People who like Answer to question According to the 5th Epochal Revelation Papers in the Urantia Book what is the best method of Socializing Our Religion?
A According to the 5th Epochal Revelation Papers in the Urantia Book what is the best method of Socializing Our Religion?
According to the Urantia Book (the Fifth Epochal Revelation), the socialization of religion refers to the natural group or organized expression of personal spiritual experience—essentially, organized religion as humanity’s attempt to share and express individual worship and faith collectively.
Paper 99, “The Social Problems of Religion,” is the primary section that directly addresses this. It does not prescribe a single “best method” in those exact words, but it clearly describes the proper purpose and effective approach to socializing religion, while warning against common pitfalls (such as excessive institutionalization, entanglement with politics/economics, or reliance on creeds over living experience).
Key Teachings on the Purpose and Proper Socialization of Religion
The paper opens by stating that religion achieves its highest social ministry when it has least connection with the secular institutions of society (99:0.1). True religion should not try to create or preserve social/economic orders but should function as a moral stabilizer and spiritual pilot amid change (99:0.2–99:0.3, 99:2.6).
Religion begins as a personal inner experience (knowing God as Father) and then naturally extends outward into social service and group life because humans are gregarious (99:5.1). However, it must remain centered on spiritual realities rather than becoming a political, economic, or social institution (99:2.3, 99:5.4). Religionists should act as individuals in society, not as collective blocs (99:2.3–99:2.4).
The book explicitly affirms that there is a real purpose in the socialization of religion and describes what effective group religious activities should accomplish:
“It is the purpose of group religious activities to dramatize the loyalties of religion; to magnify the lures of truth, beauty, and goodness; to foster the attractions of supreme values; to enhance the service of unselfish fellowship; to glorify the potentials of family life; to promote religious education; to provide wise counsel and spiritual guidance; and to encourage group worship. And all live religions encourage human friendship, conserve morality, promote neighborhood welfare, and facilitate the spread of the essential gospel of their respective messages of eternal salvation.” (99:6.2)
Additional Guidance on How to Socialize Religion Effectively
- Live it out personally rather than institutionalize it rigidly: Future religionists must “live out their religion” through wholehearted service to the brotherhood of man, not through creeds or tests of faith (99:5.9). Jesus did not require followers to recite creeds but to gather and actually do something—such as sharing the communal supper in remembrance of his life (99:5.10).
- Focus on unity of ideals and goals, not theological opinions or creeds (99:5.7). “Have you faith? Then have it to yourself” (quoting the Apostle Paul in context).
- Share spiritual life through relationships: Paper 100 (“Religion in Human Experience”) reinforces this by noting that spiritual growth is stimulated by intimate association with other religionists, and one socializes (and spiritualizes) one’s personality by genuinely understanding and loving one more person each day (100:0.2, 100:1.8, 100:4.6). Symbols of socialized religion can be helpful channels of growth, but they are not the reality itself (100:5.1).
- Avoid pitfalls: Institutional religion often becomes trapped in tradition and cannot lead social reconstruction if it is too entangled with the existing order (99:2.1–99:2.2). The religion of Jesus is highlighted as the most dynamic influence for activating humanity toward perfection and brotherhood (99:5.3).
In summary, the Urantia Book teaches that the most effective (and “best”) way to socialize religion is through group activities and personal associations that keep the focus on spiritual loyalties, supreme values, unselfish service, and worship—while preserving the primacy of the individual’s personal relationship with God and avoiding secular power structures or rigid creeds. This approach allows religion to exert its highest social ministry as a living, dynamic force for truth, beauty, and goodness.
The full text of Paper 99 (and Paper 100) is freely available here for direct reading.
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