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The concept of continental drift was rejected by most geologists and geophysicists until examination of the ocean floor at the mid-Atlantic Ridge during the late 's and early 's revealed that the Earth's crust is being melted and forced upwards resulting in ocean floor spreading, hence continental drift. However the theory of continental drift did not become generally accepted in North America until the mid 's see H.
Until recently, the date of commencement of break up of the single continent was placed at about million years ago. Currently this date has been revised and pushed back to between about and million years ago as stated in The Urantia Book. The Urantia Book, page ; K. The Urantia Book account of the geological history of our planet includes many cycles of land elevation and submergence with a average periodicity of approximately 25 million years. A possible physical mechanism by which this could occur has recently been described.
Scientific American l The Urantia Book associates mountain building on the west coast of North and South America with continental drift. Today, nobody doubts that mountain building occurs at the edge of drifting continents, concomitantly with the subduction of the oceanic crust. However virtually nobody believed in continental drift at the time of writing or publication of The Urantia Book. The Urantia Book, page The Urantia Book tells us that atoms with more than orbital electrons are unstable, and quickly decay.
Element Mendelium was discovered in the products of nuclear fission in , and was found to have a half-life of about 30 minutes. All elements above have since been found to be highly unstable. There was no adequate theoretical basis to make such a prediction at the time of receipt of the Urantia Papers. The Urantia Book tells us that Venus has a dense atmosphere and that the atmosphere of Mars is of low density. The Russian Venera 7 space probe measured the atmospheric pressure of Venus in at about 90 times the Earth's atmosphere, and the U.
There was no way to predict or to measure atmospheric pressure on these planets before the advent of the space probes. The Urantia Book tells us that the moon is presently moving away from the Earth. This has been confirmed by highly accurate radar measurements. The rate of movement is about 1 inch per year. The Urantia Book, page ; Scientific American 6 , The explosion of a supernova in was a brilliant spectacle visible in broad daylight, and became known as Tycho Brahe's nova.
The Urantia Book states that this nova was due to the explosion of a double star. The first serious theoretical description of novas and supernovas was presented in the early 's by Hoyle and associates. This theory is still being modified and expanded. Nova and supernova occur due to the explosion of both single and double stars.
The remnant of Tycho Brahe's supernova was rediscovered in by use of the recently invented radio telescope, but could not be shown to' be due to a double star explosion until it was extensively mapped by the orbiting Einstein X-ray observatory in The Urantia Book tells us that there is a lone star at the center of the Crab nebula which is the mother sphere, and had its origin in a nova explosion occurring years ago.
The existence of a mother sphere for this nebula was demonstrated in with the detection of a pulsar now known to be a neutron star. The Urantia Paper commenting on this subject states that the most common source of energy generated in the stars comes from the hydrogen-carbon-helium reaction in which carbon is the catalyst for the conversion of hydrogen to helium. The theory proposing that energy can be generated in this way was worked out independently by Hans Bethe and independently by von Weizsacker in , and published by Bethe in , and now is accepted theory. The Urantia Book tells us that the events triggering the formation of the solar system occurred 4.
During the early 's, and based on the work of Edwin Hubble, the generally accepted age of the universe was just 2 billion years. Then Baade's work at Mt. Wilson revealed an error in Hubble's methodology effectively doubling the age of the universe, and causing great hilarity in the American press at that time. Most astronomers now put the age of the universe at about billion years this idea may change drastically with the apparent collapse of the Big Bang theory. Radio-isotope dating of meteoric material now puts the age of the solar system at about 4. A thimble-full of matter from a neutron star would weigh about million tons.
For a black hole, the weight would be infinitely greater. It is not surprising that astronomers regarded such objects as the play toys of theoretical physicists. Then, in the mid 's, the discovery of pulsars and quasars completely changed the picture. The name black holes was coined in Prior to that, these theoretical objects were simply known as dark bodies from which light could not escape. Current theory has it that the source of novas and supernova is the gravitational collapse of spent stars. For stars near the mass of our sun the final result is the formation of a white dwarf.
For stars more than about 5 times the mass of the sun, the result is a neutron star. For stars certainly greater than about 8 solar masses and perhaps as much as 25 solar masses, the result may be a black hole. In the final blast initiating neutron star formation, vast quantities of tiny uncharged particles, the neutrinos, are released. The formation of a neutron star is clearly being described in The Urantia Book p. Such particles are not released in the formation of white dwarfs or black holes.
The existence of these particles the neutrinos was not demonstrated until The first identification of a neutron star was made in The Urantia Book p. This is a description of a black hole neutron stars can emit pulses of light, i. There are many references to like objects in The Urantia Book some of which are used by the Power Directors to ensure gravitational stability of many different systems and in the control of energy flow.
In one interesting reference concerning the formation of our solar system, the Book p. The theory of charged black holes was developed in the 's by Keff and Newman. The concept of highly charged black holes IxIO20 volts has recently come of age in attempts to account for the power output of quasars see Scientific American reference. Although dinosaur fossils have been found in Australia, to date , no monster dinosaur fossils have yet been found.
The January issue of Scientific American p. It is stated that the marsupials flourished about 50 million years ago, and comments that proponents of continental drift think that Australia was connected to S America about that time. The Urantia Book tells us that the ancestors of the kangaroos roamed Australia 45 million years ago, and that 35 million years ago the southern land bridge was extensive, reconnecting the then enormous Antarctic continent with South America, South Africa, and Australia.
Marsupial fossils have been found in Australia in strata designated as Upper Oligocene about million years ago , and in America in strata from the Cretaceous more than 65 million years ago. The fossil evidence indicates that marsupials could not have reached Australia from Asia or from Africa. Recently marsupial fossils have been found on Seymour Island in Antarctica None of this is too surprising in , but remember that when the Urantia Papers were received, virtually nobody believed in the concept of continental drift, and the notion that animals could migrate between Australia and America via Antarctica would have seemed utterly preposterous.
The Urantia Book tells us that the red man crossed from Asia to America 85, years ago. Until recently, most anthropologists believed that the Americas had been inhabited by humans for no more than 12, years. This date has been pushed back to , years.
Scientific American , , 6 ,; Scientific American , 6 , Evidence found by a geologist named Waffen Huff indicates that " cubic kilometers of material spewed out during at least one and probably two eruptions.. This eruption is believed to be from: We are informed by The Urantia Book that about million years ago there occurred ".. The ashes of this volcano covered five hundred square miles to a depth of from fifteen to twenty feet.
The Urantia Book, P. Bain in Cosmic Reflections Vol. The Urantia Book states, "The interior of your sun is a vast X-ray generator" p. In "The Physics-Astronomy Frontier" by Hoyle and Narlikar we read, "One of the authors remembers how, in the middle 's, the question of whether the Sun might emit x rays was considered by astronomers to be highly speculative.
The evidence that the sun may emit X rays was the correlation between fade-outs in radio communication and solar flares. These particular fade-outs were caused by the appearance of free electrons in the D layer of the earth's atmosphere at a height of about 80km which were assumed to be caused by solar radiation capable of ionizing molecules of nitrogen and oxygen at that height — something that light cannot do. The most likely source would be x rays from the sun. It was not until that x rays from space were detected by Robert Burnright at the U. Naval Research Laboratories and shown to be from the sun by Herbert Friedman.
Decisive proof that radio fade-outs were caused by solar x rays came with the work of Chubb and Friedman in San Francisco ; David H. Clark, "The Cosmos from Space. The historical account given in The Urantia Book is compared to the geological evidence, portrayed by modern science, of an area rich in human history, the Mediterranean Basin. The Urantia Book is generally supported by evidence that has come to light well after receipt of the Urantia Papers. Using equipment developed in midth century, scientists began taking deep core samples of the oceans of the world.
In , the Mediterranean sea floor was sampled and analysis of the material revealed many of the geological dynamics of the region. Because of their discovery of layers of flora fossils, limestone, gypsum, and rock salt, the scientists concluded that the area had been cut off from the open oceans over long periods of time and had even evaporated to form land bridges, tidal flats, and desert areas. They also found evidence of a catastrophic event thought to have reconnected the basin to the Atlantic — the sudden breaking of an isthmus across the Strait of Gibraltar.
The Urantia Book describes millions of years of geologic history of the Mediterranean Basin including the closing and cataclysmic reopening of the Straights of Gibraltar. It portrays periods of connection to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and subsequent times of isolation and evaporation accompanied with rising land areas, sinking sea floors, and shifting winds, weather, and landscapes. Since the beginning of its discovery around , the low grade background heat now known as the cosmic background radiation has been used to support the theory of the Big Bang.
The Urantia Book mentions this deep space heat and attributes it to gravity presence and action. Initial measurements by scientists suggested this heat would form the curve of a black body radiator when graphed. Recent measurements taken above the atmosphere do not fit the graph however. Research is ongoing to explain the new findings that are not aligned with old theory, but seem to support The Urantia Book. Cosmic Discovery, Basic Books, Inc.
Physical Science with Modem Applications. The Master's Voice", Discover, p. The Urantia Book tells us that just over 1 million years ago, three mutational 'jumps' gave rise, firstly to the dawn mammals, then the mid-mammals, followed by a group it calls the primates who were the immediate ancestors of man.
These events occurred in an isolated Mesopotamian peninsular since inundated. Anthropological work presently occurring in Africa has uncovered fossils that may go back as far as 3. This work is reviewed in an accompanying paper and compared with the story given in The Urantia Book. It is concluded that there is no definitive evidence for the claim that Africa was the cradle of mankind.
It is possible that the Australopithecines and the group called Homo habilis, were related to the dawn mammals, but neither group fit the role of direct ancestors of mankind as described in The Urantia Book. The account in The Urantia Book tells us that even the loss of the first two humans, Andon and Fonta, though delaying human evolution, would not have prevented it. It tells us that subsequent to the appearance of this pair, there evolved no less than seven thousand favorable strains which could have achieved some sort of human type of development.
It appears then that the genetic pool was ripe for the emergence of man, and that many dead end paths were followed. Perhaps the African fossils may represent some of those dead end pathways. The Urantia Papers were received at a time when the possible evolution of mankind was a popular topic among the educated classes of that day, and the search for the missing link' received much publicity. Java man, Peking man, Heidleberg man, Piltdown man, Cro-Magnon man, and Neanderthal man were well known Though Piltdown man was the best known specimen and was accredited in by such prominent figures as Louis Leakey of Olduvai Gorge fame, and though all of the other famous fossils receive mention in The Urantia Book, nevertheless mention of Piltdown man was avoided.
The fact that Piltdown man was a fake did not surface until the 's. Boston and Toronto ; Lovejoy, L. The account in The Urantia Book of the implantation of "life" on Urantia does not appear to exclude the possibility that ancestral life forms forms considered to be non-living were in existence and undergoing evolutionary change prior to the implantation of "life" by the Life Carriers.
However, according to The Urantia Book account, it appears to be unlikely that such forms could have existed prior to a maximum of little more than I billion years ago. Statements in the literature of science that claim that life forms have existed on the earth for perhaps 3. A possible explanation for the discrepancy is that the dating methods for these far-away times are appallingly inaccurate.
This view is supported by many recent remarks in the scientific literature that state that the interpretation of data obtained by use of radiometric dating techniques is an art rather than a science. Some authors go further and state that the methods are worthless. Alternatively, the identification of so-called microfossils in ancient rocks as being the remains of single cell living organisms may be erroneous.
It appears to be possible that the introduction of "life" by the Life Carriers involved a reorganization of the pre-existing protoplasm of the "ancestral life" forms. If so, this re-organization may be marked by the vast differences in the mechanisms of transcription and translation of genetic material that have recently come to light between prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. The meaning of meteorites. Annual Review of Biochemistry 58, The four gospels in the New Testament indicate that Jesus was executed on a Friday afternoon on the 14th or 15th day of the Jewish month of Nisan, during the period from A.
So all that needs to be done is to find the Fridays that occurred in that interval. Such an investigation isolates 6 dates. From these, four can be eliminated from other chronological evidence, leaving the choice between two dates, April 7th in the year A. Both correspond to the 14th day of Nisan in agreement with the gospel of John.
Many investigations including a recent one by Humphries and Waddington from Oxford University have chosen April 3rd, A. When Peter addressed a crowd seven weeks after the crucifixion, he reminded them of a prophecy by Joel, "that the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood" Acts 2. A deep eclipse can indeed turn the moon blood-red, so the co-incidence of an eclipse for one of the dates has long been seen as a strong argument for April 3rd, A. It is no simple matter to calculate these dates because of so many variables that must be taken into account.
In modern times, this is done with the aid of computers using an algorithm that includes such factors as the brightness of the moon and sky and the physiology of the eye. The most recent effort by Bradley E. Schaeffer extends an algorithm by Bruin to include variations in the clarity of the air. These modern calculations rule out the role of the eclipse because it could not have been seen from Jerusalem during any phase when it could redden the moon, hence collapsing the main support for April 3rd, A.
The Urantia Papers, received long before computers became available for such calculations, tell us that Jesus was crucified on Friday, April 7, A. This paper considers the problem of how the Revelators may have dealt with the problem of preventing The Urantia Book from becoming an object of irrational reverence, obsessive devotion, even worship. This problem certainly arose with Adam and Eve, and with Melchizedek, who all were elevated to the status of Gods or demi-Gods by mortals of their time. The same problem also occurred with Jesus, who came to lead us into the knowledge and worship of our Father, but we mortals quickly submerged his teachings by substituting the worship of Jesus himself.
The Bible too, has not escaped the problem and has become, for some, an object of superstitious awe. Some of the anomalies in The Urantia Book such as the planet Mercury always keeping the same face turned toward the sun and the 46 versus 48 chromosome problem are considered in the light of the mandate given to the Revelators. The conclusion drawn is that information that would prove to be incorrect not long after the book was published may merely serve to demonstrate that the book is fallible, thereby serving the purpose of preventing the book from becoming a fetish item.
The Julian calendar, founded 16 centuries earlier by Julius Caesar, was inaccurate and the need for reform was widely recognized. Its principal failure was the discrepancy between the mean length of its year, This is nearly eleven minutes and four seconds shorter than the Julian year. This small discrepancy had continued to accumulate until it was no longer a matter of minutes but days.
By the time of the Gregorian reform, the error had grown to eleven days. Understandably this was of concern to the Pope. If the calendar had continued unchanged, Easter would eventually have to be celebrated in the summer. The attempts at reform set off a wide range of debates, both academic and religious. At one point excommunication was threatened against anyone who refused to accept the New calendar. The details about this reform are to be found in the May issue of "Scientific America," by G.
Is there any way to check these dates? Was April 14, A. Using information obtained from "Astronomical Formulae for Calculators" by Jean Meeus, a computer program was written to calculate dates and the co-incidental day of the week. The program takes into account the Gregorian calendar reform. All dates are first converted to Julian day numbers, and the results divided by seven to obtain weekdays from the remainder. A calendar was then generated using this information. Even by computer standards, it is a rather tedious process. All of these dates and their corresponding day of the week as cited in The Urantia Book were found to be correct.
The odds for obtaining these results from random guesswork are one chance in 5,, An additional 30 have now been checked and all were correct. The Urantia Book tells us that the just over one million years ago, three mutational 'jumps' gave rise to, firstly, the dawn mammals, then the mid-mammals, followed by a group it calls the Primates who were the immediate ancestors of man. These events occurred in an isolated Mesopotamian peninsula bordering the Mediterranean Sea and cut off from the north by glaciers.
A fourth mutation resulted in the birth of extraordinary twins, Andon and Fonta who were the ancestral parents of all mankind. The immediate ancestors of the first mutation, the dawn mammals, had life plasm from both the American and the central life implantation, the latter having evolved in Africa. However there is no reference to when that mixing occurred and it may have been very early in the evolutionary story.
These ancestors are described as early lemurs types. The word lemur appears to have had a quite different connotation during the period leading up to the receipt of the Urantia Papers than it does today. A book written by Ernst Haeckel had enormous influence upon students of anthropology and biology in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that has carried on into modern times. Haeckel introduced the concept of a phylum, the words phylogeny and ontogeny, and proposed his fundamental biogenetic law that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny, ideas that most schoolchildren still learn. Haecket also created the concept of an evolutionary tree leading from what he called the Monera and the Amoeba upwards to man.
He gave the name Lemuroidea to the group that were ancestral to the apes, the chimpanzee, gorilla, gibbon, and orang, ultimately leading to man. He also speculated that the location for man's evolution was a land-mass now submerged below the Indian ocean which he called Lemuria after the ancestral primates, the lemurs, that would have characterized the fauna of this ancient continent.
Supposedly, from this cradle of the human race came the ancestor that Haeckel called Pithecanthropus alulus speechless ape-man who would have spread out to Africa, the Middle East and Europe, northward to Asia and over the landbridge to the Americas, and eastwards via Java to Australasia and Polynesia. Haeckel's book was translated into a dozen languages, and drew the comment from Darwin that "all the conclusions that I arrived at in 'The Descent of Man' I find confirmed by the naturalist, whose knowledge on many points is much fuller than mine. The Urantia Book tells us that the immediate ancestors of the dawn mammal were superior descendants of the lemur type of mammal, not related to pre-existing gibbons and apes, and not the offspring of the modem type of lemur, though springing from an ancestor,common to both, but long since extinct.
We are not told for how long these ancestors had existed nor how wide spread they were, The dawn mammals originated a little more than a million years ago. It is quite possible that the ancestors of the dawn mammals had already spread into Africa and may have been ancestral to Australopithecus, also to the group called Homo habilis which really cannot be distinguished from the Australopithecines , and possibly to the African Homo erectus type represented by the skull found by Louis Leakey in Tanzania, Africa, which he considered was related to the Java and Peking man, but which had an especially thick-boned skull.
Louis Leakey was the driving force that gave rise to the extensive anthropological investigations in the Olduvai Gorge on the Serengeti Plains of Tanzania. Leakey was African-born of missionary parents and became a student of Sir Arthur Keith, the eminent British anthropologist who was a firm believer in the antiquity of Homo sapiens. Prior to World War 1, Professor Hans Reck from the University of Berlin had claimed that a human skull and skeleton found in the lower deposits of the Olduvai Gorge was as old as the extinct animal fossils from the same level.
He announced the discovery in March, , stating that the ribs and breast were akin to those of an ape while the skull was unmistakably human. Skeptics suggested that it was of recent origin, but Reck affirmed his belief that the skeleton was contemporary with extinct animals of the Lower Pleistocene age. As a result of the interruption of World War 1, nothing was resolved until Leakey led an expedition in and skulls were discovered in a cave near Elmenteita which were very like the Olduvai skull but were associated with much younger fossil fauna.
Leakey also found a number of hand axes that he was certain were from deposits of the same age as the Olduvai site. In the August issue of Scientific American , on pages , three scientists from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, present an article entitled "Young Supernova Remnants. The story begins in November of , when, as a young man, the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe found a "new star" in the constellation Cassiopeia. Tycho observed the star from its appearance, when it was as bright as the planet Venus, until its disappearance in March Tycho drew an important philosophical lesson from his observations that the ancient Aristotelian dogma, which asserted the immutability of the realm of "fixed stars" was false.
This realization, supported by an observed event, contributed to the intellectual climate from which sprang the later work of Copernicus, Kepler, and Newton. Current theory holds that one class of novas, called Type 1, are actually explosions occurring in double star systems. One member of such a double star system is an old, energetically exhausted, and very dense white dwarf star.
If the white dwarf orbits close to a normal companion star, its intense gravity will draw matter from the surface of the second star. Eventually, the mass of the white dwarf will grow beyond Chandrasekhar's limit leading to a violent explosion which disrupts both stars. Another class of novas, called Type 11, do not arise from double stars, but occur as natural events in the evolution of single massive stars. In , the remnant of Tycho's nova was discovered with the foot radio telescope at Jodrell Bank.
In the years since its discovery, Tycho's remnant has been extensively mapped by radio telescope and, most recently, by the orbiting Einstein X-ray Observatory. These observations show that Tycho's remnant resulted from the explosion of a double star, as stated in The Urantia Book. The Scientific American article is accompanied by a number of dramatic images of supernova remnants, as well as by a charming period engraving illustrating the location of Tycho's "new stat" in the heavens.
A thimbleful of matter from a neutron star would weigh about million tons! For a black hole, the w6ight would be infinitely greater! It is not surprising that, until recently, astronomers regarded such fanciful objects as the play toys of theoretical physicists. Then, in the mid's, the discovery of mysterious stellar objects, the pulsars and the quasars, completely changed the picture. Dark bodies, having gravitational pull such that light could not escape, were predicted on theoretical grounds about years ago by Michell and also by the French mathematician, Laplace.
The theory was based on Newton's corpuscular theory of light and his theory of gravitation. However, about years later, Maxwell's wave theory of light put an end to such speculation at least until Newton's description of gravity was replaced by that of Einstein in the early part of this century. Einstein's theory allowed that light waves could be trapped by gravity but the concept of Laplace's dark bodies remained a play toy for theoretical physicists until the discovery of pulsars and quasars using radio-telescopes.
These strange objects appeared to have extraordinarily large mass relative to their small size, an observation that forced the refocusing of attention upon speculative objects such as neutron stars and Laplace's dark bodies. In the name "dark body", was replaced with "black hole". Naturally, The Urantia Book uses the old terminology. Current theory has it that the source of novas and supernovas is the gravitational collapse of spent stars. For stars near the mass of our sun, the final result is the formation of a white dwarf with density such that a thimbleful would weigh about 1O tons.
For stars more than about 5 times the mass of the sun, the result is a neutron star with density million tons per thimble. During the final blast initiating neutron star formation, vast quantities of tiny uncharged particles, the neutrinos, are released.
This does not happen during the formation of white dwarfs. For stars with mass certainly greater than 8 solar masses, perhaps as much as about 25 times that of our sun, the ultimate fate is contraction to a black hole of such enormous density that, once inside, nothing can escape its gravitational grasp. The mother sphere of the Crab nebula is described as being the remnant of one such gravitational collapse. The existence of the tiny uncharged particles, the neutrinos, was not demonstrated until We now know that the neutron star which is the mother sphere of the Crab nebula is a pulsar, and that it gives off visible light as well as pulsed radio waves and X-rays.
During the 's it was realized that the Nordstrom-Reissner solution to Einstein's equations describing the gravitational field of a static electric charge allowed for a charged black hole, the theory of which was developed by Kerr and Newmann. However, in his book "The Universe" , W. Kaufmann tells us that a black hole is not expected to possess any appreciable electric charge, and that astronomers neglect electric charge when discussing black holes.
Kaufmann also tells us that although a black hole can have a tiny electric charge, it cannot have any magnetic field whatsoever. Quite recently, the idea that a black hole could not be highly charged has been reversed Price and Thorne, In describing the formation of our solar system, The Urantia Book p. This description now aligns with most recent concepts regarding black holes. Here we are being told that black holes can be re-cycled, something that was not thought to happen prior to the publication in of Stephen Hawking's theory on the escape of virtual particles at the event horizon of a black hole.
For any large black hole this is a very slow process that would certainly take 'ages upon ages' to occur. Perhaps the use of the terms 'collision' and 'revivifying cosmic happening' refer to events such as is occurring with the recently discovered binary pulsar system termed PSR A. This consists of a neutron star that is stripping matter from a white dwarf. Presumably this could lead to the ultimate formation of a black hole that would radiate itself away by the Hawking process.
There are many references in The Urantia Book to dark bodies many of which must be black holes. These are used by the Power Directors pages , to ensure gravitational stability for various systems, and for the control of energy flow. At the time of receipt of the Urantia Papers in , if we had asked a panel of astronomers to estimate the chances that black holes and neutron stars really existed, the answer would have been virtually no chance. To the same question in , the date of publication of The Urantia Book, the answer would have been at least to one against.
In , astronomers have been forced to accept that black holes and neutron stars are common place, highly charged black holes have gained respectability, and we have learned that black hole formation is not necessarily irreversible. Once more, statements that may have been considered incredible and unscientific at the time of receipt of the Urantia Papers, have now come to coincide with up-to-date scientific opinion. The Urantia Book, pages , , ; Hoyle, F. Narlikar, "The Physics- Astronomy Frontier", p.
Glasziou, Newsletter Vol. In the Glomar Challenger sailed for the Mediterranean Sea. Two scientists, Bill Ryan and Ken Hsu, were looking for evidence of the early history of the Mediterranean. At a site miles east of the Strait of Gibraltar they drilled for a core sample. Around Urantia it was a time of mountain building and volcanic activity. The Mediterranean was connected to the Atlantic Ocean for a while by a channel across France so that the mountain peaks of that region stood above the water as islands in a sea. Later the Mediterranean connected with the Indian Ocean, but by 10 million years ago when the Suez was elevated, the Mediterranean was cut off from the oceans of the world and became for a time an inland salt sea.
As the scientists attempted to obtain a sample of the sea floor their drill bit became stuck. Upon retrieval they discovered the last section of their pipe filled with a strange type of gravel composed of only four components: Their find amazed the team. For a short time all the land was again joined except for Australia. Five million years ago the land connection between Africa and South America submerged and the Western Hemisphere became isolated much as it is today. This time is usually called the Pliocene.
The scientists obtained one thousand feet of core sample. The rock record revealed a time of rising alpine mountains and continental collisions. Other sites around the Mediterranean were sampled. Each time they found the bedrock covered with limestone, then gypsum containing shells of very small sea creatures. In their search for an answer to what this meant the scientists examined gravel in other places of the world. For examples they found gravels in Death Valley, California, to be composed of a great variety of components, and they concluded these were washed down from surrounding areas.
Gravels do not form at the bottom of a sea, however, and the Mediterranean gravels were different. They had never been washed down. They had occurred in place. The tiny animals were adults that had survived in an extreme environment, a stressed community. Ile gypsum could have only formed through evaporation. The limestone could have formed from dried up oozes. The scientists had found evidence of an evaporative tidal flat with volcanic activity nearby. They found a record of a cataclysmic event near the Straight of Gibraltar. Then one-half million years ago the Mediterranean Sea retreated consequent upon the elevation of Arabia and the Sangik peoples of this time were able to reach Africa.
The superior Sangiks migrated to northern more temperate climes, but the orange, green, and indigo races gravitated to Africa over this newly elevated land bridge separating the westward retreating Mediterranean from the Indian Ocean. The scientists found that the rivers and rains that flow and fall into the Mediterranean Sea do not bring in enough water to match the evaporation from the hot sun. Their core samples showed areas of soils on the slopes, tidal flats along the margins, and in the middle Mediterranean, the last drill site in the center of the abyssal plain, the deepest part of the sea, they hit rock salt!
They concluded that the very middle of the Mediterranean was at one time completely dry. Moreover, they found over feet of salt deposits in places. Since it takes the evaporation of about 50 feet of salt water to form one foot of solid salt, they knew that even if the entire Mediterranean dried up there would not be enough water for the amount of salt they had found. Then the Sicilian land bridge submerged, and the Mediterranean became one sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean.
This great cataclysm caused the highest loss of life by flood in all of the world's history. To account for their theory that the Mediterranean had once been an inland sea, the scientists speculated on how the Mediterranean had been closed. They concluded that the Straight of Gibraltar had opened and closed throughout history.
At once cutting off the Mediterranean from its western source and then suddenly, cataclysmally, breaking and exposing the relatively dry basin to the onrush of the open Atlantic cascading over a falls perhaps a kilometer in height. The onslaught of water was so forceful it broke the sound barrier as it fell and washed away three million years of the rock record. At the same time the coast of the eastern Mediterranean was greatly elevated. Then on page we are told that during the earlier days of the violet race the Mediterranean trough was protected by the Gibraltar isthmus and the Sicilian land bridge, and early maritime commerce was established on these inland lakes.
The Nile delta was slowly rising along with the upthrust of the Saharan area and the shifting of the water-laden winds from the west to the north turned these once great pasture areas into barren desert. There was additional evidence to support the scientists' theories. When the Aswan Dam was being built in the late 's, a Soviet geologist named Chumakov was working on the foundations. He found a deep notch right through the Nubian granite of the Nile valley.
Although he did not understand the mechanism at the time, he concluded that the Nile had at one time formed a great waterfall in the area. He deduced that the only way this could have happened was if the sea level of the Mediterranean had dropped hundreds of meters. After communicating with Ryan and Hsu, they came to an understanding of the dynamics of the Mediterranean: It was the only way to explain their findings.
They published their papers together. The Urantia Book details millions of years of geologic history for us in the section on the history of Urantia. Included in this detail is a record of the Mediterranean basin before and after it was inhabited by man. We are instructed of its connection to the open oceans and of its periodic isolation. We know the land was elevated then subsequently submerged and deluged as the water receded and then returned. It is a wonderful history, full of long eventless periods punctuated by cataclysmic occurrences and highlighted by gradual changes. This history is important to us and this importance is only now being understood.
Twenty years after their original findings Bill Ryan and Ken Hsu are completely convinced that the Mediterranean has not always been as it is today. Although there are still many skeptics, they know this region has shown historic periods of deep open sea, inland salt lakes, shallow tidal basins, and barren salt and sand deserts. They understand that the sea level has risen and fallen along with corresponding parts of the continents and land bridges.
They believe these geologic changes have happened many times over the past and that they might even happen again. What these scientists do not yet know is that they have unwittingly helped to confirm a documented history of this region that was written even before the tools to complete their deep sea survey had been developed. And although we do not need their findings, their theories, and their speculations to maintain our belief in the fifth epochal revelation, it is work by people such as these that increases our understanding and our awe of the great knowledge and wisdom of the presenters of The Urantia Book.
Frank Wright in "Pursuit of Wisdom" Vol. The Urantia Book contains much scientific information. Since its publication some of this data has been discovered and confirmed and some has not. It gives me an indescribable feeling when I read something in the book that has since been shown to exist by way of the scientific method. Even when the short term interpretation of some data does not align with the explanation given, the book proves over and over again that its authors are privy to a range of information that would revolutionize science as we know it today.
This small statement might go unnoticed to someone not familiar with cosmology or astrophysics. But to someone trained in these fields, this information, coming as it did in and published in , is revelational. Before most scientists assumed that interstellar space was without heat. It was believed that space existed at a temperature of absolute zero. Absolute zero is the temperature of an object whose molecular motion is at a minimum. Molecular action does not cease at this coldest possible temperature degrees Celsius, degrees Fahrenheit, or 0 degrees Kelvin , but kinetic energy, the motion of matter, can go no lower as we know it.
It was also widely believed that space was empty, although complex molecules have subsequently been discovered in deep space. The Urantia Book states on p. The scientific world began to discover traces of infrared radiation, heat, in unexpected areas. In while working at Mt. Wilson, Dunham and Adams discovered puzzling interstellar absorption lines. After analysis of their data, it was suggested that the molecules observed were being kept at a temperature of 3 degrees Kelvin.
This theory seemed too simple to be taken seriously at the time. The data lay dormant for 25 years as the technology of astrophysical instrumentation progressed. In Gamow and associates, from John Hopkins, suggested a vestigial cosmic radiation bath might still persist if the universe had an explosive origin. They found an excess noise corresponding to radiation at a temperature of about 3 degrees impinging on Earth from all directions. In Penzias and Wilson were awarded a share of the Nobel prize in physics for their discovery of this microwave background radiation.
To explain this mysterious background radiation it was postulated that this evenly distributed low-grade space temperature was a remnant of the Big Bang. It has since been used as the main evidence to support this theory. It is even used to trace the cosmos back to the very first milliseconds of the universe's existence! Of course, The Urantia Book seems to indicate that there was no Big Bang, and the very latest measurements of the cosmic background radiation do not fit the theory either.
It seems that the scientists have predicted the measurements of the cosmic background radiation to form the roughly bell-shaped curve of a blackbody radiator when graphed. Deep space should act like a blackbody, a perfect absorber or emitter of radiation. However, before only part of the spectrum of this background radiation had been measured. All of the measurements had been made on one side of the curve as the atmosphere blocks out shorter wavelengths and the Earth itself radiates profusely and swamps the subtle cosmic signal.
So the other side of the curve had been conjecture for 25 years. It was just assumed that this side also fit the blackbody curve.
In , two scientists finally succeeded in measuring points on this unknown side. Their findings are causing trouble for many of their colleagues. They do not fit the blackbody curve. They are about IO percent higher than expected. So New conjecture has arisen to account for this irregularity. It will take cosmologists some time and more work will need to be done to confirm the recent findings. The next few years should prove interesting as New data from this area is collected and analyzed. It is more than coincidence that the latest scientific evidence does not support popular scientific theories like the Big Bang.
For now, it is sufficient to say that the latest evidence does support the information given in The Urantia Book. Frank Wright in Pursuit of Wisdom, Vol. Physical Science with Modern Applications. Assuming no trickery, a coin toss has only two possible results. Despite our prejudice to the contrary, what happened on the previous trials has absolutely no effect on the outcome of the next trial. So if I lose four times in a row, the chances on the next trial are still even. Many a hopeful gambler has been bankrupted by assuming the contrary. In such cases the odds are easily calculated.
To win twice in a row, there is one chance in four, to win three times in a row, there is one chance in nine, and for four in a row, it is one in sixteen. Those with some mathematical knowledge will recognize that the odds are one in 2 raised to the power equal to the number of trials — i. If there are six alternative results, as with dice, then the chances of achieving the same result twice in a row are 1 in 62, that is 1 chance in 36, and for n number of trials it is I in 6n. The examples given are simple, clear cut cases for which estimating probabilities is no problem.
In cases where the amount of prior knowledge becomes a factor, then the difficulties are often quite subjective. For example, in the early 's or even 's, virtually all professional geologists on the North American continent would have rejected the concept of continental drift. By the period, perhaps fifty percent would accept it as highly probable, and by there would be little argument against the concept. So, in being totally dogmatic about continental drift in the mid 's, the authors of The Urantia Book have not only gone against all professional opinion, but have gone even further by nominating the date of commencement as million years ago.
This was done in spite of opinion by its proponents that the continental drift commenced only million years ago. Current opinion is that both dates are approximately correct, the first break up occurring at about the time nominated in The Urantia Book, but that the land masses drifted back together again, then drifted apart approximately million years ago.
There is no way to make a mathematical assessment on the probability of making the correct guess in the mid 's. In a subjective assessment, most of us would say 'extremely remote'. In the case of the dates for the Star of Bethlehem, assessment is more straight forward. Allowing that we have chosen the year correctly, and no other information is available, we have to guess three independent dates for the same year. Hence we have one chance in 3 65 of getting the first date correct, one chance in of getting the next one as well, and one chance in of getting all three correct, which comes to one chance in 48,27, Do you already have iTunes?
Click I Have iTunes to open it now. Urantia Book By Urantia Book. Description This is a podcast form of the Urantia Book audio book. Clean - The Ordination of the Twelve. The Ordination of the Twelve The twelve were expecting to be called almost any day; so this morning they did not go out far from the shore to fish. Several of them were lingering near the shore repairing their nets and tinkering with their fishing paraphernalia. Two by two he gathered up the other apostles, and when he had assembled all twelve, he journeyed with them to the highlands north of Capernaum, where he proceeded to instruct them in preparation for their formal ordination.
At last the long-waited-for hour had come! I have brought you apart here with me to present you to the Father as ambassadors of the kingdom. Some of you heard me speak of this kingdom in the synagogue when you first were called. But just now I have something more to tell you concerning this kingdom. There shall be no end of this rule of my Father in the hearts of those who desire to do his divine will.
I declare to you that my Father is not the God of Jew or gentile. This is the brotherhood of love wherein righteousness reigns, and whose battle cry shall be: Peace on earth and good will to all men. This kingdom, which you are so soon to go forth proclaiming, is the desire of the good men of all ages, the hope of all the earth, and the fulfillment of the wise promises of all the prophets.
Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and in finding these, all other things essential to eternal survival shall be secured therewith. And now would I make it plain to you that this kingdom of my Father will not come with an outward show of power or. Clean - The Twelve Apostles. The Twelve Apostles These twelve men represented many different types of human temperament, and they had not been made alike by schooling. Many of these Galilean fishermen carried heavy strains of gentile blood as a result of the forcible conversion of the gentile population of Galilee one hundred years previously.
All of them, except the Alpheus twins, were graduates of the synagogue schools, having been thoroughly trained in the Hebrew scriptures and in much of the current knowledge of that day. Seven were graduates of the Capernaum synagogue schools, and there were no better Jewish schools in all Galilee. They were lacking in so-called higher education. In modern times they would certainly be considered uneducated, and in some circles of society even uncultured. One thing is certain: They had not all been put through the same rigid and stereotyped educational curriculum.
From adolescence on they had enjoyed separate experiences of learning how to live. Andrew, the First Chosen He was the oldest child in a family of five — himself, his brother Simon, and three sisters. His father, now dead, had been a partner of Zebedee in the fish-drying business at Bethsaida, the fishing harbor of Capernaum.
When he became an apostle, Andrew was unmarried but made his home with his married brother, Simon Peter. Both were fishermen and partners of James and John the sons of Zebedee. He sprang from an excellent line of ancestors and was the ablest man of the twelve. Excepting oratory, he was the peer of his associates in almost every imaginable ability.
Jesus never gave Andrew a nickname, a fraternal designation. But even as the apostles soon began to call Jesus Master, so they also designated Andrew by a term the equivalent of Chief. He was one of the inner circle of four apostles, but his appointment by Jesus as the head of the apostolic group made it necessary for him to remain on duty with his brethren while the other three enjoyed very close communion with the Master. To the very end Andrew remained dean of the apostolic corps. His brothers James and Jude were very much hurt because they were not called to this conference.
But Jesus planned to have no close relatives as members of this corps of apostolic directors of the kingdom. This failure to include James and Jude among the chosen few, together with his apparent aloofness from his mother ever since the experience at Cana, was the starting point of an ever-widening gulf between Jesus and his family.
This situation continued throughout his public ministry — they very nearly rejected him — and these differences were not fully removed until after his death and resurrection. His mother constantly wavered between attitudes of fluctuating faith and hope, and increasing emotions of disappointment, humiliation, and despair. Only Ruth, the youngest, remained unswervingly loyal to her father-brother.
If a prophet is not without honor save in his own country, he is not without understanding appreciation save in his own family. He directed them to go forth, two and two, to teach the glad tidings of the kingdom. He forbade them to baptize and advised against public preaching. He went on to explain that later he would permit them to preach in public, but that for a season, and for many reasons, he desired them to acquire practical experience in dealing personally with their fellow men.
Jesus purposed to make their first tour entirely one of personal work. John spoke up, asking: In substance Andrew said: There is need for more teachers, and the Master has manifested great confidence in us inasmuch as he has intrusted us with the choosing of these six new apostles. They knew they were going to miss Jesus, and besides their fear and timidity, this was not the way they had pictured the kingdom of. Clean - Tarrying Time in Galilee. All that day Jesus mingled with the multitude. He ministered to a lad who had injured himself in a fall and journeyed to the near-by village of Pella to deliver the boy safely into the hands of his parents.
Choosing the First Four Apostles He went on to say that Jesus had accepted his proffer of service and suggested that he Simon likewise go to Jesus and offer himself for fellowship in the service of the new kingdom. Are we to forsake him? Is this the right thing to do?
John was saddened by the thought of losing two of his able advisers and most promising disciples, but he bravely answered their inquiries, saying: And in welcoming Simon as his second apostle, Jesus said: I admonish you to become more thoughtful in your speech. I would change your name to Peter.
When they heard Simon Peter tell how he and his brother, Andrew, had become the first accepted counselors of the new kingdom, and that they were to leave with their new Master on the morrow for Galilee, both James and John were sad. They had known Jesus for some time, and they loved him. They had searched for him many days in the hills, and now they returned to learn that others had been preferred before them. Clean - Baptism and the Forty Days. Baptism and the Forty Days There was a great contrast between John and Jesus.
John was an eager and earnest worker, but Jesus was a calm and happy laborer; only a few times in his entire life was he ever in a hurry. Jesus was a comforting consolation to the world and somewhat of an example; John was hardly a comfort or an example. He preached the kingdom of heaven but hardly entered into the happiness thereof. Though Jesus spoke of John as the greatest of the prophets of the old order, he also said that the least of those who saw the great light of the new way and entered thereby into the kingdom of heaven was indeed greater than John. When Jesus began to preach, there remained the exhortation to repentance, but such a message was always followed by the gospel, the good tidings of the joy and liberty of the new kingdom.
Concepts of the Expected Messiah In a general way, the Jews regarded their national history as beginning with Abraham and culminating in the Messiah and the new age of the kingdom of God. The rabbis had gathered together almost five hundred passages from the Scriptures which, notwithstanding their apparent contradictions, they averred were prophetic of the coming Messiah. And amidst all these details of time, technique, and function, they almost completely lost sight of the personality of the promised Messiah.
It therefore becomes evident that Jesus of Nazareth could never satisfy this materialistic Messianic concept of the Jewish mind. Many of their reputed Messianic predictions, had they but viewed these prophetic utterances in a different light, would have very naturally prepared their minds for a recognition of Jesus as the terminator of one age and the inaugurator of a new and better dispensation of mercy and salvation for all nations.
But this reputed symbol of the Divine Presence was not to be seen in the temple. They believed that the coming of the Messiah would effect its restoration. They held confusing ideas about racial sin and the supposed evil nature of man. Clean - John the Baptist. John the Baptist Excepting the visit of Gabriel to Elizabeth and the dream of Zacharias, there was nothing unusual or supernatural connected with the birth of John the Baptist.
He grew up as an ordinary child, day by day and year by year, in the small village known in those days as the City of Judah, about four miles west of Jerusalem. This visit occurred in the month of June, 1 B. Zacharias had only short periods of service at the temple in Jerusalem so that he devoted much of his time to teaching his son. They hardly made a living on this land, but Zacharias received a regular allowance from the temple funds dedicated to the priesthood.
John Becomes a Nazarite This was the southern headquarters of the Nazarite brotherhood, and there the lad was duly and solemnly inducted into this order for life. After these ceremonies and the making of the vows to abstain from all intoxicating drinks, to let the hair grow, and to refrain from touching the dead, the family proceeded to Jerusalem, where, before the temple, John completed the making of the offerings which were required of those taking Nazarite vows.
A life Nazarite was looked upon as a sanctified and holy personality. The Jews regarded a Nazarite with almost the respect and veneration accorded the high priest, and this was not strange since Nazarites of lifelong consecration were the only persons, except high priests, who were ever permitted to enter the holy of holies in the temple.
From that day on John always wore a hairy garment with a leather girdle. At sixteen he was more than six feet tall and almost full grown. With his flowing hair and peculiar mode of dress he was indeed a picturesque youth. And his parents expected great things of this their only son, a child of promise and a Nazarite for life. The Death of Zacharias Clean - The Transition Years.
The Transition Years For the first time he became fully satisfied with the program of openly manifesting his true nature and of revealing his divine identity among the Jews and gentiles of his native Palestine. He definitely decided to finish his life on earth and to complete his career of mortal existence in the same land in which he entered the human experience as a helpless babe.
His Urantia career began among the Jews in Palestine, and he chose to terminate his life in Palestine and among the Jews. The Thirtieth Year A. After talking with James and Jude who also chanced to be in Capernaum and after turning over to his brother James the little house which John Zebedee had managed to buy, Jesus went on to Nazareth. But aside from Zebedee of Capernaum and the people whom he met on this extraordinary trip, the world never knew that he made this journey.
His family always believed that he spent this time in study at Alexandria. Jesus never confirmed these beliefs, neither did he make open denial of such misunderstandings. Though they all regarded James as the head of the family in most matters, when it came to getting married, they wanted the blessing of Jesus.
So Simon and Jude were married at a double wedding in early March of this year, A. All the older children were now married; only Ruth, the youngest, remained at home with Mary. Mary especially was disconcerted by this unusually peculiar behavior of her first-born son. Clean - The Return from Rome. The Return from Rome The scribe of Damascus appeared in Rome without announcement and disappeared in like manner. It was a full year before those who knew and loved him gave up hope of seeing him again. Before the end of the second year small groups of those who had known him found themselves drawn together by their common interest in his teachings and through mutual memory of their good times with him.
And these small groups of Stoics, Cynics, and mystery cultists continued to hold these irregular and informal meetings right up to the time of the appearance in Rome of the first preachers of the Christian religion. On this journey they encountered all sorts of human beings. Many noble Roman citizens and Greek colonists lived along this road, but already the progeny of great numbers of inferior slaves were beginning to make their appearance. There are only two groups of mortals in the eyes of God: As the universe looks upon an inhabited world, it likewise discerns two great classes: Those who cannot know God are reckoned among the animals of any given realm.
Mankind can appropriately be divided into many classes in accordance with differing qualifications, as they may be viewed physically, mentally, socially, vocationally, or morally, but as these different classes of mortals appear before the judgment bar of God, they stand on an equal footing; God is truly no respecter of persons. Although you cannot escape the recognition of differential human abilities and endowments in matters intellectual, social, and moral, you should make no such distinctions in the spiritual brotherhood of men when assembled for worship in the presence of God.
Mercy and Justice They observed a rough and bullying youth brutally attacking a smaller lad. Jesus hastened to the assistance of the assaulted youth, and when he had rescued him, he tightly held on to the offender until the smaller lad had made his escape. After he had restrained Ganid and permitted the frightened boy to escape, the young man, as soon as he got his breath, excitedly exclaimed: If mercy requires that you rescue the smaller lad, does not justice demand the punishment of the larger and offending youth? Mercy ministry is always the work of the individual, but justice punishment is the function of the social, governmental, or universe administrative groups.
As an individual I am beholden to show mercy; I must go to the rescue of the assaulted lad, and in all consistency I may employ sufficient force to restrain the aggressor. And that is just what I did. I achieved the deliverance of the assaulted lad; that was the end of mercy ministry.
Then I forcibly detained the aggressor a sufficient length of time to enable the weaker party to the dispute to make h. Clean - The Sojourn at Rome. The Sojourn at Rome The morose emperor was unusually cheerful on this day and chatted long with the trio. His father had much business to transact, and desiring that his son grow up to become a worthy successor in the management of his vast commercial interests, he thought the time had come to introduce the boy to the business world.
He was frequently to be found in the forum, the center of political, legal, and business life. He often went up to the Capitolium and pondered the bondage of ignorance in which these Romans were held as he beheld this magnificent temple dedicated to Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. His desire to study and mingle with this cosmopolitan aggregation of Urantia mortals was the chief reason why Jesus consented to make this journey. Before the end of the first week in Rome Jesus had sought out, and had made the acquaintance of, the worth-while leaders of the Cynics, the Stoics, and the mystery cults, in particular the Mithraic group.
Whether or not it was apparent to Jesus that the Jews were going to reject his mission, he most certainly foresaw that his messengers were presently coming to Rome to proclaim the kingdom of heaven; and he therefore set about, in the most amazing manner, to prepare the way for the better and more certain reception of their message.
He selected five of the leading Stoics, eleven of the Cynics, and sixteen of the mystery-cult leaders and spent much of his spare time for almost six months in intimate association with these religious teachers. And this was his method of instruction: Never once did he attack their errors or even mention the flaws in their teachings. In each case he would select the truth in what they taught and then proceed so to embellish and illuminate this truth in their minds that in a very short time this enhancement of the truth effectively crowded out the associated error; and thus were these Jesus-taught men and women prepared for the subsequent recognition of additional and similar truths in the teachings of the early Christian missionaries.
It was this early acceptance of the teachings of the gospel preachers which gave that powerful impetus to the rapid spread of Christianity in Rome and from there throughout the empire. Ganid employed more than threescore learned translators in the making of this abstract of the religious doctrines of the world concerning the Deities. And it should be made plain in this record that all these teachings portraying monotheism were largely derived, directly or indirectly, from the preachments of the missionaries of Machiventa Melchizedek, who went forth from their Salem headquarters to spread the doctrine of one God — the Most High — to the ends of the earth.
He collected this material under ten heads, as follows: God is the perfected circle of eternity, and he rules the universe of universes. He is the sole maker of the heavens and the earth. When he decrees a thing, that thing is. Our God is one God, and he is compassionate and merciful. Everything that is high, holy, true, and beautiful is like our God. The Most High is the light of heaven and earth; he is the God of the east, the west, the north, and the south. The Most High is the first and the last, the beginning and the end of everything.
There is but this one God, and his name is Truth. God is self-existent, and he is devoid of all anger and enmity; he is immortal and infinite. Our God is omnipotent and bounteous. While he has many manifestations, we worship only God himself. God knows all — our secrets and our proclamations; he also knows what each of us deserves. His might is equal to all things. He gives salvation to all who serve him. All creation exists in the power of the Most High.
His divine love springs forth from the holiness of his power, and affection is born of the might of his greatness. The Most High has decreed the union of body and soul and has endowed man with his own spirit. What man does must come to an end, but what the Creator does goes on forever. We gain knowledge from the experience of man, but we derive wisdom from the contemplation of the Most High. Our God enjoys great authority; his name is Excellent and his nature is unfathomable.
When you are sick, it is the Most High who heals you. God is full of goodness toward all men; we have no friend like the Most High. His mercy fills all places and his goodness encompasses all souls. The Most High is changeless; and he is our helper in every time of need. Wherever you turn to pray, there is the face of the Most High and the open ear of our God. You may hide yourself from men, but not from God. God is not a great distance from us; he is omnipresent.
God fills all places and lives in the heart of the man who fears his holy name. Creation is in the Creator and the Creator in his creation. We search for the Most High and then find him in our hearts. Clean - On the Way to Rome. On the Way to Rome They made their journey according to schedule, and Jesus said good-bye to the father and son in the city of Charax on the Persian Gulf on the tenth day of December the following year, A.
At Caesarea they took a boat for Alexandria. From Alexandria they sailed for Lasea in Crete. From Crete they sailed for Carthage, touching at Cyrene. From Athens they went to Ephesus by way of Troas. From Ephesus they sailed for Cyprus, putting in at Rhodes on the way. They spent considerable time visiting and resting on Cyprus and then sailed for Antioch in Syria. From Antioch they journeyed south to Sidon and then went over to Damascus. From there they traveled by caravan to Mesopotamia, passing through Thapsacus and Larissa.
They spent some time in Babylon, visited Ur and other places, and then went to Susa. The remainder of each day, which was at his disposal, he devoted to making those close personal contacts with his fellow men, those intimate associations with the mortals of the realm, which so characterized his activities during these years that just preceded his public ministry. At Joppa — Discourse on Jonah While they tarried at Joppa, Jesus and Gadiah became warm friends.
This young Philistine was a truth seeker. Jesus was a truth giver; he was the truth for that generation on Urantia. When a great truth seeker and a great truth giver meet, the result is a great and liberating enlightenment born of the experience of new truth. The Later Adult Life of Jesus He continued, right up to the event of his baptism, to contribute to the family finances and to take a keen personal interest in the spiritual welfare of every one of his brothers and sisters.
And always was he ready to do everything humanly possible for the comfort and happiness of his widowed mother. Jesus naturally loved his people; he loved his family, and this natural affection had been tremendously augmented by his extraordinary devotion to them. The more fully we bestow ourselves upon our fellows, the more we come to love them; and since Jesus had given himself so fully to his family, he loved them with a great and fervent affection.
The sadness of the anticipated separation was only tempered by this graduated method of preparing them for the announcement of his intended departure. For more than four years they discerned that he was planning for this eventual separation. The Twenty-Seventh Year A. And thus he left them, never again to be a regular member of that household. Jesus of Nazareth was an expert in both designing and building; he was a master at working with wood; and Zebedee had long known of the skill of the Nazareth craftsman.
For a long time Zebedee had contemplated making improved boats; he now laid his plans before Jesus and invited the visiting carpenter to join him in the enterprise, and Jesus readily consented. By superior technique and greatly improved methods of steaming the boards, Jesus and Zebedee began to build boats of a very superior type, craft which were far more safe for sailing the lake than were the older types. For several years Zebedee had more work, turning out these new-style boats, than his small establishment could handle; in less than five years practically all the craft on the lake had been built in the shop of Zebedee at Capernaum.
Jesus became well known to the Galilean fisherfolk as the designer of the new boats. Jesus lived in the home of Zebedee during the year and more he remained at Capernaum. He had long worked alone in the world, that is, without a father, and greatly enjoyed this period of working with a father-partner. Salome became a great admirer of Jesus. She loved him as she loved her own sons, Jam. Jesus came into this world just as other children come; he had nothing to do with selecting his parents.
He did choose this particular world as the planet whereon to carry out his seventh and final bestowal, his incarnation in the likeness of mortal flesh, but otherwise he entered the world in a natural manner, growing up as a child of the realm and wrestling with the vicissitudes of his environment just as do other mortals on this and on similar worlds. The mastering of the experience of living the full life of a human creature in mortal flesh, the completion of his sovereignty in Nebadon.
The revelation of the Universal Father to the mortal dwellers on the worlds of time and space and the more effective leading of these same mortals to a better understanding of the Universal Father. The Twenty-First Year A. He entered upon this stupendous task fully realizing his dual nature. But he had already effectively combined these two natures into one — Jesus of Nazareth. This is shown in the selection of his first title, the Son of Man. He was truly a partaker of flesh and blood, and even now, as he presides in sovereign authority over the destinies of a universe, he still bears among his numerous well-earned titles that of Son of Man.
He hungered and satisfied such cravings with food; he thirsted and quenched his thirst with water. Until after his baptism he availed himself of no supernatural power. He employed no agency not a part of his human endowment as a son of Joseph and Mary. Prior to the beginning of his public work his knowledge of men and events was wholly self-limited.
He was a true man among men. We have a Sovereign who was in all points tested and tempted like as we are, yet without sin. And in some of these matters he is indeed an example to his mortal creatures, even as it is recorded: But he made himse. Clean - The Adolescent Years. The Adolescent Years As time passed, he became increasingly conscious of his pre-existence; at the same time he began more fully to realize that he was present on earth and in the flesh for the express purpose of revealing his Paradise Father to the children of men.
No youth of Urantia will ever be called upon to pass through more testing conflicts or more trying situations than Jesus himself endured during those strenuous years from fifteen to twenty. The Sixteenth Year A. Then he emerged from that testing and trying transition stage between childhood and young manhood — he became the adolescent Jesus.
He was a virile and comely youth. He became increasingly sober and serious, but he was kind and sympathetic. His eye was kind but searching; his smile was always engaging and reassuring. His voice was musical but authoritative; his greeting cordial but unaffected. Always, even in the most commonplace of contacts, there seemed to be in evidence the touch of a twofold nature, the human and the divine. Ever he displayed this combination of the sympathizing friend and the authoritative teacher. And these personality traits began early to become manifest, even in these adolescent years.
He possessed a healthy and well-proportioned body, a keen and analytical mind, a kind and sympathetic disposition, a somewhat fluctuating but aggressive temperament, all of which were becoming organized into a strong, striking, and attractive personality. After they had received from Mary such intimations as family secrets, imagine their confusion when Jesus would make frank denials of all such ideas and intentions.
James now took charge of the teaching of his three sisters, two of whom were old enough to begin serious study. As soon as Ruth grew up, she was taken in hand by Miriam and Martha. Ordinarily the girls of Jewish families received little education. Clean - The Two Crucial Years. The Two Crucial Years These two years, after he began to be self-conscious of divinity and destiny, and before he achieved a large measure of communication with his indwelling Adjuster, were the most trying of his eventful life on Urantia.
It is this period of two years which should be called the great test, the real temptation. No human youth, in passing through the early confusions and adjustment problems of adolescence, ever experienced a more crucial testing than that which Jesus passed through during his transition from childhood to young manhood.
At first Mary was happy in the thought that she had her boy back once more, that Jesus had returned home to be a dutiful son — not that he was ever anything else — and that he would henceforth be more responsive to her plans for his future life. But she was not for long to bask in this sunshine of maternal delusion and unrecognized family pride; very soon she was to be more completely disillusioned. Frankly, they did not understand him, but they did truly love him. Jesus had great respect for the sincere Pharisees and the honest scribes, but he held the hypocritical Pharisees and the dishonest theologians in great contempt; he looked with disdain upon all those religious leaders who were not sincere.
When he scrutinized the leadership of Israel, he was sometimes tempted to look with favor on the possibility of his becoming the Messiah of Jewish expectation, but he never yielded to such a temptation. All the village recounted his childhood wisdom and praiseworthy conduct and predicted that he was destined to become a great leader in Israel; at last a really great teacher was to come out of Nazareth in Galilee.
And they all looked forward to the time when he would be fifteen years of age so that he might be permitted regularly to read the Scriptures in the synagogue on the Sabbath day. His Fourteenth Year A. He had become a good yoke maker and worked well with both canvas and leather. He was also rapidly developing into an expert carpenter and cabinetmaker. This summer he made frequent trips to the top of the hill to the northwest of Nazareth for prayer and meditation.
He was gradually becoming more self-conscious of the nature of his bestowal on earth. From the summit of this hill of Simeon, Jesus looked out over Nazareth and the surrounding country. He would gaze upon Megiddo and recall the story of the Egyptian army winning its first great victory in Asia; and how, later on, another such army defeated the Judean king Josiah.
Not far away he could look upon Taanach, where Deb. Clean - Jesus at Jerusalem. Jesus at Jerusalem He was especially stimulated by the experience of attending the temple discussions by himself, and it long stood out in his memory as the great event of his later childhood and early youth. This was his first opportunity to enjoy a few days of independent living, the exhilaration of going and coming without restraint and restrictions. This brief period of undirected living, during the week following the Passover, was the first complete freedom from responsibility he had ever enjoyed.
And it was many years subsequent to this before he again had a like period of freedom from all sense of responsibility, even for a short time. Jesus, however, virtually refused to go unless his mother would accompany them. And when his mother decided to go, many other Nazareth women were led to make the journey, so that the Passover company contained the largest number of women, in proportion to men, ever to go up to the Passover from Nazareth.
Ever and anon, on the way to Jerusalem, they chanted the one hundred and thirtieth Psalm. All through a joyful childhood he had reverently heard of Jerusalem and its temple; now he was soon to behold them in reality. From the Mount of Olives and from the outside, on closer inspection, the temple had been all and more than Jesus had expected; but when he once entered its sacred portals, the great disillusionment began.
It had never occurred to Jesus that his mother was not to accompany him to the consecration ceremonies, and he was thoroughly indignant that she was made to suffer from such unjust discrimination. While he strongly resented this, aside from a few remarks of protest to his father, he said nothing. But he thought, and thought deeply, as his questions to the scribes and teachers a week later disclosed.
He missed that personal interest which characterized the ceremonies of the synagogue at Nazareth. He then returned to greet his mother and prepared to accompany his father on his first trip about the temple and its various courts, galleries, and corridors. The temple precincts could accommodate over two hundred thousand worshipers at one time, and while the vastness of these buildings — in comparison with any he had ever seen — greatly impressed his mind, he was more intrigued by the contemplation of the spiritual significance of the temple ceremonies and their associated worship.
Jesus simply would not accept explanations of worship and religious devotion which involved belief in the wrath of God or the anger of the Almighty. In further discussion of these questions, after the conclusion of the temple visit, when his father became mildly insistent that he acknowled. Clean - The Later Childhood of Jesus.
The Later Childhood of Jesus Had he remained at Alexandria, his education would have been directed by Jews and along exclusively Jewish lines. At Nazareth he secured an education and received a training which more acceptably prepared him to understand the gentiles, and which gave him a better and more balanced idea of the relative merits of the Eastern, or Babylonian, and the Western, or Hellenic, views of Hebrew theology.
There it was, plain as day, and many of the elders had viewed it before the committee went to call on Joseph to demand that something be done to suppress the lawlessness of his eldest son. And though this was not the first time complaints had come to Joseph and Mary about the doings of their versatile and aggressive child, this was the most serious of all the accusations which had thus far been lodged against him.
Jesus listened to the indictment of his artistic efforts for some time, being seated on a large stone just outside the back door. He resented their blaming his father for his alleged misdeeds; so in he marched, fearlessly confronting his accusers. The elders were thrown into confusion.
Some were inclined to view the episode humorously, while one or two seemed to think the boy was sacrilegious if not blasphemous. Joseph was nonplused, Mary indignant, but Jesus insisted on being heard. He had his say, courageously defended his viewpoint, and with consummate self-control announced that he would abide by the decision of his father in this as in all other matters controversial.
And the committee of elders departed in silence. But he was unconvinced of the wrong of what he had done, and to give up such a favorite pastime constituted one of the great trials of his young life. Clean - The Early Childhood of Jesus. The Early Childhood of Jesus They lived with kinsfolk, and Joseph was well able to support his family as he secured work shortly after their arrival.
He was employed as a carpenter for several months and then elevated to the position of foreman of a large group of workmen employed on one of the public buildings then in process of construction. This new experience gave him the idea of becoming a contractor and builder after their return to Nazareth. In the home where Jesus chanced to be there were two other children about his age, and among the near neighbors there were six others whose ages were sufficiently near his own to make them acceptable play-fellows. At first Mary was disposed to keep Jesus close by her side.
She feared something might happen to him if he were allowed to play in the garden with the other children, but Joseph, with the assistance of his kinsfolk, was able to convince her that such a course would deprive Jesus of the helpful experience of learning how to adjust himself to children of his own age. And Mary, realizing that such a program of undue sheltering and unusual protection might tend to make him self-conscious and somewhat self-centered, finally gave assent to the plan of permitting the child of promise to grow up just like any other child; and though she was obedient to this decision, she made it her business always to be on watch while the little folks were at play about the house or in the garden.
Only an affectionate mother can know the burden that Mary carried in her heart for the safety of her son during these years of his infancy and early childhood. On this occasion the assembled friends presented Jesus with a complete copy of the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures. These believers insisted that the child of destiny would be able to exert a far greater world influence as a resident of Alexandria than of any designated place in Palestine.
They went directly to Bethlehem, where they spent the entire month of September in counsel with their friends and relatives concerning whether they should remain there or return to Nazareth. Joseph did not really believe that their son was to become a kingly deliverer. Clean - Birth and Infancy of Jesus. Knowing how his Master so scrupulously avoided leaving written records behind him, Andrew steadfastly refused to multiply copies of his written narrative.
A similar attitude on the part of the other apostles of Jesus greatly delayed the writing of the Gospels. In the centuries just prior to these times Greek culture and the Greek language had spread over Occident and near Orient, and the Jews, being a Levantine race, in nature part Occidental and part Oriental, were eminently fitted to utilize such cultural and linguistic settings for the effective spread of a new religion to both East and West. These most favorable circumstances were further enhanced by the tolerant political rule of the Mediterranean world by the Romans.
European civilization was unified and co-ordinated under an extraordinary threefold influence: The Roman political and social systems. The Grecian language and culture — and philosophy to a certain extent. The rapidly spreading influence of Jewish religious and moral teachings. The seas were cleared of pirates, and a great era of trade and travel was rapidly advancing. Europe did not again enjoy another such period of travel and trade until the nineteenth century after Christ. The small upper class was rich; a miserable and impoverished lower class embraced the rank and file of humanity.
There was no happy and prosperous middle class in those days; it had just begun to make its appearance in Roman society. In the times of Jesus, Palestine and Syria were enjoying a period of prosperity, relative peace, and extensive commercial intercourse with the lands to both the East and the West.
The Jewish People Clean - The Bestowal of Michael on Urantia. To live such identical lives as he imposes upon the intelligent beings of his own creation, thus to bestow himself in the likeness of his various orders of created beings, is a part of the price which every Creator Son must pay for the full and supreme sovereignty of his self-made universe of things and beings. Then he prepared to descend upon Urantia in the likeness of mortal flesh, the lowest order of his intelligent will creatures, and, as such a human of the material realm, to execute the final act in the drama of the acquirement of universe sovereignty in accordance with the mandates of the divine Paradise Rulers of the universe of universes.
At any moment throughout all past local universe time, Michael could have asserted personal sovereignty as a Creator Son and as a Creator Son could have ruled his universe after the manner of his own choosing. In such an event, Immanuel and the associated Paradise Sons would have taken leave of the universe. But Michael did not wish to rule Nebadon merely in his own isolated right, as a Creator Son. He desired to ascend through actual experience in co-operative subordination to the Paradise Trinity to that high place in universe status where he would become qualified to rule his universe and administer its affairs with that perfection of insight and wisdom of execution which will sometime be characteristic of the exalted rule of the Supreme Being.
He aspired not to perfection of rule as a Creator Son but to supremacy of administration as the embodiment of the universe wisdom and the divine experience of the Supreme Being. First, he was completing the required experience in creature understanding which is demanded of all Creator Sons before they assume complete sovereignty. At any time a Creator Son may rule his universe in his own right, but he can rule as the supreme representative of the Paradise Trinity only after passing through the seven universe-creature bestowals.
Second, he was aspiring to the privilege of representing the maximum authority of the Paradise Trinity which can be exercised in the direct and personal administration of a local universe. Accordingly, did Michael, during the experience of each of his universe bestowals, successfully and acceptably voluntarily subordinate himself to the variously constituted wills of the diverse associations of the persons of the Paradise Trinity.
That is, on the first bestowal he was subject to the combined will of the Father, Son, and Spirit; on the second bestowal to the will of the Father and the Son; on the third bestowal to the will of the Father and the Spirit; on the fourth bestowal to the will of the Son and the Spirit; on the fifth bestowal to the will of the Infinite Spirit; on the sixth bestowal to t.
The Life and Teachings of Jesus. This group of papers was sponsored by a commission of twelve Urantia midwayers acting under the supervision of a Melchizedek revelatory director. The basis of this narrative was supplied by a secondary midwayer who was onetime assigned to the superhuman watchcare of the Apostle Andrew. Clean - The Bestowals of Christ Michael. The Bestowals of Christ Michael In making this presentation, I will adhere strictly to the limitations imposed by my commission. In their desire to come close to the life experiences of their subordinate living creatures, the various orders of the Paradise Sons are reflecting the divine nature of their Paradise parents.
The Eternal Son of the Paradise Trinity led the way in this practice, having seven times bestowed himself upon the seven circuits of Havona during the times of the ascension of Grandfanda and the first of the pilgrims from time and space. And the Eternal Son continues to bestow himself upon the local universes of space in the persons of his representatives, the Michael and Avonal Sons. This obligation is assumed by every Michael Son who volunteers to go out from Paradise to engage in universe organization and creation.
These divine Sons are innately just, but they become understandingly merciful as a result of these successive bestowal experiences; they are naturally merciful, but these experiences make them merciful in new and additional ways. These bestowals are the last steps in their education and training for the sublime tasks of ruling the local universes in divine righteousness and by just judgment.
These bestowals are not essential to the wise, just, and efficient management of a local universe, but they are absolutely necessary to a fair, merciful, and understanding administration of such a creation, teeming with its varied forms of life and its myriads of intelligent but imperfect creatures. They have vast stores of mercy for all these differing creatures, even pity for those who err and flounder in the selfish mire of their own production. But such endowments of justice and righteousness will not suffice in the estimate of the Ancients of Days. These triune rulers of the superuniverses will never certify a Creator Son as Universe Sovereign until he has really acquired the viewpoint of his own creatures by actual experience in the environment of their existence and as these very creatures themselves.
In this way such Sons become intelligent and understanding rulers; they come to know the various groups over which they rule and exercise universe authority. By living experience they possess themselves of practical mercy, fair judgment, and the patience born of experiential creature existence. Clean - Supreme and Ultimate — Time and Space. Supreme and Ultimate — Time and Space The Father is self-existent self. The Son is coexistent self. The Spirit is conjoint-existent self.
The Supreme is evolutionary-experiential self. The Sevenfold is self-distributive divinity. The Ultimate is transcendental-experiential self. The Absolute is existential-experiential self. And the dual presence of the Supreme and the Ultimate constitutes the basic association of subabsolute and derived Deity, for they are interdependently complemental in the attainment of destiny. Together they constitute the experiential bridge linking the beginnings and the completions of all creative growth in the master universe. There is no quantitative limitation to numbers, even in the comprehension of the finite mind.
No matter how large the number conceived, you can always envisage one more being added. And also, you can comprehend that that is short of infinity, for no matter how many times you repeat this addition to number, still always one more can be added. But sooner or later, this same person begins to hunger and yearn for new and greater goals, and such adventures in growth will be forever forthcoming in the fullness of time and the cycles of eternity.
Havona, in and of itself, is a perfect, but perfection-limited, creation; Havona perfection, expanding out into the evolutionary superuniverses, finds not only cosmic destiny but also liberation from the limitations of pre-evolutionary existence. Time and Eternity While absolute Deity is eternal in nature, the Gods are related to time as an experience in eternity.
In the evolutionary universes eternity is temporal everlastingness — the everlasting now. Such a consecration of will is tantamount to the realization of eternity-reality of purpose. This means that the purpose of the creature has become fixed with regard to the succession of moments; stated otherwise, that the succession of moments will witness no change in creature purpose.
A million or a billion moments makes no difference. Clean - God the Supreme. God the Supreme The will of God is the purpose of the First Source and Center as it is potentialized in the three Absolutes, personalized in the Eternal Son, conjoined for universe action in the Infinite Spirit, and eternalized in the everlasting patterns of Paradise. And God the Supreme is becoming the highest finite manifestation of the total will of God. From the mortal viewpoint both are evolutionary and experiential reciprocals. Nature of the Supreme Being He is the sweetness of true success and the joy of everlasting achievement.
He is the oversoul of the grand universe, the consciousness of the finite cosmos, the completion of finite reality, and the personification of Creator-creature experience. Throughout all future eternity God the Supreme will voice the reality of volitional experience in the trinity relationships of Deity. This universe procession of descending God-revealing Creators and ascending God-seeking creatures is revelatory of the Deity evolution of the Supreme, in whom both descenders and ascenders achieve mutuality of understanding, the discovery of eternal and universal brotherhood.
The Supreme Being thus becomes the finite synthesis of the experience of the perfect-Creator cause and the perfecting-creature response. This very trinitarian unity is expressed in the finite cosmos in the Supreme, whose reality becomes increasingly apparent as the universes attain to the maximum level of Trinity identification. Man can work in liaison with God and thereby cocreate an eternal finaliter. God can work even as humanity in the incarnations of his Sons, who thereby achieve the supremacy of creature experience.
Clean - The Almighty Supreme. The Almighty Supreme No longer would religious faith be prostituted to the promotion of social smugness in the fortunate while serving only to encourage stoical resignation in the unfortunate victims of social deprivation. But that same reason and logic would compel any honest being, when viewing the turmoil, imperfections, and inequities of Urantia, to conclude that your world had been made by, and was being managed by, Creators who were subabsolute, preinfinite, and other than perfect.
Growth is the earmark of experiential Deity: Havona did not grow; Havona is and always has been; it is existential like the everlasting Gods who are its source. But growth characterizes the grand universe. His present domain, the grand universe, is also a growing realm of power and personality. His destiny is perfection, but his present experience encompasses the elements of growth and incomplete status.
The tertiary function of the Supreme in the master universe is now latent, existing only as an unknown mind potential.