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Meredith Sprunger's Synopsis of The Urantia Book
Synopsis of Paper 85
THE ORIGINS OF WORSHIP

1.  Primitive religion had a biologic origin, a natural evolutionary development, aside from moral associations and apart from all spiritual influence… Man creates his primitive religions out of his fears and by means of his illusions…The objects of worship were altogether suggestive; they consisted of the things of nature which were close at band, or which loomed large in the commonplace experience of the simple‑minded primitive Urantians.

2.  At one time or another mortal man has worshiped everything on the face of the earth, including himself. He has also worshiped about everything imaginable in the sky and beneath the surface of the earth...The inexplicable things of life are still termed "acts of God" and "mysterious dispensations of Providence.”

3.  The first object to be worshiped, by evolving man was a stone ...Jacob slept on a stone because he venerated it; he even anointed it. Rachel concealed a number of sacred stones in her tent...In Bengal many worship a meteor which fell to earth in A.D. 1880. All ancient clans and tribes had their sacred stones, and most modern peoples manifest a degree of veneration for certain types of stones—their jewels...In India even to this day a stone can be used as a witness.

4.  The ancients had a peculiar regard for holes in stones. Such porous rocks were supposed to be unusually efficacious in curing diseases...Even in modern times superstitious persons make holes in coins ...The tombstone is a surviving symbol of images and idols which were carved in stone in connection with beliefs in ghosts and the spirits of departed fellow beings.

5.  Hill worship followed stone worship, and the first hills to be venerated were large stone formations... As time passed, certain mountains were associated with certain gods and therefore became holy.

6.  Plants were first feared and then worshipped because of the intoxicating liquors which were derived therefrom. Primitive men believed that intoxication rendered one divine... Even in modern times alcohol is known as "spirits."

7.  Except in China, there once existed a universal cult of the tree of life. The belief that water or precious metals beneath the earth's surface can be detected by a wooden divining rod is a relic of the ancient tree cults. The Maypole, the Christmas tree, and the superstitious practice of rapping on wood perpetuate certain of the ancient customs of tree worship and the later‑day tree cults.

8.  Primitive man had a peculiar and fellow feeling for the higher animals...In southern Asia it was early believed that the souls of men came back to earth in animal form. This belief was a. survival of the still earlier practice of worshiping animals.

9.  The wisdom of the serpent was a. symbol of Greek medicine and is still employed as an emblem by modern physicians. The art of snake charming has been handed down from the days of the female shamans of the snake love cult, who, as the result of daily snake bites, became immune, in fact, became genuine venom addicts and could not get along without this poison.

10. It was easy for the ancients to imagine that the spirits dwelt in the bubbling springs, gushing fountains, flowing rivers, and raging torrents...A rainbow is yet worshipped by many of the hill tribes of India. In both India and Africa the rainbow is thought to be a gigantic celestial snake; Hebrews and Christians regard it as "the bow of promise."

11. Fire was mixed up with magic in the minds of primitive fear‑ridden mortals. A devotee of magic will vividly remember one positive chance result in the practice of his magic formulas, while he nonchalantly forgets a score of negative results, out‑and‑out failures... Vestal virgins were charged with the duty of watching sacred fires, and in the twentieth century candles still burn as a part of the ritual of many religious services.

12. Moon worship preceded sun worship. Veneration of the moon was at its height during the hunting era, while sun worship became the chief religious ceremony of the subsequent agricultural ages. Solar worship first took extensive root in India, and there it persisted the longest. In Persia sun veneration gave rise to the later Mithraic cult. Among many peoples the sun was regarded as the ancestor of their kings.

13.The sun god. was supposed to be the mystic father of the virgin‑born sons of destiny who ever and anon were thought to be bestowed as saviors upon favored races. These super­natural infants were always put adrift upon some sacred river to be rescued in an extraordinary manner, after which they would grow up to become miraculous personalities and. the deliverers of their peoples.

14. Early man regarded all unusual persons as superhuman, and he so feared such beings as to hold them in reverential awe...Lunatics, epileptics, and. the feeble‑minded were often worshiped by their normal‑minded. fellows, who believed that such abnormal beings were indwelt by the gods. Priests, kings, and prophets were worshiped; the holy men of old were looked. upon as inspired by the deities.

15. Tribal chiefs died. and. were deified.. Later, distinguished souls passed. on and were sainted…Evolutionary religion creates its gods in the image and. likeness o1 mortal man; revelatory religion seeks to evolve and. transform mortal man into the image and. likeness of God.

16. The spirit of worship gave definite origin to the human impulse to worship, notwith­standing that animal fear motivated. the expression of worshipfulness.. .You must remember that feeling, not thinking, was the guiding and controlling influence in all evolutionary development ...When the seventh adjutant spirit, the spirit of wisdom, achieves effective ministration, then in worship man begins to turn away from nature and natural objects to the God. of nature and to the eternal Creator of all things natural.

Discussion Questions

1. What are some of the current day illusions that may be included in our religion?

2. Is the symbolism of animals such as lambs, doves, snakes, or eagles a healthy practice?

3. Is the origin of the term “Sunday”  the respect of early man’s reverence of the sun?

4. Is the practice of “sainting” people a constructive practice in Christianity?

5. Among contemporary human beings which tends to be dominant, the adjutant of worship or the adjutant of wisdom?

6. Why has superstition lasted so long in religion?

7. Is the use of “diving rods”  to find water a superstition?


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