The Urantia Corps for Spiritual Progress (UCSP) tentatively supports the claim that the Shroud of Turin is the actual burial cloth of Jesus based on The Urantia Book teachings.
"Now that the Shroud’s date has been identified as being consistent with the time of Jesus’ burial, The Urantia Book provides an intriguing account that supports the idea that this may indeed be the burial cloth of Jesus," said UCSP founder Rebecca Bynum. "The Urantia Book states that the Archangels, along with other celestial beings, received permission to dissolve the Master’s material body in an instant of time so as to spare the celestial beings from having to witness the body of their beloved sovereign slowly decay in the tomb. Jesus resurrected in a form of matter called morontia, the same form of matter from which our souls are made."
"The fact that Christ suddenly appeared to the apostles behind a locked door cannot be explained if he were still in his material body," added UCSP co-founder, Marti Garlow Leib. "Morontia matter is a vast level of reality intervening between matter and spirit, and all this is fully explained in the intriguing The Urantia Book."
The Urantia Book is not at all definitive on this matter. It does state the grave cloths were removed from the tomb and thrown over a nearby cliff by the captain of the temple guards, but there is no indication in the book that those grave cloths were found and preserved by early believers.
"Although it is impossible to know whether the Shroud of Turin is the actual burial cloth of Jesus," began UCSP founding member Julia Raffety. "It is certainly consistent with the account of instantaneous dissolution of the body within those wrappings. Marks certainly would have been made simply from the heat generated."
"We also know that Jesus took great pains not to leave any writing or objects of veneration,” added UCSP founding member Dorenda Morse. "That said, people have been mulling over the Shroud of Turin for centuries and continue to search for the truth about this object. Science has done much to provide facts about the relic, but they haven't been to provide a complete answer. The search goes on for more proof. There is much food for thought for the answer to this question in The Urantia Book.”
"Personally, I believe the only real evidence of Christ’s resurrection is spiritual," stated UCSP co-founder Cheryl Phillips. "And I believe the midwayers would have destroyed the cloth so as not to leave a relic."
The Urantia Book states: "The Christian belief in the resurrection of Jesus has been based on the fact of the ‘empty tomb.’ It was indeed a fact that the tomb was empty, but this is not the truth of the resurrection. The tomb was truly empty when the first believers arrived, and this fact, associated with that of the undoubted resurrection of the Master, led to the formulation of a belief which was not true: the teaching that the material and mortal body of Jesus was raised from the grave. Truth having to do with spiritual realities and eternal values cannot always be built up by a combination of apparent facts. Although individual facts may be materially true, it does not follow that the association of a group of facts must necessarily lead to truthful spiritual conclusions." (189:2:6)
"While we may never know the truth concerning the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin," added UCSP founder Rebecca Bynum. "We can certainly know the truth of the resurrection of Jesus and have faith that we, too, will be resurrected in morontia form on the Mansion worlds after death."
The Urantia Corps for Spiritual Progress endeavors to bring new understandings about the nature of reality, the cosmos, philosophy, history, and the life and teachings of Jesus to the world.
About the Urantia Corps for Spiritual Progress
The Urantia Corps for Spiritual Progress (UCSP) is dedicated to the dissemination and teaching of The Urantia Book, aiming to bridge the gap between spiritual inquiry and scientific understanding. We reach out to religious groups, scientific communities, philosophical circles, and educational institutions to share the transformative vision of The Urantia Book. For more information, visit our website at https://urantiachurch.org.
Media Contact
Rebecca Bynum
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