Paper 75: The Default of Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve had labored in the Garden for over one hundred years with little progress, and their isolation weighed heavily on them. The situation Adam and Eve faced seemed so desperate that Adam wondered whether that the solution to their dilemma lay outside the ordained plan.

Caligastia was still titular Planetary Prince and was able to influence the minds of planetary inhabitants. He paid many visits to the Garden, but Adam and Eve resisted his suggestions for compromise and short-cuts. Caligastia soon gave up on Adam and began to focus on Eve.

Eve did not realize that Caligastia intended to exploit her friendship with a brilliant Nodite named Serapatatia, the leader of the most powerful and intelligent of the neighboring Nodite tribes. Serapatatia was deeply impressed with Adam's cause and announced his support for the Adamic program for world improvement. Adam and Eve were greatly cheered by his assistance; Serapatatia became one of the most efficient of Adam's lieutenants.

One day it occurred to Serapatatia that it would be helpful if something could be done immediately to advance world affairs while they waited for the violet race to increase. He reminded Eve that Adam was discouraged by the lack of progress in their mission. Serapatatia contended that a violet leader born to the Nodite race would constitute a powerful tie binding the Nodites to the Garden. After five years, Eve consented to meet secretly with Cano, a magnificent descendant of the Prince's staff, the most brilliant leader of a nearby colony of friendly Nodites.

Cano was wholly sympathetic to Adam and Eve's cause. Eve told Cano that she had been warned not to combine good and evil. Cano, not knowing the importance of such warnings, assured her that men and women with good motives could do no evil. Induced by flattery and personal persuasion, Eve mated with Cano.

The celestial life on the planet was astir; Adam recognized something was amiss. He confronted Eve and heard her plan for accelerating world improvement. It was then that Solonia, the "voice in the Garden," announced Eve's default. Eve's disillusionment was pathetic. Adam was heartbroken. He knew Eve had been reduced to mortal status. The thought of remaining on Urantia without her was unbearable; Adam chose to share her fate by mating with Laotta, a brilliant Nodite woman.

When the Garden inhabitants learned what had happened to Eve, they destroyed the nearby Nodite settlement, killing the entire tribe including Cano. Serapatatia, overcome with remorse, drowned himself. Adam wandered in solitude for thirty days, leaving his children to comfort their distraught mother.

Seventy days later, the Melchizedek receivers returned to the planet to resume jurisdiction. Adam and Eve knew their mission had failed.

When news of the annihilation of the Nodite settlement reached the home tribes of Serapatatia, an army assembled to march on the Garden.  Adam sought advice from the Melchizedeks. They refused to intervene, promising only to cooperate with whatever path he chose. After an all-night conference with twelve hundred loyal followers, Adam elected to leave the Garden unopposed.

The next morning these sad pilgrims left Eden on a quest for a new home. On the third day their caravan was halted by the arrival of seraphic transports from Jerusem, who had come to take Adam and Eve's young children to Edentia. The grown children were given a choice to remain with their parents or go to Edentia. One third of the adults elected to remain with Adam and Eve; the rest, along with every child under the age of twenty, were transported to Edentia. Gabriel appeared to pronounce judgment on the Material Son and Daughter. Adam and Eve were officially in default and were reduced to mortal status.

Although Adam and Eve failed, there has been no "fall of man." On the contrary, the human race has profited enormously from the limited contribution made by Adam and Eve and their descendants.