Presentation to ANZURA Annual Conference—Melbourne 2007
My favourite places in the UB begin with the discovery of answers to three basic questions I had when I first began reading it as a 24 year old 34 years ago:
- Who is Jesus?
- Were Adam and Eve real people and was there ever a Garden of Eden?
- Is evolution as I had been taught at school, true? Can science and religion be reconciled?
Who is Jesus?
The first and most important question was eloquently answered after reading less than a page of Paper 120. I experienced a truth recognition response.
From there unfolded the whole picture of our creator parent bestowing himself as a man of the realm to live a normal human life and I came to understand, ‘if God was a man that man would be Jesus’.
In getting to know who Jesus was, a vital component was realizing who he was not. My Christian upbringing had told me he was God’s only begotten son; now I was finding out he is not the Eternal Son the second person of the Paradise Trinity. Paradise Trinity, here was something that needed further investigation.
How refreshing to know he arrived in the usual way (virgin birth not required) the fact of his incarnation a miracle in itself. Also of comfort, the knowledge he was not acting out a pre-ordained path, free will choice was always the controlling factor, even willingness to endure shocking injustice at the hands of frightened and ignorant men in power was an eloquent act of dignified love summed up in his final plea of redemption for mankind; “forgive them Father for they know not what they do”.
I recognized the power of authority and the compelling the beauty of the perfectly chosen words portrayed as I read Immanuel’s bestowal charge to Michael.
The Urantia Book (our Earth Book), I had figured as much. I entered upon this tome with paper 120 and a whole Pandora’s box of new information presented itself for assessment, new terms cried out for qualification;
Michael, Immanuel, Union of Days, Ancients of Days, Melchizedek, Gabriel, Nebadon, Salvington, Sonarington, Satania, Uversa, Eternal Son, Universal father, Infinite Spirit, Paradise Trinity, the Supreme, Adjuster, Lucifer, Caligastia, Adamic default. All this in less than 10 pages.
Reference to the Adamic default in this paper was an apt pointer to my next Question
Were Adam and Eve real people and the Garden of Eden a factual place?
A mythical tale carried over unresolved into a scientific age of reason, so I thought. What was this story doing in this book of wisdom? Curiosity urged me onward. Could the story of creation be reconciled with evolution?
On turning to paper 74 titled, ‘Adam and Eve’, the opening paragraph prosaically set the scene of their arrival nearly 38 thousand years ago and confirmed their extra terrestrial origin. Much of what I was reading required corroboration within other parts of the book and I found myself flicking pages to get a fuller picture. As the Garden was mentioned in the opening paragraph, I turned to the preceeding paper ‘The garden of Eden’ and there discovered a more comprehensive answer to my question. Adam and Eve were biologic uplifters.
With satisfaction I learnt that evolution is the norm and continues till mankind is ready to receive the benefit of biologic upstepping. This made sense.
Pieces of a fragmented and hazy past were falling into place. A great and far reaching tragedy had occurred and our present condition has been profoundly influenced by it. The Lucifer rebellion loomed large as another topic of investigation but reading on about the Garden of Eden gave me enough information to understand the story of Adam and Eve and their intended mission. As the story unfolded, another mystery was unveiled, the chapter on ‘The Tree of Life’ showed how its fruit sustained Adam and Eve’s immortality.
A picture was emerging of divine overcontrol at work in the progress of life on earth. With sadness I read of our thwarted destiny and conjectured what might have been.
Here I first became aware of the epochal nature of our past planetary administration and how Adam and Eve inaugurated a new era.
This paper also solved a biblical inconsistency, the land of Nod where it is said the sons of Adam went to get themselves wives. If Adam was the first man, where did these Nodites come from?
Other erroneous ideas carried over from my Christian upbringing were corrected on reading ‘The Legend of Creation’ p836. The story of creation of the world in six days and the story of the creation of Eve from a rib of Adam.
The story of a golden age and the fall of man is another hoary chestnut put to rest in this chapter.
Now I had established to a degree of satisfaction that both, evolution, natural selection and divine intervention, contributed to the development of life on earth.
As with the paper on Jesus a list of new terms had been thrown up for future consideration; Dalamatia, Daligastia, Life Carriers, Van, Amadon, midway creatures, fandors.
I had one more question to address before I could launch on the adventure of reading the book cover to cover, the key players to inform me of evolution, the Life Carriers, had already made a guest appearance in the story of Adam and Eve.
Is evolution, as I had been taught at school, true?
How did life originate? Did it a result from an accidental combination of molecules zapped by lightning?
With these questions in mind I turned to paper 65 ‘The Overcontrol of Evolution’. I had fun with this paper, my biology classes were fondly remembered as I learnt that the first amoeba is still with us and going strong.
How refreshingly assuring it was to know that evolution is the divine plan at work in time and space. Just as the seed carries within itself the pattern of the full grown tree, the evolutionary panorama was the canvas of life where mankind was unfurled to emerge out of the slime and the ooze of primordial seas to flutter freely on the mountain top of survival. I’m still fascinated by the tale of ascending orders of creatures as they came to terms with the changing environment and forged patterns of behaviour as mind developed and experience resulted in improved survival choices. A curious feature of this story was mention of sudden changes in creature mutation. Like when a reptile became a bird and when a dinosaur became a mammal.
I had read enough of the UB by now to notice the priority placed on a hands-off approach when dealing with will creatures and appreciated this respect for free will. An emphasis in fact, which permeates the whole book.
Evolution is still in progress and we are told sudden progressive leaps are still possible. Mankind must forge its own destiny through intelligent fostering of its best potentials.
Paper 65 presented me with information of a revelatory nature right alongside the pageant of plant and animal life well familiar. What was news; we are a life-experiment world. Sequence of human development varies from the norm; Andonic race appeared before the coloured races and the Six coloured races appeared in one family. It was news to learn our world is the only planet in our system of inhabited worlds where human will appeared before the coloured races. Early manifestation of will in evolutionary life, a success in modification of the Nebadon life design.
As with the previous two papers, the list of new terms tugged at my growing curiosity to know more; Master Physical Controllers, Seven Master Spirits, Andon and Fonta, Sangik races and a doosie that would stretch my mind to the limits of comprehension when I finally started to read the Foreword, the Unqualified Absolute.
By now I was convinced I was onto something big, time to take it head-on, cover to cover. There I discovered many other favourite places for the words are a delight to contemplate and are filled with adventure and promise. Paper 140 on page 1568, “The Ordination of the Twelve’, another favourite, is one of many places that tells us we live in a friendly universe.
My current number one place is Paper 28, ‘Ministering Spirits of the Superuniverses’,
page 306, with particular emphasis to the functioning of reflectivity in the Secondary Seconaphim and the Tertiary Seconaphim where I have learnt anew about; The Significance of Origins, Memory of Mercy, The Import of Time, The Solemnity of Trust, The Sanctity of Service and The Secret of Greatness and the Soul of Goodness.
If there is one favourite word, for me that word is faith. If there is one favourite paragraph, for me it is about faith. If there is one favourite person, for me it is Jesus, the man of faith.
Faith most willingly carries reason along as far as reason can go and then goes on with wisdom to the full philosophic limit; and then it dares to launch out upon the limitless and never-ending universe journey in the sole company of TRUTH. [Paper103:9.7, page 1141:5]
Things that made me sit up and take notice:
“I know whereof I speak”
[Presented by a Divine Counselor, a member of a group of celestial personalities assigned by the Ancients of Days on Uversa, the headquarters of the seventh superuniverse, to supervise those portions of this forthcoming revelation which have to do with affairs beyond the borders of the local universe of Nebadon. I am commissioned to sponsor those papers portraying the nature and attributes of God because I represent the highest source of information available for such a purpose on any inhabited world. I have served as a Divine Counselor in all seven of the superuniverses and have long resided at the Paradise center of all things. Many times have I enjoyed the supreme pleasure of a sojourn in the immediate personal presence of the Universal Father. I portray the reality and truth of the Father’s nature and attributes with unchallengeable authority; I know whereof I speak. ]
[Paper 1:7.9, Page 32:1]Presented by a Divine Counselor —
The Eternal Son is a grand and glorious personality. Although it is beyond the powers of the mortal and material mind to grasp the actuality of the personality of such an infinite being, doubt not, he is a person. I know whereof I speak. Times almost without number I have stood in the divine presence of this Eternal Son and then journeyed forth in the universe to execute his gracious bidding. [Paper 6:8.8., Page 80:5]Presented by a Solitary Messenger –
In a sense the Adjusters may be fostering a certain degree of planetary cross-fertilization in the domains of truth, beauty, and goodness. But they are seldom given two indwelling experiences on the same planet; there is no Adjuster now serving on Urantia who has been on this world previously. I know whereof I speak since we have their numbers and records in the archives of Uversa.
[Paper 109:4.6, page 1199:1]Presented by the Urantia Midwayer Commission under the supervision of a Melchizedek revelatory Director –
Between these two celestial visitations, one in his thirteenth year and the other at his baptism, there occurred nothing supernatural or superhuman in the life of this incarnated Creator Son. Notwithstanding this, the babe of Bethlehem, the lad, youth, and man of Nazareth, was in reality the incarnated Creator of a universe; but he never once used aught of this power, nor did he utilize the guidance of celestial personalities, aside from that of his guardian seraphim, in the living of his human life up to the day of his baptism by John. And we who thus testify know whereof we speak. [128:1.9, page 1408.6]Spoken by Jesus’ Personalized Adjuster –
“Not one of you can do aught to assist your Creator-father in the return to life. As a mortal of the realm he has experienced mortal death; as the Sovereign of a universe he still lives. That which you observe is the mortal transit of Jesus of Nazareth from life in the flesh to life in the morontia. The spirit transit of this Jesus was completed at the time I separated myself from his personality and became your temporary director. Your Creator-father has elected to pass through the whole of the experience of his mortal creatures, from birth on the material worlds, on through natural death and the resurrection of the morontia, into the status of true spirit existence. A certain phase of this experience you are about to observe, but you may not participate in it. Those things which you ordinarily do for the creature, you may not do for the Creator. A Creator Son has within himself the power to bestow himself in the likeness of any of his created sons; he has within himself the power to lay down his observable life and to take it up again; and he has this power because of the direct command of the Paradise Father, and I know whereof I speak.” [189:0.2 Page 2020:2]
For some highlights and conference reports:
https://anzura.urantia-association.org/documents/arena/Arena_2007_Vol-14_No-4.pdf