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About "Prophetic" Science
Scattered throughout the scientific component we find statements that are quite prophetic. This inclusion is consistent with a statement from the mandate (p. 1110) that the provision of key bits of essential or forgotten knowledge was permitted. However, the inclusion of this esoteric information is strangely in contrast with much of the other science in the book that would have been known even to high school students of the 1930's, when the Papers were first received.
The mandate has these statements: "...future students of such a revelation are tempted to discard...it...because they discover errors….We are not at liberty to anticipate the scientific discoveries of a thousand years...The cosmology of these revelations is not inspired." (1109)
We must not be put off by perceived errors in the cosmology (which includes science). We have been warned--truth is where you find it.
Stumbling blocks
I've often pondered on the sequence of text that follows the ordination sermon of Jesus to the apostles in Part 4. There, Jesus announces that he is on earth solely to comfort the minds, liberate the spirits, and save the souls of men. After a pause he continues:
"Always must you recognize the two viewpoints of all mortal conduct--the human and the divine; the ways of the flesh and the ways of the spirit; the estimate of time and the viewpoint of eternity."
This comment is then followed by:
"But you will stumble over my teachings because you are wont to interpret my message literally; you are slow to discover the spirit of my teaching."
In our reading, most of us probably pass over this admonition, dismissing it as applying to the apostles. But in the same paragraph Jesus says, "Also must you remember that I have sheep not of this flock, and that I am beholden to them also, to the end that I must provide for them the pattern of doing the will of God while living the life of the mortal nature."
I wonder if we 20th century people might be "sheep not of this flock." These Galilean fisherfolk were already floundering beyond their depth. They had just asked Jesus for help to understand him. Jesus' comment, if spoken to them, would have thrown them completely. So is it included in the Papers specifically for our benefit? If so, is it telling us not to take the teachings literally?
Perhaps it is only if we interpret much of the Urantia Papers metaphorically or allegorically that we will discover the real spirit of this revelation?
From this different perspective, I can perceive that what I and others were formerly trying to interpret as serious or precise science and history are not necessarily that at all. The real purpose is to provide a background cosmology embracing the totality of creation as a backdrop to a religious belief system. For that purpose images we understand may be more meaningful than fastidious exactitudes.
Prior to reading the Urantia Papers my total knowledge of life beyond this earthly life was contained in Jesus' New Testament words, "In my Father's house there are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you," plus his comment that in heaven we are neither taken nor given in marriage but are as the angels. And my knowledge of God was confounded by opposing images of a God of love, compassion, and mercy at one pole and a vengeful God of righteous justice, judgment, and retribution at the other pole.
The Urantia Papers take away this polarity with a beautifully profound and simple statement--the love and mercy of God, as my heavenly Father, will always transcend his righteousness as my judge. For me, studying the Urantia Papers was worth the effort for that one statement alone. But, in fact, there have been far many more rewards.
With this attitude to the Urantia Papers, I no longer need to perceive the Garden of Eden story as necessarily being a factual history. I can look upon it as a figurative way of increasing my understanding of what the Papers are really about. The choice is mine. Others are free to choose differently without anyone endangering their own rate of spiritual progress or their spiritual potential.
Regardless of whether my interpretation is right or wrong in particular instances, this attitude liberates me to look for hidden lessons and to seek to discern the spirit of these revelatory teachings in contrast to being at loggerheads with myself about matters of factuality.
Of course, new readers must find their own pathway to truth. Some may find my experience to be helpful, others may not. Regardless of what errors we may make in our sincere striving for truth, the God, whose nature is revealed in the Urantia Papers, would
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