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Evolution or Revolution?
What might have happened if leaders of all major Christian sects had fully endorsed the Urantia Papers as being God-given revelation immediately after the book was printed in 1955?
Assuming they did so, millions of committed Christian everywhere may have been induced to attempt living their lives in a manner they imagined to be an imitation of the life of Jesus. Then, on seeing them do so, and how they so loved one another, virtually the whole community in all dominantly Christian countries may have followed. Presumably, with this magnificent example of love confronting them, the rest of the world would soon have been inspired to do likewise--and the age of light and life would have been virtually upon us.
A significant proportion of the early readers of The Urantia Book believed that at least the first part of this scenario was both inevitable and desirable. Some sent books to prominent world leaders such as the Pope, Kings and Queens, prime ministers, presidents, congressmen and the like, and local leaders, the expectation being that the divine authority of the revelation would quickly gain recognition, and occasion immediate repentance and conversion.
One of the more probable eventual outcomes from such a scenario would have been the economic collapse of these countries, followed by widespread poverty, with hunger and starvation becoming endemic, and followed by unconstrained outbreaks of contagious diseases. In one word, disaster. On a miniature scale, this happened to very early Christians in Jerusalem who soon were starving and had to be supported by donations from communities at Antioch and elsewhere.
It appears that the authors of the Urantia Papers were quite aware of the potential for a new authoritative divine revelation to wreak chaos. "It is nearly fatal to the continuance of civilization to undertake their wholesale modification by radical revolution." (767) And referring to prior experience, "The Dalamatia teachers sought to add conscious social selection to the purely natural selection of biologic evolution. They did not derange human society, but they did markedly accelerate its normal and natural evolution. Their motive was progression by evolution and not revolution by revelation." (750)
Not long after this, the Caligastia rebellion did occur, with the apparent expectations having parallels to what some early readers had for the Urantia Papers: "The complete and radical reorganization of the whole world was attempted; revolution displaced evolution as the policy of cultural advancement and racial improvement."
However the results differed from expectations: "Among the superior and partially trained sojourners in and near Dalamatia there appeared a sudden advancement in cultural status, but when these new and radical methods were attempted on the outlying peoples, indescribable confusion and racial pandemonium was the immediate result. Liberty was quickly translated into license by the half-evolved primitive men of those days." (758)
When providing us with the Urantia Papers, their authors must surely have given deep consideration about how it could be done in order to achieve maximum effectiveness while at the same time keeping the risks to a minimum.
A consequence of the earlier rebellion was the frustration of Adam and Eve during their attempts to fulfill their allotted task of genetic upgrading of the human race, the effect being the extremely limited results flowing from their efforts. Presently our genetic potential is only a little above that of the original life plasm introduced to this planet.
Once the Urantia Papers were completed and ready to go to print, it appears that the recipients were informed we are now "on our own." That means we bear full responsibility for introducing their message to the rest of Urantians. Thus we need to carefully consider our resources, our potentials, and ask what our reasonable expectations might be.
On the scale of intellectual and spiritual capacity covering all minded beings that inhabit finite reality, humanity is at the very lowest level. And even within our own category of finite mortal being, we are described as from a "disordered and backward world like Urantia." (624)
Among our catalogue of attributes as presented in the Urantia Papers is: 'man possess the lowest type of personality;' we are 'the lowest of will creatures;' we have 'the lowest mind of all;' and 'though we may be naturally God-seeking we are not inherently God-knowing.'
To cap the list: "The whole principle of biologic evolution is such that it makes it impossible for primitive man to appear on the inhabited worlds with any large endowment of self restraint." (1302) And, "Mortal man is a machine, a living mechanism; his roots are truly in the physical world of energy. Many human reactions are mechanical in nature; much of life is machinelike."
Adding these together to get a total for our attributes might persuade even the most narcissistic among adherents of the Urantia revelation to take serious thought concerning the personal implications referenced by: "The great danger that besets the creature is that, in achieving liberation from the fetters of the life mechanism, he will fail to compensate this loss of stability by effecting a harmonious working liaison with spirit. Creature choice, when relatively liberated from mechanical stability, may attempt further self-liberation independent of greater spirit identification." (1302)
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