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Do We Need Another Church?
Gloria and Ray Colot, Oxenford,Qld., Australia
Dick Bain's article in the March/April Innerface had us all fired up with enthusiasm for his Urantia church idea. After about three days of meditating on this thought and talking to other readers who were also "fired up," we slowly did an about face. These are the points that came to mind.
1. Religion is personal. It is the sum of our own experiences with God. Our personal religion will evolve throughout eternity. It will grow and expand forever. When religion becomes an institution, however, there is the danger of stagnation, dogmatism, ritualism. etc. And this halts, or at least slows, the natural evolutionary growth of our personal religion through this institution's inevitable adoption of inflexible laws, rules, etc.
2. The world, surely, does not need another church. However, it does need more organizations like Green Peace, Red Cross, Rotary Clubs, and the Salvation Army dedicated to the idea and practice of service to man! The Urantia Book tells us throughout its pages that the primary duties of all mankind are to love God and to serve our fellow man.
3. Instead of churches, why not think in terms of offices, buildings, centers, clubs, lodges, groups societies, combines, headquarters, etc. If we put the word "Urantia" in front of any of these terms it looks pretty good--in fact, it looks much better than "Urantia Church."
4. What the book says: The cult preserved sentiment and satisfied emotion, but it has always been the greatest obstacle to social reconstruction and spiritual progress. Notwithstanding that the cult has always retarded social progress, it is regrettable so many modern believers in moral standards and spiritual ideals have no adequate symbolism--cult of mutual support--nothing to belong to.
Modern man must find some adequate symbolism for his new and expanding ideas, ideals, and loyalties. This higher symbolism must be predicated on the concept of the Fatherhood of God and be pregnant with the mighty ideal of the brotherhood of man.
Always remember, the cults are formed, not to discover truth, but rather to promulgate their creeds.
Formal religion restrains men in their personal spiritual activities instead of releasing them for heightened service as kingdom builders.
Man develops best when the pressures of home, community, church, and state are least. But this must not be construed as meaning that there is no place in progressive society for home, social institutions, church, and state. There is great hope for any church that worships the living God, validates the brotherhood of man, and dares to remove all creedal pressure from its members.
The visible church should refuse longer to handicap the progress of the invisible and spiritual brotherhood of the kingdom of God. And this brotherhood is destined to become a living organism in contrast to an institutionalized social organization. It may well utilize such social organizations, but it must not be supplanted by them.
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