Why, What & Who
Why UBtheNEWS? The Urantia Book exhibits an extraordinarily unusual characteristic regarding its relationship to science and history. For over fifty years scientific advancements have been increasingly substantiating, catching up to, the richly detailed scientific and historic information that is contained in The Urantia Book. Issues related to astronomy, geology, physics, paleontology and biology, as well as other fields of study, are covered in The Urantia Book. A history of our planet is given that begins with how our solar system came into existence and the formation of our planet. It chronicles the evolution of life from the first single celled organisms to the dawn of humanity and then recounts the one million year history of human beings. This comprehensive planetary history includes detailed information that relates to a wide range of scientific disciplines. The Urantia Book is not just a book about history and science. An exquisite theology, cosmology, and philosophy are presented. The Urantia Book also provides a complete biography of Jesus' life on earth. Not only does it cover all the years of his life, but also gives substantial background on the time period and the other people who played a key role in his life. Those issues, however, are not the focus of this site. In an effort to correlate scientific advancements with information in The Urantia Book, occasionally some information needs to be provided that touches upon these other subjects. But for the most part, this is not necessary. UBtheNEWS is focused on presenting information that relates to ways in which The Urantia Book has been ahead of science and our understanding of planetary history. How is it possible for The Urantia Book to demonstrate a consistent pattern of being ahead of science for over fifty years? The accuracy of The Urantia Book, from an internally consistent perspective, is rooted in the claim that angels are responsible for providing the information contained in the book. Whether or not you believe that this is possible or true, whether or not you even believe in God, if you care about having information about our world that is factually accurate, you may want to consider becoming more familiar with The Urantia Book. It is a source of information that has more than a fifty-year history of being ahead of science with regard to what is true about material reality. The Urantia Book provides a lot of value separate and apart from one's beliefs about its origins. The issue is credibility, not proof. This site has not been created in an effort to try to prove anything about The Urantia Book. It is here because The Urantia Book exhibits a unique quality of credibility that is worth knowing about. No other book provides such richly detailed information over such a broad spectrum of scholarly fields AND has been ahead of scientific discovery. The information in The Urantia Book remains constant. The contributions that scientific advancements make to our appreciation of physical reality and the history of our world is ever changing. Therefore, the relationship between science and The Urantia Book is also evolving. UBtheNEWS reports cover a wide variety of corroborations. Some issues are quite simple and/or settled points in science. Other issues regarding The Urantia Book's relationship to science are more complex and/or unsettled. In an effort to help visitors to this site appreciate the credibility of The Urantia Book, the first priority is to present material regarding The Urantia Book's relationship to science that is simple, straightforward, and reasonably settled. As the site develops, increasingly more of the complex and less settled areas will also be presented. The presentation of reports for this website began in January 2007. There is more than a lifetime of work associated with the scope of this project; it is in its earliest stages of development. Nonetheless, already extraordinary scientific corroborations have occurred that lend credibility and validity to The Urantia Book. Reports on some of these things are now available on UBtheNEWS. The rest are coming. Knowing about material reality and about the facts related to the history of our planet and humanity has its own value. Increasing our understanding of and appreciation for God and for our relationship to each other is even more important. Naturally, this website is being created with the hope that through an appreciation for the credibility of The Urantia Book with respect to material reality, visitors will become interested in looking to The Urantia Book as a good source of information about spiritual reality. If it is important to you that the writings you go to for inspiration and information about God and spirituality are in harmony with the facts of material reality, then The Urantia Book is definitely something to be considered. This is simply an effort to encourage appreciation for the credibility and validity of The Urantia Book. There is no need join anything or to buy anything; the entire book is available for free online. There is no charismatic leader or authoritative institutions or structures associated with The Urantia Book. No one is getting rich off of it, but many people have found The Urantia Book to be very enriching. What is UBtheNEWS? UBtheNEWS is a collective effort by individual Urantia Book enthusiasts to create, report on, and be a resource for news and information related to the emerging scientific and historical validity and credibility of The Urantia Book. It is provided as a free service. Additionally, Halbert Katzen, the creator of UBtheNEWS travels around the country offering slide presentation lectures. These are also provided as a free service. If you would like Halbert to speak at an event in your area please get in touch with him through the contact information provided on this site. UBtheNEWS works to advance, report on, fund, and coordinate with projects and people who are doing this kind of work. The goal of UBtheNEWS is to turn the credibility and the validity of The Urantia Book into old news as quickly as possible. Naturally, an ongoing effort of this magnitude that is provided as a free service needs funding to keep it going. If you are inspired to make a contribution, click here to do so on line or contact Halbert directly.
Who is Halbert? I am the creator of the UBtheNEWS project. UBtheNEWS was launched in January 2007. As the creator of a relatively new and unprecedented project, there are various hats that I need to wear in order to keep everything moving forward. The primary responsibilities include: researching and writing the reports and other material found on the website (I get some support in this regard, but have done the initial drafts of most everything you see); doing presentations; coordinating and integrating all the activities of those who want to make a contribution to the project; and generally planning for its growth and development. When it comes to making a positive difference in the world, I think this is the most efficient and productive use of my time. The project makes good use of all of my talents in terms of education and life experiences. And I’m delighted to report that I have never made so many people so happy with my efforts. Initially, UBtheNEWS looked to most people like Halbert’s one-man road show. But I never looked at or experienced it that way. I have received help all along the way and have always organized it and viewed it as a “grassroots” effort. After sixteen months, it is starting to look the same to others as it always has to me. At this point, an extraordinary group of people are making significant contributions in all kinds of ways and the number and involvement of others is continuing to grow at a very nice pace. UBtheNews started out with a focus on just one facet of the diamond. To learn more about what led me to feel I needed to be on this mission and how it evolved from its initial conception, read the Get a Clue; then FOLLOW IT! article. The goal of the project is to make it obsolete. If the world learns of The Urantia Book’s unique quality of credibility in my lifetime, I’ll consider the mission complete. For now, it looks like I have a lifetime’s worth of work ahead of me. The to-do list is already years long. I have been blessed with a good education and a wide variety of life experiences that have left me well suited for this opportunity to be of service. I find it very humbling to be given such wonderful work to do and just hope I can measure up to the task. I started reading The Urantia Book at the beginning of 1981. (A Greenpeace co-worker introduced it to me.) I did an interdisciplinary undergraduate degree at Brandeis University called The Nature and Development of Religious Experience. After that I moved to Boulder, Colorado to attend The Boulder School, a two-year program of intensive Urantia Book study. In the mid 1990’s I got an MBA and law degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder and practiced law for about a year and a half. Though I did not much care for the practice of law, the education was excellent for developing research skills and learning about new subject areas that I had never thought much about before. Becoming a lawyer is as much about learning how to learn the law as it is about actually learning the laws. Because I do not have a background in the sciences, this skill set has served me very well now that I have to give myself crash courses in new fields of science on a regular basis. A peculiar phenomenon helped prepare me for talking to people about something that has both a scientific and spiritual component to it. The common name is ice spikes. I seem to have won the lottery regarding this effect and refer to them as Halbertcicles. They first began to appear with very regular frequency and unusual size and shape as a response to a prayer request for my son. They have been occurring everywhere I go since the spring of 2004. The most dramatic examples occurred shortly after this project began. Aside from appreciating them for coming in response to prayer, I’ve come to believe that they also showed up to teach me how to handle challenging conversations gracefully that have both a scientific and spiritual aspect. You see them and learn more about them at halbertcicles.com. There’s another life experience that has been particularly helpful to me in preparing me for the work I am doing now. I learned how to juggle on a rope blindfolded by the grace of God. You might look at this as my own personal version of walking on hot coals or something of that nature. The whole exercise was about running a little experiment regarding my belief that with God all things are possible. The approach was not just to learn to do it, but to learn to do it with as little practice as possible, accelerated learning. (You’ll no doubt be happy to know I’m now applying these techniques to the prospect of having peace on earth in our lifetime.) Suffice it to say, I’m reasonably convinced that it is true, with God all things are possible. There is a video of my best performance of this, but it is not quite ready for publication on the website. The audio needs to be cleaned up a little bit first. So keep checking back. In all likelihood it will be posted by the end of July at the latest. I have also written a book called The Logic of Love: Finding Faith through the Heart-Mind Connection. You can learn more about it and other things I’ve written at insightsout.com. My first job out of high school was with Greenpeace. I’ve always believed in nonviolent social change, grassroots organizing, and working for peace on earth. In my view, sharing The Urantia Book with people is the most direct and powerful thing I can do to promote world peace. Nothing promotes peace and harmony among people like having a common cultural identification. It’s like a magic fulcrum for inspiring people to get along. Whether it is enjoying the same music, working at the same job, similar political or religious views, a common culture identification encourages people to at least try harder to get along. The Urantia Book, by being new and not integrated into any other cultural identities, and because its spiritual and philosophical content is so superb and the book is increasingly exhibiting with such a unique and superhuman quality of credibility, seems to me to be the most powerful tool available for promoting peace. In my view, the UBtheNEWS project has an extraordinary amount of unrealized potential, and all I want to do is stay busy turning this potential into a reality. It is a great blessing to be more interested in “work” than “play.” Being on a “mission from God” and living on the road in a very small motor home has plenty of challenges, to be sure, but it also comes with richly rewarding experiences that bring an exquisite balance to it all. In the month before hitting the road to initiate the UBtheNEWS project, I recorded the first and only song I have ever recorded with “a band.” It’s called Please Pass The Love. I hope you like it. Thanks for taking the time to learn about this work and about me. Welcome to UBtheNEWS.
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