
the extension of the kingdom (1640.2)? What
does it mean to pray in the spirit and in truth (1640.3)? Why is thanksgiving so important in prayer (1640.4)?
What should we do after we pray (1641.1)?
3.
How can you know the will of God (1642.3)?
4.
The apostles would go door to door (1642.6) and teach in the synagogue
(1643.3). What place is there today
for the same methods?
1.
Why did Jesus teach the causes of suffering to the afflicted (1649.3)?
2.
Explain the sequence of levels of meaning of the golden rule (1650-51).
Why can you not live at level six without progressing through two through
five? Jeffrey Wattles has written The
Golden Rule (Oxford University Press, 1996), showing how you can approach
these insights through cultural history.
3.
What is the lesson on lax, loose, and foolishly indulgent parenting at
1653.3?
4.
How did Jesus give criticism? (1655.2; 1671.5-6)?
5.
Describe what it is like to live “like a watered garden” (1656#8).
1.
Describe Peter’s school (1657-58).
What were the conditions for it? Implications
for today?
2.
What has been your experience as (or with) “a strong, positive,
beneficent personality whose ministry banishes fear and destroys anxiety”
(1658.5)? Should believers today
prepare to heal?
3.
Explain the differences between evil, sin, and iniquity.
4.
What standards of reading are implied at 1660.6?
5.
What is the purpose of affliction (1661#5)?
6.
Read the Book of Job (especially chapters 1-7, 19, and 31-42) and comment
on how Jesus transforms it in his retelling, which reverses the sequence between
repentance and vision.
7.
Why does Jesus say that when Job said, “I abhor myself,” he reached
spiritual heights (1663.1)?
8.
Discuss Jesus’ handling of Kirmeth (1666.2).
1.
What is the multi-phased, experiential path leading to worship that Jesus
proposes in the lesson on “the fear of the Lord” (1675#6)?
2.
What errors of Jesus’ early followers are mentioned on 1670?
How can we avoid similar errors today?
For example, we are warned about incorporating philosophical traditions
into a religious message (1670.3; 1637.5; 2069.3).
At the same time, a Divine Counselor teaches that a new philosophy of
living will help rehabilitate modern religion (43.2-3).
What strategies enable us to satisfy both concerns?
3.
How can we acquire well-balanced characters (1673#4)?
4.
Can the lesson on contentment be applied to intellectual acquisitions and
even to spiritual service opportunities and growth?
5.
What perspectives help Jesus be patient with “backward and troublesome
inquirers” (1672.2)?
6.
Jesus was not a systematic teacher but “taught as the occasion
served” (1672.4). The Discourse
on Reality (1433#4) shows that Jesus had a well-organized comprehension of
reality. What made his teaching so
fresh that he did not resort to repeated expositions of his theologic,
cosmologic, and philosophic understanding?
7.
What distinguishes an appeal to the mind from an appeal to the spirit
(1672L)?
8.
What happens when anger takes over? (1673.2)
9.
Jesus answered many a question by giving a brief topical study from
memory (see sections 4, 5, and 6 in this paper).
What preparation would have enabled him to do that so spontaneously?
10.
Does the lesson on contentment (1674#5) apply to intellectual and
spiritual things, too?
11.
Explain the evolutionary process leading from fear to love (1675#6).
12.
The Father “disdains pride, loathes hypocrisy, and abhors iniquity”
(1676L). Should we do the same?
1.
How did Jesus proclaim the equality of women with men? (1678#1)
2.
How did Jesus denounce superstition (1680#3; cf. 901.9;
924.4)? To what audience? On what occasion?
3.
Explain Jesus’ answer to the question, “What must I do to be saved”
(1682#1). What is the difference
between the kind of righteousness that we can have without saving faith and the
quality of righteousness that emerges through faith?
Why is faith needed every step of the way forward?
4.
Who will try reconstructing one of Jesus’ discourses based on a title,
a selection of a few highlights from the Hebrew scriptures, and faith-based
imagination (1683.3)?
5.
What is the relation between section 8 describing the Sabbath service and
the following second on the Nazareth rejection?
1.
What is the meaning of the parable of the sower (1688-91; 1693.3)?
Whose interpretation made the New Testament (Mark 4, Luke 8)?
2.
Study the principles regarding parables on 1692 and create a parable of
your own. What is a fable?
An allegory?
3.
Present your own interpretation of the last of the parable of the sower
(1693.5) and the parables in 1693#4.
1.
How did Jesus prepare for a crisis (1704.4)?
What alternatives are there?
2.
What are the higher phases of the gospel (1704L)?
Does “divine sonship” refer only to Jesus? (1598.0; 1814.2)
Why are the higher phases preached after the more basic phases?
2.
What is the factor mentioned on 1705.1 that slows the evolutionary
process—even with a new epochal revelation?
3.
Prepare a message that uses emotional appeal to awaken the mind and uses
the mind as the gateway to the soul (1705.4).
4.
What spiritual sifting, cruel adversity, or trying and testing ordeals
have students of The Urantia Book gone through, and what may lie in the
future (1705L-1706.0)?
1.
What transitions were marked by this crisis (1708.2)?
2.
What conditions justified Jesus in an open attack upon false aspects of
tradition? (1707.4-1708.2; 1713.3) Analogies
for us today?
3.
What does it mean to you that Jesus is the bread of life? (1710.4;
1711.1-2, 4-5; 1712.2) Does this
truth make it legitimate to set up a religion about Jesus?
Why is it fair of Jesus to expect people to accept him, to believe in
him?
4. What is “the parting of the ways” (1710.3)?
5.
What does this paper teach about how to handle a crisis?
(1707.1-2; 1708.2-4; 1710.3; 1715.4-5)
How long did it take Jesus to go through this crisis?
How long for the apostles (1708.4)?
Why the difference?
1.
Explain the “more or less composite and compromising transition
stage” (1718.2). Why was such a
stage entered upon? Why was it
ended? Analogies for us?
2.
How would our lives be different today if we rebuilt civilization on the
teachings of Jesus (1720.3)?
3.
Why could Jesus be so cheerful (1720L-1721.0)?
4.
Why is willingness to do the Father’s will essential to avoid certain
misunderstandings (1721#6)?
1.
What does it mean to obey the truth (1726.1)?
2.
Those who become “truth-coordinated” learn to live an attractive
wholeness of righteousness (1726.2-3). What
does science have to do with this?
3.
Why was the aspect of the rugged adventure of the new religion somewhat
concealed until now? How do the teachings given here aid in navigating that
adventure? (1728#5; 1730#6)
4.
Explain the thought that the kingdom is the realization of the spiritual
joy of the acceptance of divine sonship (1727.2).
5.
What is the religion of the mind? The
religion of the spirit? What kinds
of unity and uniformity are required by the religion of the spirit?
6.
How may we become living prophets (1731L)?
Should we learn to express our points with less reference to The
Urantia Book?
7.
What new meaning is given to the concept of sonship with God in the
second discourse on true religion?
8.
What does it mean that the Spirit of Truth is also the spirit of
idealistic beauty (1732.4)?
1.
What is achieved by the sojourn in Phoenicia?
2.
What is the spiritual significance of the fact of physical laws of the
universe (1736.1)?
3.
If we do not comprehend Jesus, what is the likely reason (1736.1)?
4.
How can you “maintain a conscience void of offense” (1736.4; 984#10)?
5.
Discuss the relation between being born of the spirit, spirit-taught,
spirit-led, and spirit-filled (1738.1).
6.
What is the relation between moral character and spiritual progress
(1738.1)?
7.
What is the relation of the teaching given here on handling temptation
(1738.4-1739.1) to the lesson on self-mastery (1609-10)?
8.
Explain why the requirements for material success, leadership, and
spiritual destiny differ (1739.3).