Why is it necessary for there to be error in The Urantia Book?

By Ken Glasziou

Introduction


   At the very least there is a need to have certainty about the Urantia revelation--for if it has no errors of substance, it must be prophetic--and therefore carry divine authority. But if there are errors of substance, it becomes a decision of faith on the part of the individual to accept what they believe to be of value and to discard what they believe to be of no significant value.

   For this important reason we first pose the question--are there errors of substance in the Urantia revelation? And in the next section we present what we believe to be incontrovertible evidence that there are such errors--and we discuss the reasons why they are there.

The Earth-Moon system: A comparison of The Urantia Book's version with that of modern science


   On Page 655 of The Urantia Book we read:

   "5,000,000,000 years ago your sun was a comparatively isolated blazing orb..." followed by:

   "4,500,000,000 years ago the enormous Angona system began its approach to the neighborhood of this solitary sun….The effect was to draw out solar extrusions which evolved into the twelve planets of the sun."

   Modern science says nothing about the Angona system but agrees that the solar system was born during the 4.5 to 5.0 billion years ago interval. Then, on page 658, the Book states:

   "3,000,000,000 years ago the solar system was functioning much as it does today. Its members continued to grow in size as space meteors continued to pour in upon the planets and their satellites at a prodigious rate."

   Modern science says that by this time, the rate at which space meteors poured in upon the earth-moon system had fallen enormously and no longer contributed significantly to their rate of increase of mass.

   "2,500,000,000 years ago the planets had grown immensely in size. Urantia was a well developed sphere about
one tenth its present mass and was still growing rapidly by meteoric accretion."

   And at the top of Urantia Book page 659 it is stated:

   "2,000,000,000 years ago the
earth began decidedly to gain on the moon. Always had the planet been larger than its satellite but there was not so much difference in size until about this time, when enormous space bodies were captured by the earth. Urantia was then about one fifth its present size."

   Previously, Urantia Book readers disagreed about whether these last two paragraphs really mean that the earth and moon were about the same size (mass) until 2,000,000,000 years ago. Modern isotopic analysis shows that both sides of this disagreement were incorrect as the earth and  the moon had actually reached almost their full size and mass by about 4,600,000,000 years ago.

   Proof that the moon had virtually ceased all growth by the 4 billion years ago mark is provided in the illustration below. Further down on page 659 is:
   "1,500,000,000 years ago the earth was two thirds its present size, while the moon was nearing its present mass….Volcanic activity is now at its height. The whole earth is a veritable

Home Page
Previous Page
Next Page