DERIVATION OF THE HIGHEST HUMAN CONCEPTS IN THE URANTIA BOOK
(A Rationale for Revelation)
“[Acknowledgement: In carrying out my commission to restate the teachings and retell the
doings of Jesus of Nazareth, I have drawn freely upon all sources of record and planetary
information. My ruling motive has been to prepare a record which will not only be
enlightening to the generation of men now living, but which may also be helpful to all future
generations. From the vast store of information made available to me, I have chosen that
which is best suited to the accomplishment of this purpose. As far as possible I have
derived my information from purely human sources. Only when such sources failed, have I
resorted to those records which are superhuman. When ideas and concepts of Jesus’ life
and teachings have been acceptably expressed by a human mind, I invariable gave
preference to such apparently human thought patterns. Although I have sought to adjust
the verbal expression the better to conform to our concept of the real meaning and the true
import of the Master’s life and teachings, as far as possible, I have adhered to the human
concept and thought pattern in all my narratives. I well know that those concepts which
have had origin in the human mind will prove more acceptable and helpful to all other
human minds. When unable to find the necessary concepts in the human records or in
human expressions, I have next resorted to the memory resources of my own order of earth
creatures, the midwayers. And when that secondary source of information proved
inadequate, I have unhesitatingly resorted to the superplanetary sources of information.
“The memoranda which I have collected, and from which I have prepared this narrative of
the life and teachings of Jesus – aside from the memory of the record of the Apostle
Andrew – embrace thought gems and superior concepts of Jesus’ teachings assembled
from more than two thousand human beings who have lived on earth from the days of
Jesus down to the time of the inditing of these revelations, more correctly restatements.
The revelatory permission has been utilized only when the human record and human
concepts failed to supply an adequate thought pattern. My revelatory commission forbade
me to resort to extrahuman sources of either information or expression until such a time as I
could testify that I had failed in my efforts to find the required conceptual expression in
purely human sources.
“While I, with the collaboration of my eleven associate fellow midwayers and under the
supervision of the Melchizedek of record, have portrayed this narrative in accordance with
my concept of its effective arrangement and in response to my choice of immediate
expression, nevertheless, the majority of the ideas and even some of the effective
expressions which I have thus utilized had their origin in the minds of the men of many
races who have lived on earth during the intervening generations, right on down to those
who are still alive at the time of this undertaking. In many ways I have served more as a
collector and editor than as an original narrator. I have unhesitatingly appropriated those
ideas and concepts, preferably human, which would enable me to create the most effective
portraiture of Jesus’ life, and which would qualify me to restate his matchless teachings in
the most strikingly helpful and universally uplifting phraseology. In behalf of the
Brotherhood of the United Midwayers of Urantia, I most gratefully acknowledge out
indebtedness to all sources of record and concept which have been hereinafter, utilized in
the further elaboration of our restatement of Jesus’ life on earth.]”
Presented by a Urantian midwayer Urantia Book page - 1343
(A Rationale for Revelation)
“[Acknowledgement: In carrying out my commission to restate the teachings and retell the
doings of Jesus of Nazareth, I have drawn freely upon all sources of record and planetary
information. My ruling motive has been to prepare a record which will not only be
enlightening to the generation of men now living, but which may also be helpful to all future
generations. From the vast store of information made available to me, I have chosen that
which is best suited to the accomplishment of this purpose. As far as possible I have
derived my information from purely human sources. Only when such sources failed, have I
resorted to those records which are superhuman. When ideas and concepts of Jesus’ life
and teachings have been acceptably expressed by a human mind, I invariable gave
preference to such apparently human thought patterns. Although I have sought to adjust
the verbal expression the better to conform to our concept of the real meaning and the true
import of the Master’s life and teachings, as far as possible, I have adhered to the human
concept and thought pattern in all my narratives. I well know that those concepts which
have had origin in the human mind will prove more acceptable and helpful to all other
human minds. When unable to find the necessary concepts in the human records or in
human expressions, I have next resorted to the memory resources of my own order of earth
creatures, the midwayers. And when that secondary source of information proved
inadequate, I have unhesitatingly resorted to the superplanetary sources of information.
“The memoranda which I have collected, and from which I have prepared this narrative of
the life and teachings of Jesus – aside from the memory of the record of the Apostle
Andrew – embrace thought gems and superior concepts of Jesus’ teachings assembled
from more than two thousand human beings who have lived on earth from the days of
Jesus down to the time of the inditing of these revelations, more correctly restatements.
The revelatory permission has been utilized only when the human record and human
concepts failed to supply an adequate thought pattern. My revelatory commission forbade
me to resort to extrahuman sources of either information or expression until such a time as I
could testify that I had failed in my efforts to find the required conceptual expression in
purely human sources.
“While I, with the collaboration of my eleven associate fellow midwayers and under the
supervision of the Melchizedek of record, have portrayed this narrative in accordance with
my concept of its effective arrangement and in response to my choice of immediate
expression, nevertheless, the majority of the ideas and even some of the effective
expressions which I have thus utilized had their origin in the minds of the men of many
races who have lived on earth during the intervening generations, right on down to those
who are still alive at the time of this undertaking. In many ways I have served more as a
collector and editor than as an original narrator. I have unhesitatingly appropriated those
ideas and concepts, preferably human, which would enable me to create the most effective
portraiture of Jesus’ life, and which would qualify me to restate his matchless teachings in
the most strikingly helpful and universally uplifting phraseology. In behalf of the
Brotherhood of the United Midwayers of Urantia, I most gratefully acknowledge out
indebtedness to all sources of record and concept which have been hereinafter, utilized in
the further elaboration of our restatement of Jesus’ life on earth.]”
Presented by a Urantian midwayer Urantia Book page - 1343
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