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Revelatory truth must be evolutionary and progressive
Before proceeding further, we need to be aware that God loves all of his children, that any new revelation is for the whole of the human race, not just for a privileged few. We need also to be aware that with understanding, privilege becomes obligation. If we have read and understood the Urantia Papers, we are certainly privileged--and we are obligated. The survey described in the next paragraph is illustrative of the degree of privilege that mostly comes from the accident of being born in the right place and the right time:
Recent surveys by the U.S. Department of Education show that almost 25% of high school seniors do not have reading skills at a level that would permit them to comprehend a relatively simple passage from a book. These figures are an overall average. They are much, much worse for substantial sections of the population. They also show that at least 60% of students have not attained the skills that would permit them to gain significant understanding of a complex work--such as The Urantia Book undoubtedly is.
There is an important principle to be noted from Dr Sadler's description of the contact experiences prior to the Forum being established. Number 6 on his list states the revelators were indulging in, "tentative testing of our theologic concepts. Patient determination of how far we might possibly go in the direction of modifying our theologic beliefs and philosophical opinions." And Number 15 on the list has, "We listened to occasional references to Jesus' life and teachings--but they were very cautious about the introduction of any new concepts regarding Michael's Urantia bestowal...."
On reflection, we can see that this policy of the revelators was most likely designed to avoid either scaring off the members of the contact commission with revelation that was beyond their intellectual capacity to absorb, or introducing new concepts or information that threatened cherished beliefs prior to group members being conditioned to accept such changes.
In view of the cautious approach taken by the revelators with a group who had experienced many years of exposure to new ideas and concepts, how much more would these same revelators take care not to introduce too much too soon to members of the Forum who had not been so prepared? This cautious attitude has surely been carried forward to affect the content of the Urantia Papers including Part 4. It would also be a factor in any plan the revelators had for the periods coming after their delivery of the Papers.
A possible example of this cautious attitude may be seen in the revision of the Adam and Eve story as it is presented in the Urantia Papers. Basic to both Christian and Islamic fundamentalism is the dictum that the Bible or the Koran are the infallible word of God. By the time the Papers were received, various sciences such as genetics and archaeology were already postulating a diverse origin for the human race.
One of the many ways that the Papers have attempted to countermand biblical fundamentalism is to modify Old Testament stories. Thus, Andon and Fonta are partial substitutes for Adam and Eve but instead of them being the sole progenitors of the human race we have:
"Subsequent to the appearance of Andon and Fonta, there evolved no less than seven thousand favorable strains which could have achieved some sort of human development. And many of these better stocks were subsequently assimilated by the various branches of the expanding human species." (734) Here the Papers lend support to the diversity at origin theory.
And in a later stage of their Adam and Eve story, the revelators absolve the biblical pair from the inherited sin that their disobedience was said to have bestowed upon the whole of the human race. In doing so, they undermine the veracity of many New Testament-based dogma such as the atonement, the need for the virgin birth of Jesus, plus related doctrines such as Mary's immaculate conception and her later bodily ascension.
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