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Miscellaneous erroneous material summarized
The best known 'errors' in the Papers are the distance to the Andromeda galaxy, the "instantaneous disruption" of elements higher than the one-hundredth, the planet Mercury always turning the same face to the sun, and the human chromosome number. All of them were simply direct quotations of the then current knowledge.
Page 658. "2,500,000,000 years ago the planets had grown immensely in size. Urantia was a well-developed sphere about one tenth its present mass and was still growing rapidly by meteoric accretion."
Comment: The fact that evidence is available for the occurrence of sedimentary rocks and oceans dating back to from 3.8 to 4.4 billion years ago and for life forms existing close to 4 billion years ago is impossible to reconcile with this statement. And there is much convincing evidence indicating the Earth and its moon were close to their full size by about 4.4 billion years ago.3,4
Page 659. "1,500,000,000 years ago the earth was two thirds its present size…Volcanic action is now at its height. The whole earth is a veritable fiery inferno, the surface resembling its earlier molten state before the heavier metals gravitated toward the center. This is the volcanic age…The primitive planetary atmosphere is slowly evolving, now containing some water vapor, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen chloride, but there is little or no free nitrogen or free oxygen. Presently, the atmosphere became more settled and cooled sufficiently to start precipitation of rain on the hot rocky surface of the planet. For thousands of years Urantia was enveloped in one vast and continuous blanket of steam. And during these ages the sun never shone upon the earth's surface."
Comment: There is no geological evidence to support such a scenario. Photosynthetic bacteria have been present in the oceans of the world since between 3.5 and 4 billion years ago, a fact demonstrated by the ratio of carbon isotopes in fossil remains that is unique to photosynthesis by living organisms. Additionally, studies of crater formation on the moon demonstrate that bombardment by large planetesimals virtually ceased by 3.8 billion years ago and that crater formation fell to the current level at about that time. An Earth, two thirds its present size just 1.5 billion years ago is not a possibility.
Oxygen is the waste product of photosynthesis, itself a biological process. 3.8 billion years ago these bacteria had oxygenated the waters sufficiently to convert the soluble ferrous iron salts to the insoluble oxidized ferric form. Deposits from this process are present as sedimentary strata at Isua in Greenland and elsewhere. Barite/gypsum deposits, aged 3.5 billion years are found at places like Pilbarra in Western Australia, and are the result of oxidation of sulfides to sulfates. This oxidation process continued until 1.7 billion years ago when the oceans were cleared of the excess reduced salts.
A period of "thousands of years" during which the "sun never shone on the earth's surface" would have wiped out all photosynthetic organisms. Thus the incredibly complicated oxygen producing process of photosynthesis would have needed to evolve all over again. But the evidence is for a sharp rise in atmospheric oxygen commencing in this period, rising towards 10% of current levels by its end, 1.0 billion years ago.3,4
Page-660. 1,000,000,000 years ago. "The planet had attained approximately its present size…. The real geologic history of Urantia begins with the cooling of the earth's crust sufficiently to cause the formation of the first ocean. Water-vapor condensation on the cooling surface of the earth, once begun, continued until it was virtually complete. By the end of this period the ocean was world-wide, covering the entire planet to an average depth of over one mile. The tides were then in play much as they are now observed, but this primitive ocean was not salty; it was practically a fresh-water covering for the world. In those days, most of the chlorine was combined with various metals, but there was enough, in union with hydrogen, to render this water faintly acid."
Comment: The Urantia Paper describes a period of 500,000,000 years prior to this billion year period during which "the surface of the planet was bombarded by meteorites so that it increased its mass by one third, for much of the time was a fiery inferno due to volcanic activity, and for thousands of years was enveloped in steam." And ocean formation commenced only after this period.
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