With only marginal perspicacity one can readily discern a planetary contrarian especially if you are married to one or one exists within the family unit. Though  contrarians abound within the entire social spectrum, having seemingly descended from the outer-realms, and being the annoying creatures they are, they live and die among the general population walking about undistinguished and  often unnoticed until they open their mouths. It’s not a row of long pointed teeth that grabs one’s attention, but rather the words that come out of their mouths - in general, a diatribe of opposition to anything pertinent to a rational discussion. They are so predisposed  to a contrary position in any conversation that one might logically attribute it to an exposure to some unseen atmospheric radiation affecting a portion of their genetic structure, or perhaps to some subliminal messages received  during their sleep emanating from the planet Contrarius, (a planet that must be somewhere near us in the  universe), or maybe even a UFO overhead. Whatever their source of origin, contrarians are among a personality type defined as oppositional personalities that almost inherently, and for no apparent reason, attack  any reasonable argument with a counter point of view that usually has little or no relevancy directed towards the conversation - sort of like aiming at the barn and shooting your foot - the kind that “talk just to hear themselves talk”. They are seldom on the same page with anyone of sound reasoning capacity, often appearing to delight in off-beat remarks for their contribution to a conversation.

Contrarians (there does exist a psychological syndrome involving oppositional personalities) are so pre-programmed towards opposition that one might surmise that God provided them with an invisible gene that causes them to run in a counter direction in all conversations just to teach the reasonable people tolerance. My patience wears thin when I hear things like, “I wrote my own Urantia book leaving out several irrelevant chapters to make it more understandable  to the average reader”.  These  people have been predisposed to upset the apple cart whenever possible. They should be immediately reported to the contrarian police and sent back to the factory for reprogramming (a line from “Midnight Express). I am pretty sure  my computer on certain occasions is more rational than these reprobates. The problem is they are running amuck throughout world societies in possession of fairly normal IQ’s, although one has to question this fact from time to time due to their outrageous mind-sets (used here to imply mental conditions involving erroneous interpretations of cause-effect relationships - termed parataxical distortions) that  rational people usually find disturbing. Logic and reason are invasive to their conversational positions from which they impulsively derive pleasure by responding in half-wit fashion by redirecting logical conversational outcomes to their distorted perceptions of reality. In other words they try to convince others to accept their convoluted point of view, even when they are so far off base the umpire has lost them in his field of vision.

These distortions are a common experience within all social orders throughout history; dating back to the times of the descendents of the first humans. Fallacious causal relationships are mentioned on page 722 of The U. book, but this by no means is the only reference. Any religious or social order that  invents a God for the expediency of social living is guilty of a causal interpretation which may or may not be delusional. All the Greek and Roman and Scandinavian Gods are a prime example. A God was fabricated for every occasion. Gods for love, war, weather elements, power, etc. Apollo, Zeus, Titan and Thor - to name a few. And while we’re naming false Gods let’s not forget Allah, invented by Muhammad. The progeny of Andon and Fonta some 10,000 years after their birth had their fears of the elements, essentially a fear of sea engulfment, ice advancement and river floods, but their spiritual leader Onagar of the Badonan tribes was wise enough not to implement sacrifice to placate the their God the “Breath Giver”. About 40,000 years later the Neanderthals, deathly afraid of the dark and dreading nightfall  initiated a bartered  by sacrificing the best of their stock to the unseen Elemental Controller (the Elemental Controller accepts no ringers - therefore sacrifice the best you have for best results). This attitude created a severe diminution of the better racial qualities within the Neanderthal communities. (pg. 722) “The Neanderthals also developed a superstitious religion of fear based on the placation of unseen forces behind the natural elements”. Placation in this case meant human sacrifice to keep the moon shining. (A slight miscalculation in determining cause-effect for we all know it‘s our web-master Peter that turns the moon on every night, at least that‘s what Baker says). But seriously, this miscalculation of the determinants of causal relationship has been by far the most devastating insult to innocent lives for over 800,000 years, and still persist in come societies. The recent beheadings in Iraq, were after all  for Allah, so in the long run this is fairly close to God appeasement. Allah does not you speaking against Him, or else. (My only fear is my crooked secular stock broker - I’d like to sacrifice him to the God of commerce, and then maybe I could afford to serve steaks at our annual barbeque this year). All subsequent sacrifices, including those at the time of Jesus were the result of errors in judgment or causal distortions of reality. Many of the practices of sacrifices of humans and animals although not practiced today remain in the cultural beliefs of many Christians. The idea that Jesus sacrificed Himself for the sins of future humanity is very much a part of Scripture teaching in today’s world. These distortions are bound to manifest in the evolutionary domains; let’s just try to keep them out of the Urantia movement as much as possible. At one time we had about 100 channelers in the movement - they were so far off base rational monitors had to keep on hand long distant runners to find them.  Channelers were purportedly receiving messages from Gabriel, Jesus, Machiventa Melchizadek, Norson Melchizadek, Ham, Cigna, and about 70 others. At times they were to publicly appear in front of their group audiences, but no such luck. The channeler’s response - they had something better to do, something more important, and besides who are we to question these Divine beings in the first place. They have a right not to show up if they have more important things to do. ---- Duh !

The inculcation of religious philosophies are very difficult to overcome. Once one has accepted reincarnation as a fact of life (or maybe a second life), or the Virgin birth of Jesus, or talking with the souls of the departed, etc., yet while it may be uncomfortable to displace such ideas, these conditionings are, nevertheless, still held by Urantia readers today and the positions are vehemently defended. Some Catholics while they profess to believe in the Urantia teachings still believe in the Virgin birth. Several long time readers still maintain that reincarnation is more that a reborn flower. The acceptance of new facts can be a liberating experience - my astute and precocious buddies in Jr. High School  liberated some of us when we were informed that masturbation  didn’t really cause dwarfism. The acceptance of new facts can free all of us from the errors of the past, but only to the extent that we are willing to embrace these new realities of life. If Jesus, when He comes back states that he was conceived  in normal fashion, there will always be someone around saying  how would you know? There are times when facts can’t be examined to facilitate decision making, but one should  be very prudent when  imposing his beliefs over a much higher source. Wisdom dictates that we leave some things unchallenged. The folly of Lucifer was that he challenged the highest authorities, consequently he’s sweating it out on a detention sphere.

Moral decision making contributes to spiritual growth which advances the soul and this growth is predicated upon wise choices relative to normal reality contact within a genuine moral being. The disingenuous are principally evil and always risk a chance at meaningful spiritual progress. One does not want to be sent to the office of the principal  if he looses his ability to remain genuine, for the principal in this case is the Ancients of Days, and from what I hear They are not too fond of con artists - the bloodsuckers of society.

Most contrarians are generally negative personality types seemingly devoid of a normal capacity to perceive positive outcomes, are usually cynics, and almost never see the good in a backward world such as ours. As the Urantia book aptly points out - the bold print of evil readily stands out on a white page of goodness. The good space is far greater than the evil which emblazons it, but contrarians are prone to observe only the  bold black print and remain fixated thereon.  Contrarians are more than just irrational on a particular subject for they invariably run counter to the direction of rational debate always asserting their position without regard to the relationship of facts and ideas in the overall conversation.  Contrarians sometimes sound like politicians, one doesn’t always get a straight answer. For example, it you ask a contrarian - Do you see that guy over there starring at us? Ans. I’m not sure. - Well, what do you mean? Ans. I’m not sure whether it’s a guy or a girl. - But you do see someone? Ans. I’m not sure, it could be a girl in slacks. - Well lets assume it’s a guy, can  you see him? Ans. Like I said, I’m not sure it’s a him, but I think I see something, well, whoever it was, he or she is already gone so I guess it’s immaterial now. (never a straight answer, always a dopey answer) --- This guy definitely belongs in politics.

Nowhere is it to be suggested that alternative opinions shouldn’t be expressed  - it is the diversity  of opinions that contribute to the development of the intellectual mind, for it causes us to think. However, for the most part, I’m not talking about an occasional difference in viewpoint, but rather a propensity to intentionally put forth a view that runs counter to the reality of fact and reason. The element of relevancy in the retorts of oppositional personalities perplexes mainstream (rational) personalities to where they might bait the contrarian just to elicit a convoluted response for their own amusement. One might, for example, ask the leader if Iran his reasons for the holocaust having never existed  in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. One could not expect and intelligent response, for it would be comparable to reasons why the Roman empire never existed,  but you might be curious just to determine the depth of his delusion.

A typical example of the oppositional type is manifest in a conversation of three Urantia book readers wherein the following conversation took place. (not exactly word for word). In the middle of a conversation concerning mid-east violence in religion we overhear the following:  Bill (rational) “This concept of jihad in the Quran where Allah decrees that Muslims should not kill people unless it is done in an effort to convert or punish those who will not convert to Islam is quite problematic in that it is influencing  Muslims and their children with ages as low as five or six to hate and kill people for not believing in the teachings of Muhammad, and all this under the guise of a divine mandate, is simply too crazy to believe.” John (rational) “Yeah, what kind of a God would propound such a thing  - the whole concept is antithetical to Jesus’ beliefs and to modern Christianity. Especially is this a problem with all these religious factions today feverishly attempting to develop biological and nuclear weaponry to eventually convert the world to Islam”. Joe (Contrarian) “Common guys, get real, Christians are just as bad as Muslims, look what the Spaniards did during the Inquisition. Don’t think that Christians don’t kill people, we’re probably worse than the Muslims. And look what the Christians are doing in Iraq. Aren’t we killing all the Muslims over there? And don’t forget the Crusades, we didn’t exactly pull our punches over there either.

In a few short declarations Joe managed to alienate himself from the other two through  his oppositional attitude. 1. Christians as an organized group aren’t killing Muslims. It’s the other way around. U.S. armed forces are killing Iraqis. The Muslims are killing Americans not so much because they are Americans but because Americans are comprised of Christians and Jews. 2. Americans are not teaching children to kill people, Muslims are. 3. There is no comparison between radical Muslims and radical Christians, except that both are irrational. It is not the desire of radical Christians to murder Muslims. It is the desire of radical Muslims to murder Christians. 4. The crusades were battles of Christian assertion to reclaim lands taken in Fatah by Arabian Muslims against  Christian land ownership. (Fatah - a deliberate war or skirmish to convert territory belonging to others for purposes of establishing a Muslim community).

Contrarians rarely agree on a point of discussion but possess an inordinate need to present a counter view with only the slightest relevance to the conversation. Everyone knows that there were atrocities during the history of  Christianity and Judaism, but the point was not one of right or wrong in times of a lesser morality, or perhaps a morbid morality, but rather a 21st century acceptance of a  backward, so called, prophecy  by the perverse teachings of Muhammad which has now set the stage for offensive and aggressive wars, wars condoned by Allah Himself, and with big rewards in the after-life for murder and mayhem. Twenty first century mayhem condoned by God was the topic throughout the conversation but Joe continued to persevere on the mistakes of Christians and Jews over a thousand years ago, never agreeing on the subject of the conversation. All three of the aforementioned were Urantia book readers for over twenty years. Joe was aligned with the Fellowship, the other two with the URI. Now this in not to suggest that the Fellowship is necessarily more oppositional than others but merely points out that unity of position remains a far off concept for agreement on any specific point of interest, and this certainly includes readers of the Urantia book. And I only mention this because it relates to a recent interaction I had with a contrarian of sorts who has his own ideas of unity.

Recently I experienced an ongoing dialogue with a chap that professed to have read the Urantia book and decided to write his own book leaving out the Jesus papers, which according to the midwayers is the most important part of the book. He thought the rest of the book would be a unifying presence for all religions. Jesus as a Divine Being does not appeal to Muslims - He is below the stature of Muhammad - Allah’s last and most trusted messenger. We assume this guy is Islamic. The Urantia revelation will unify no-one if it is kept from the populace - hence our reason for being. The book would be immediately destroyed and outlawed in Muslim states since it contradicts the Quran in so many areas. This man’s book and ideology present a challenge to my Jesusonian beliefs and one can read the dialogue on our web site under  Forum Articles. This fellow may not represent the contrarians, but his arguments are typical of oppositional reasoning.  After reading the Urantia book and writing his own he maintains that the Urantia book was not  presented by non- humans but was written entirely by human wise men - on the order of the Bible. He chose to place his wisdom over the real authors of the  Urantia Book by ignoring the inditements at the end of each paper, especially page 32.

May God bless America and put the contrarians back on their own planet. Anyone who has been concerned with the Urantia movement for more than a year knows that the revelation basically appeals to truth seekers (people searching for the highest source of spiritual reality), and that it has little or no appeal to most people in other religions - especially Muslims, or for that matter atheists, agnostics and certain secularists.

In time the book will unify religious belief systems as it has done with many of us - but this requires an open mind concurrent with readiness on the part of the reader to accept this new information, otherwise it becomes merely an interesting science fiction book, or worse, something to be feared as Christian, Muslim, and Jewish faiths have already experienced. When truth presents itself one has to be prepared for its acceptance or he must continue to wallow in his own ignorance which automatically inhibits spiritual growth, thereby contributing to the stagnation of the soul. The biggest  mistake in history was, and still is, the denial of the Divine reality of Michael and the truths he set forth on our planet some 2000 years ago. The second biggest mistake is to alter his latest revelation by challenging  its authorship and understating its wisdom by supplanting one’s own. The human mind is hardly a substitute for millions of years of universe experience. You would virtually be pitting less than 100 years of earthly experience against millions of years of accumulated wisdom. The same kind of people might be making a colossal  mistake by elaborating on the teachings set forth  in the  Urantia Book when they choose to  publish their own altered version leaving out what they deem appropriate. That is not to say we shouldn’t be writing anything from or about the Urantia book. Ancillary works are, on the other hand, quite permissible and are encouraged by the Foundation in Chicago. This short discourse might be considered an ancillary work since some of the information stems from the Urantia book.

Our Web site is currently taking about 30,000 hit’s a month, others are taking in far more and most others far less. Albeit, almost all ( a few sites challenge the revelation) are attempting to expose the teachings to others as presented - we know our destiny is to be “settled in light and life”, so what we do now is as much for future generations as it is for ours.

We cannot expect individuals who have been indoctrinated and inculcated into life long belief systems, be they religious or non-religious, to readily give up their intellectual, spiritual and material comfort zones to embrace something that is entirely foreign to them.

If we add up the hits on all the various web-sites (over 400) we are probably taking over a million hit’s a month (the Foundation itself takes about 450,000 a month), so while the progress  appears slow to many of us, this would have been beyond the expectations of anyone just a couple of decades ago. So cheer up folks, the revelation is definitely on the move. We can’t imagine what might happen in the decades to come, but one thing is certain, eventually we will be settled (basically unified, on the same page so to speak), with intellectual diversity and only slight differences of opinions, but needless to say no contrarians, and no animosities, but rather a pervasive understanding of the brotherhood of mankind where humanity will act civilly, and responsibly to each and all. Prior to that time, metaphorically speaking, there will be a mass exodus of the contrarians to their own isolated planet; peace and harmony will be the order of the day, but word of this will have to come to us in another part of the universe for it certainly won’t be in the near future - until then let’s get on the shtick , as they say - and let us spread the revelation today.

While the contrarian might assume that the theme of this discourse was the sacrifice of my stock broker, what I tried to cover was the following: Reality Interpretation - what is real and its association to what is not. (Parataxical distortions - false cause-effect relationships). Spiritual Awakening - (synthesis of new spiritual facts of life - values). Soul Growth - dependent upon the recognition of new spiritual realities as they effect moral decision making. Pattern Personality - A type that thrives on distortion. Origin of Sacrifice 

As the first great causal distortion, and its effect on all subsequent humanity. The Sacrifice of My Broker.