by peacefulpete 5 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
We have long time friends who are seriously involved with the Urantia book. They have regular meetings with others and seem to have become convinced of its alien inspiration. It seems mostly harmless but weirds out anyone who talks to them.
Do any of you have experience with this or have suggestions about how to debunk the book?
I've never heard of it Pete! Tell us more....has anyone else heard of it?🤷🏼♀️
Book that alleges to have come through some galactic spirit medium. 2000 pages long, covers everything.
Have you read the late Martin Gardner's rebuttal/debunking of The Urantia Papers?
--Not sure if it would do any good with true believers
Ok, I was hoping this thread might stir a thought process, maybe for a few it has. Just how do you reason with someone invested in a book/movement that makes such extraordinary claims? Gardner's book takes the straightforward approach of distilling the errors and anachronisms from the text. How effective is that? It seems not very. My friends I opened with were in fact very attracted by this new cult/movement, a couple of them fell out with the group's "strange" members they were meeting with. and simply became disillusioned. They now look back at it as a humorous episode in their life. Another one continued for a couple years longer until his own take on the passages also alienated him from the group. I'm not sure just how he feels about the writings themselves and how much he continues to believe.
The Urantia Foundation today boasts the book's translation into 25 languages. Food for thought.
And I apologize for the misdirection at the opening.
Hardly an expert, but my experience is that people join and leave movements for emotional (As opposed to rational) reasons.
Rational criticism is helpful to people who have recently left, but does little to dissuade a true believer.
The best way to reason with friends is not to reason at all. (At least not in the sense I would use the word)
People leave when they either become disillusioned, or find something else that fills the same emotional need.
