Adam and Eve In The Garden Of Eden
Creating the Garden of Eden.
The following information is taken from
The Urantia Book, Paper 73, The Garden of Eden.
The Garden of Eden was created by Van, Amadon, and more than three thousand enthusiastic volunteers. Van was one of Caligastia's Staff of One Hundred who did not join the Lucifer Rebellion. Amadon, who also had refused to join Lucifer, was Van's mortal associate. Both Van and Amadon had lived for more than 150,000 years after the beginning of the Lucifer Rebellion with the aid of the fruit of the Tree of Life. [73:2:3]
The site chosen for the Garden was a long narrow peninsula--almost an island--projecting westward from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. At that time this Mediterranean peninsula had a salubrious climate and an equable temperature. It rained copiously on the surrounding highlands, but it seldom rained in Eden proper. But each night, from the extensive network of artificial irrigation channels, a "mist would go up" to refresh the vegetation of the Garden. [Genesis 2:6] [73:3:1,3,4]
The great river that watered the Garden came down from the higher lands of the peninsula and flowed east through the peninsular neck to the mainland and thence flowed to the sea beyond. The river was fed by four tributaries which took origin in the coastal hills of the Edenic peninsula, and these are the "four heads" of the river which "went out of Eden," and which later became confused with the branches of the rivers surrounding the second Garden. [Genesis 2:10] [73:3:4]
The dominant idea of the Garden was to be the glorification of horticulture and the exaltation of agriculture. The Garden was probably the most beautiful spot of its kind in all the world, and the climate was then ideal. In the Garden the cream of the civilization of Urantia was forgathering. But without and beyond, the world lay in darkness and ignorance. Though the planet was peopled by races physically fit, the tribes languished in the depths of savagery and moral stagnation. [73:1:1] [73:3:4,6]
In the center of the Garden Van and his volunteers constructed the exquisite stone temple of the Universal Father, the sacred shrine of the Garden. In the area in the "east of Eden" were built the domiciles intended for the promised Son and his immediate offspring.
[Genesis 2:8] The architectural plans for Eden provided homes and abundant land for one million human beings. At the time of the arrival of Adam and Eve the Garden contained thousands of miles of irrigation ditches and more than twelve thousand miles of paved paths and roads. There were a trifle over five thousand brick buildings in the various sectors, and the trees and plants were almost beyond number. [73:5:1,2]
It was from this Garden headquarters that Adam and Eve set about untangling the confused affairs of a planet retarded by rebellion and resting under the ban of spiritual isolation. [Genesis 2:8] [73:0:3]
The Tree of Life.
In the center of the Garden temple Van planted the Tree of Life, whose leaves were for the "healing of the nations." [Genesis 2:9] [Revelation 22:2]
The Tree of Life was a gift from the Most Highs of Edentia who sent it to earth by the Melchizedeks about 500,000 years ago. At that time the fruit of the Tree was used by the Staff of One Hundred and the one hundred modified mortals. Upon the outbreak of the Lucifer Rebellion Van assumed control of the Tree. He and Amadon used its fruit to sustain them for more than 150,000 years until the arrival of Adam and Eve. [Papers 66 and 67]
This superplant stored up certain space-energies which were antidotal to the age-producing elements of animal existence. The fruit of the Tree was like a superchemical storage battery, mysteriously releasing the life-extension force of the universe when eaten. [73:6:4]
When Adam and Eve went astray, they chose to leave the Garden rather than fight the Nodites who were on the march to avenge the slaughter of the nearby tribe whose head was Serapatatia. As Adam and Eve had partially defaulted in their assignment on our planet, they were not permitted to take the Tree with them. The invading Nodites were told that they would become as "gods if they partook of the fruit of the tree." [Genesis 3:5?] But they lacked that endowment which acted as a complement to the fruit of the Tree. During a war between tribes, the Temple and the Tree were both destroyed by fire. [73:6:7]
Over a period of hundreds of years, the entire peninsula on which the Garden was built sank beneath the water. [73:7:1]
As I have previously mentioned, it is possible that one or more mortals who volunteer will be permitted to have their bodies modified so that with the aid of the Tree of Life, they can live on indefinitely without dying.
In Jerusem when the proclamation was issued calling for volunteers for the mission of the Adamic adventure on Urantia, the entire senior corps of Material Sons and Daughters volunteered. [74:1:3]
About 500,000 years ago when the call went out for volunteers to accompany Caligastia in his assignment on earth, over 785,000 ascendant citizens [former mortals] on Jerusem volunteered for embarkation on the Urantia adventure. From this group of volunteers Caligastia chose the one hundred ascendant mortals who would come to our planet and become his Staff of One Hundred. Members of the One Hundred were provided with specially created bodies so that with the aid of the fruit of the Tree of Life they could live on indefinitely without dying. [66:2:4,5]
It appears that the experience to live on indefinitely while we assist Elijah in his role of World Ruler is a rare opportunity not to be missed. How often is a momentous opportunity of this significance laid in our lap? [I definitely plan to volunteer!] There may be a requirement that volunteers must agree to assist Elijah for at least one thousand years. However, at this time I do not know what the minimum required length of time will be.
Can't make up your mind? Go or stay? Paper Number 44, "The Celestial Artisans" in
The Urantia Book contains much information about the wonders that await us in heaven. This paper might assist you in deciding whether to volunteer.
The evolution of mortals will continue until that far-distant age when the length of life will approach five hundred years. During this age many mortals are translated from among the living. Natural death becomes less frequent as the Adjusters increasingly fuse with their subjects during the lifetime in the flesh [as did Elijah and Enoch]. [45:4:13,15] [52:7:4,5]
Suppose a person volunteers for at least one thousand years. Is it possible that the mortal could experience fusion with the Adjuster while still in the flesh?
It is my understanding that the explosions on the Day of Armageddon will act as a powerful Xray on every cell of every living thing on earth. Just how this powerful Xray will affect our DNA I do not know. Can mankind look forward to a great leap forward in evolution?
The Planetary Adams [The Adams and Eves].
The material or sex Sons and Daughters are the offspring of the Creator Son [Jesus]. They are the material gift of the Creator Son to the inhabited worlds. During the dispensation of a Planetary Prince [Caligastia in our case], primitive man reaches the limit of natural evolutionary development, and this biologic attainment signals the System Sovereign to dispatch to such a world the second order of Divine sonship, the biologic uplifters--the Adams and Eves.
Together with the Planetary Prince, they remain on their planet of assignment throughout the evolutionary course of such a sphere. Such an adventure on a world having a loyal Planetary Prince is not much of a hazard, but on an apostate planet, a realm without a Planetary Prince in good standing, and deprived of interplanetary communication, such a mission is fraught with grave danger. [Such was the unfortunate experience of our Adam and Eve.] [51:0:1,2] [51:1:1]
Material Sons vary in height from eight to ten feet, and their bodies glow with the brilliance of radiant light of a violet hue. [This is the origin of the violet race on the inhabited worlds. (51:3:3)] While material blood circulates through their material bodies, they are also surcharged with divine energy and saturated with celestial light.
They enjoy a dual nutrition; they are really dual in nature and constitution, partaking of materialized energy much as do the physical beings of the realm, while their immortal existence is fully maintained by the direct and automatic intake of certain sustaining cosmic energies. Should they fail on some mission of assignment or even consciously and deliberately rebel, this order of Sons becomes isolated, cut off from connection with the universe source of light and life. Thereupon they become practically material beings, destined to take the course of material life on the world of their assignment and compelled to look to the universe magistrates for adjudication. Material death will eventually terminate the planetary career of such an unfortunate and unwise Material Son or Daughter.
[51:1:3,4,8]
The plans for race upstepping are prepared by the Planetary Prince and his staff and are executed by Adam and Eve. And this was where your Material Son and his companion were placed at great disadvantage when they arrived on Urantia. Caligastia offered crafty and effective opposition to the Adamic mission; and notwithstanding that the Melchizedek receivers of Urantia had duly warned both Adam and Eve concerning the planetary dangers inherent in the presence of the rebellious Planetary Prince, this archrebel, by a wily stratagem, outmaneuvered the Edenic pair and entrapped them into a violation of the covenant of their trusteeship as the visible rulers of your world. The traitorous Planetary Prince did succeed in compromising your Adam and Eve, but he failed in his effort to involve them in the Lucifer Rebellion. [51:3:4]
Adam and Eve Arrive on Earth.
Our Material Son and Daughter arrived on earth 37,848 years ago from the year A.D. 1934. They arrived at high noon by seraphic transports. From the time of their arrival ten days passed before they were re-created by celestial persons in dual human form for presentation as the world's new rulers. [It also had required ten days for celestial beings to provide the Staff of One Hundred with similar bodies. (66:2:9)] This Adam and Eve would be the visible sole rulers of planet 606 in the system of Satania. [74:0] [74:1:5]
[A little arithmetic suffices to show that Adam and Eve were
not the first persons to arrive on earth. The first two humans were born 993,419 years ago from the year 1934 A.D. Adam and Eve arrived on earth 37,848 years ago from the year 1934 A.D. This means that the first two humans were born 955,571 years
before Adam and Eve arrived. It is apparent that evil, sin, and death were present on earth long before the arrival of Adam and Eve. (62:5:1) (74:0)]
The First Six Days In The Garden of Eden.
On their first day Adam and Eve realized almost immediately the difficulties they faced. Silent were the familiar broadcasts, and absent were all the circuits of extraplanetary communication. But present was the traitorous Planetary Prince, Caligastia [the "devil"], who could make the task of Adam and Eve difficult and to some extent hazardous. [74:3:1]
On the second day Adam and Eve learned from the Melchizedek receivers more about the details of the Caligastia rebellion and the result of that upheaval upon the world's progress. It was, on the whole, a disheartening story, this long recital of the mismanagement of world affairs. They learned all the facts regarding the utter collapse of the Caligastia scheme for accelerating the process of social evolution. [74:3:3]
The third day was devoted to an inspection of the Garden, the most beautiful spot on earth. Again that night Adam and Eve walked in the Garden and talked about the immensity of their problems. [74:3:4]
On the fourth day Adam and Eve addressed the occupants of the Garden. They spoke to the people concerning their plans for the rehabilitation of the world and outlined the methods whereby they would seek to redeem the social culture of Urantia from the low levels to which it had fallen as a result of sin and rebellion. [74:3:5]
The fifth day was occupied with the organization of the temporary government, the administration which was to function until the Melchizedek receivers should leave Urantia. [74:3:6]
The sixth day was devoted to an inspection of the numerous types of men and animals in the Garden. It greatly surprised those who accompanied Adam on this trip to observe how fully he understood the nature and function of the thousands upon thousands of animals shown him. The instant he glanced at an animal, he would indicate its nature and behavior. Adam could give names descriptive of the origin, nature, and function of all material creatures on sight. But, then, Adam was one of the most expert anatomists of all Satania, and Eve was equally proficient. Adam amazed his associates by describing hosts of living things too small to be seen by human eyes. [74:3:7,8]
At the end of the sixth day Adam and Eve rested for the first time in their new home in "the east of Eden." [74:3:9] [Genesis 2:8]
The Seventh Day.
The majority of the residents of the Garden were so impressed with Adam and Eve that they were about ready to fall down and worship them as gods. They decided that Divinity had descended to earth in bodily form, that Adam and Eve were in reality gods or else so near such an estate as to be worthy of reverent worship. It was near dawn on their seventh day in the Garden that Adam and Eve learned of this startling development. The midwayers, being able to do such things, transported Adam and Eve to the Father's Temple. Adam explained to the residents about the orders of divine sonship. He made it plain that he would accept any honor and receive all respect, but worship never: only the Father and those whom he designates may be worshiped. [74:3:10] [74:4:1,4]
Adam, pointing to the Father's Temple, said: "Go you now to the material emblem of the Father's invisible presence and bow down in worship of him who made us all and who keeps us living. And let this act be the sincere pledge that you will never again be tempted to worship anyone but God." They did as Adam directed. Adam and Eve stood alone on the mount with bowed heads while the people prostrated themselves about the temple. [74:4:5]
Origin of the Seventh-Day Tradition.
And this was the origin of the Sabbath-day tradition. Always in Eden the seventh day was devoted to the noontide assembly at the temple; long it was the custom to devote this day to self-culture. The forenoon was devoted to physical improvement, the noontime to spiritual worship, the afternoon to mind culture, while the evening was spent in social rejoicing. This was never the law in Eden, but it was the custom as long as the Adamic administration held sway on earth. [74:4:6]
Adam's Administration.
The Melchizedek receivers remained on duty for almost seven years, but the time came when they turned the responsibility of the administration of world affairs over to Adam and returned to Jerusem. At midnight, the seraphic transports of Satania left the planet with fourteen beings for Jerusem: the twelve Melchizedeks plus Van and Amadon. [74:5:1,2]
All went fairly well for a time on Urantia, and it appeared that Adam would, eventually, be able to develop some plan for promoting the gradual extension of the Edenic civilization. Pursuant to the advice of the Melchizedeks, he began to foster the arts of manufacture with the idea of developing trade relations with the outside world. When Eden was disrupted, there were over one hundred primitive manufacturing plants in operation, and extensive trade relations with the near-by tribes had been established. [74:5:3]
For ages Adam and Eve had been instructed in the technique of improving a world in readiness for their specialized contributions to the advancement of evolutionary civilization; but now they were face to face with pressing problems, such as the establishment of law and order in a world of savages, barbarians, and semicivilized human beings. Aside from the cream of the earth's population, assembled in the Garden, only a few groups, here and there, were at all ready for the reception of the Adamic culture. [74:5:4]
Adam made a heroic and determined effort to establish a world government, but he met with stubborn resistance at every turn. Adam had already put in operation a system of group control throughout Eden and had federated all of these companies into the Edenic league. But trouble, serious trouble, ensued when he went outside the Garden and sought to apply these ideas to the outlying tribes. The moment Adam's associates began to work outside the Garden, they met the direct and well-planned resistance of Caligastia and Daligastia. The fallen Prince had been deposed as world ruler, but he had not been removed from the planet. He was still present on earth and able, at least to some extent, to resist all of Adam's plans for the rehabilitation of human society. Adam tried to warn the races against Caligastia, but the task was made very difficult because his archenemy was invisible to the eyes of mortals. [74:5:5]
Even among the Edenites there were those confused minds that leaned toward the Caligastia teaching of unbridled personal liberty; and they caused Adam no end of trouble; always were they upsetting the best-laid plans for orderly progression and substantial development. He was finally compelled to withdraw his program for immediate socialization; he fell back on Van's method of organization, dividing the Edenites into companies of one hundred with captains over each and with lieutenants in charge of groups of ten. [74:5:6]
Adam and Eve had come to institute representative government in the place of monarchial, but they found no government worthy of the name on the face of the whole earth. For the time being Adam abandoned all effort to establish representative government, and before the collapse of the Edenic regime he succeeded in establishing almost one hundred outlying trade and social centers where strong individuals ruled in his name. Most of these centers had been organized aforetime by Van and Amadon. [74:5:7]
Home Life of Adam and Eve.
Eve bore 63 children before the default. When Adam and Eve left the Garden, their family consisted of four generations numbering 1,647 pure-line descendants. They had 42 children after leaving the Garden besides the two offspring of joint parentage with the mortal stock of earth. And this does not include the Adamic parentage to the Nodite and evolutionary races. [More about this later.] [74:6:2]
When the Adamic children were weaned at the age of one year, they did not take milk from animals. Eve had access to the milk of a great variety of nuts and to the juices of many fruits, and knowing the chemistry and energy of these foods, she suitably combined them for the nourishment of her children until the appearance of teeth. [74:6:2,3]
While cooking was universally employed outside of the immediate Adamic sector of Eden, there was no cooking in Adam's household. They found their foods--fruits, nuts, and cereals--ready prepared as they ripened. They ate once a day, shortly after noontime. Adam and Eve also imbibed "light and energy" direct from certain space emanations in conjunction with the ministry of the Tree of Life. [74:6:4]
The bodies of Adam and Eve gave forth a shimmer of light, but they always wore clothing in conformity with the custom of their associates. Though wearing very little during the day, at eventide they donned night wraps. The origin of the traditional halo encircling the heads of supposed pious and holy men dates back to the days of Adam and Eve. Since the light emanations of their bodies were so largely obscured by clothing, only the radiating glow from their heads was discernible. The descendants of Adamson always thus portrayed their concept of individuals believed to be extraordinary in spiritual development. [74:6:5]
Adam and Eve could communicate with each other and with their immediate children over a distance of about fifty miles. But this ability was instantly suspended upon the mind's surrender to the discord and disruption of evil. [74:6:6]
The Adamic children attended their own schools until they were sixteen, the younger being taught by the elder. The little folks changed activities every thirty minutes, the older every hour. And it was certainly a new sight on Urantia to observe these children of Adam and Eve at play, joyous and exhilarating activity just for the sheer fun of it. The play and humor of the present-day races are largely derived from the Adamic stock. The Adamites all had a great appreciation of music as well as a keen sense of humor. [74:6:7]
The average age of betrothal was eighteen, and these youths then entered upon a two years' course of instruction in preparation for the assumption of marital responsibilities. At twenty they were eligible for marriage; and after marriage they began their lifework or entered upon special preparation therefor. [74:6:8]
The practice of some subsequent nations of permitting the royal families, supposedly descended from the gods, to marry brother to sister, dates from the traditions of the Adamic offspring--mating, as they must needs, with one another. The marriage ceremonies of the first and second generations of the Garden were always performed by Adam and Eve. [74:6:9]
The Urantia Problem.
What problems did Adam and Eve encounter as they made plans for their sojourn on earth as the new, visible world rulers?
The Adamic mission on experimental, rebellion-seared, and isolated Urantia was a formidable undertaking. And the Material Son and Daughter early became aware of the difficulty and complexity of their planetary assignment. Nevertheless, they courageously set about the task of solving their manifold problems. But when they addressed themselves to the all-important work of eliminating the defectives and degenerates from among the human strains, they were quite dismayed. They could see no way out of the dilemma, and they could not take counsel with their superiors on either Jerusem or Edentia. Here they were, isolated and day by day confronted with some new and complicated tangle, some problem that seemed to be unsolvable. [75:1:1]
Under normal conditions the first work of a Planetary Adam and Eve would be the co-ordination and blending of the races. But on Urantia such a project seemed just about hopeless, for the races, while biologically fit, had never been purged of their retarded and defective strains. [75:1:2]
Adam and Eve found themselves on a sphere wholly unprepared for the proclamation of the brotherhood of man, a world groping about in abject spiritual darkness and cursed with confusion worse confounded by the miscarriage of the mission of the preceding administration. Mind and morals were at a low level, and instead of beginning the task of effecting religious unity, they must begin all anew the work of converting the inhabitants to the most simple forms of religious belief. Instead of finding one language ready for adoption, they were confronted by the world-wide confusion of hundreds upon hundreds of local dialects. No Adam of the planetary service was ever set down on a more difficult world; the obstacles seemed insuperable and the problems beyond creature solution. [75:1:3]
They were isolated, and the tremendous sense of loneliness which bore down upon them was all the more heightened by the early departure of the Melchizedek receivers. Only indirectly, by means of the angelic orders, could they communicate with any being off the planet. Slowly their courage weakened, their spirits drooped, and sometimes their faith almost faltered. [75:1:4]
And this is the true picture of the consternation of these two noble souls as they pondered the tasks which confronted them. They were both keenly aware of the enormous undertaking involved in the execution of their planetary assignment. [75:1:5]
Probably no Material Sons of Nebadon were ever faced with such a difficult and seemingly hopeless task as confronted Adam and Eve in the sorry plight of Urantia. But they would have sometime met with success had they been more farseeing and patient. Both of them, especially Eve, were altogether too impatient; they were not willing to settle down to the long, long endurance test. They wanted to see some immediate results, and they did, but the results thus secured proved most disastrous both to themselves and to their world. [75:1:6]
Caligastia's Plot.
Caligastia [the "devil"] tried repeatedly to lead Adam and Eve astray with suggestions of compromise and short-cut adventures, but to no avail. Realizing no success in this direction, Caligastia decided to try a wily flank attack on Eve. His strategy worked. After Adam and Eve had lived and worked in the first Garden for one hundred seventeen [117] years, Caligastia succeeded in bringing about the complete undoing and final overthrow of the Edenic regime. [74:8:14] [75:2]
The Temptation of Eve.
The instrument Caligastia used was Serapatatia, the brilliant leader of a nearby tribe of the descendants of the Nodites. Serapatatia was never aware that he was being used as a tool by Caligastia to bring about the partial default of Adam and Eve. Over a period of time Serapatatia and Eve arrived at the plan of Eve bearing a son by Cano. Cano was a magnificent specimen of the survival of the superior physique and outstanding intellect of his remote progenitors of the Prince's staff. When Eve met Cano, she agreed to embark upon the scheme of modifying the plan for the rehabilitation of our planet. Before Eve quite realized what was transpiring, the fatal step had been taken. It was done. During all this time, nothing was said to Adam about this plan. [75:3]
Realization of Default.
The celestial life of the planet was astir. Adam recognized that something was wrong. As Adam and Eve walked in the Garden, Adam now heard about the plan of Eve, Cano, and Serapatatia to modify their instructions in the hope of accelerating world progress. As Adam and Eve talked in the Garden, "the voice in the Garden," Solonia, reproved them for disobedience. They had disobeyed the instructions of the Melchizedeks; they had defaulted in the execution of their oaths of trust to the sovereign of the universe [Jesus]. Eve had consented to participate in the practice of good and evil. This conference appears in the Bible as "the Lord God calling to Adam and Eve in the Garden and asking, "Where are you?" [Genesis 3:8,9,13] [75:4]
Repercussions of Default.
Eve's disillusionment was truly pathetic. But Adam entertained only pity and sympathy for his erring mate. However, the next day, Adam sought out Laotta, the brilliant Nodite woman, and with premeditation committed the folly of Eve. By taking this step, Adam was assured that he would suffer the same fate as Eve. [75:5:1,2]
When the residents of the Garden heard what happened to Eve, they became furious and unmanageable. They swept out through the gates of Eden and down upon these unprepared people, utterly destroying them--not a man, woman, or child was spared. [75:5:3]
The news of this slaughter by the Garden residents soon reached the tribes to the north, and presently a great host was assembling to march on the Garden. This was the beginning of a long and bitter warfare between the Adamites and the Nodites. There was intense and lasting "enmity between that man and the woman, between his seed and her seed." [Genesis 3:15] [75:5:9]
Had the annihilation of the nearby tribe not occurred, Adam, Eve, their children, and the Garden residents could have continued to live in the first Garden.
Adam and Eve Leave the Garden.
Adam had no liking for war, so he decided to leave the first Garden to the approaching Nodites unopposed. The next day at noon Adam's family along with some twelve hundred loyal followers went forth to find a new home.
On the third day out the Edenic caravan was halted by the arrival of the seraphic transports from Jerusem. While the transports stood by, those children who had arrived at the age of choice [twenty years] could choose to remain on earth or become the wards of the Most Highs on Edentia [the capital of our constellation of Norlatiadek]. All children of prechoice age were taken to Edentia. On this day Adam and Eve lost more than three-fourths of their children. [75:6]
Degradation of Adam and Eve.
While the caravan was halted Gabriel, the chief executive of our local universe, appeared to pronounce judgment. Gabriel said the Planetary Adam and Eve of Urantia were adjudged in default; they had violated the covenant of their trusteeship as the rulers of this inhabited world But they were absolved from all charges of standing in "contempt of the universe government." They had not been held guilty of rebellion. They were degraded to the status of the mortals of the realm; they must henceforth conduct themselves as man and woman of Urantia, looking to the future of the world races for their future. [75:7:1-3]
Life in the Second Garden [in Mesopotamia]
Paper 76 in
The Urantia Book describes the experiences of Adam and Eve in the second Garden. They endured the hardships of the second Garden with grace and fortitude while continuing to work for the uplifting of the world races.
Survival of Adam and Eve.
Eve
lived for 511 years; Adam lived for 530 years. They were both buried in the center of the Temple of divine service. And this was the origin of the practice of burying noted and pious men and women under the floors of the places of worship.[76:5:5]
On the third day after Adam's death, they were repersonalized and reassembled in the resurrection halls of the mansion worlds of Satania. [76:6:2]
And thus ends the story of the Planetary Adam and Eve of Urantia, a story of trial, tragedy, and triumph, at least personal triumph for your well-meaning but deluded Material Son and Daughter and undoubtedly, in the end, a story of ultimate triumph for their world and its rebellion-tossed and evil-harassed inhabitants. When all is summed up, Adam and Eve made a mighty contribution to the speedy civilization and accelerated biologic progress of the human race. They left a great culture on earth, but it was not possible for such an advanced civilization to survive in the face of the early dilution and the eventual submergence of the Adamic inheritance. It is the people who make a civilization; civilization does not make the people. [76:6:4]
The Legend of Creation.
The story of the creation of Urantia in six days was based on the tradition that Adam and Eve had spent just six days in their initial survey of the Garden. This circumstance lent almost sacred sanction to the time period of the week, which had been originally introduced by the Dalamatians [the administration of Caligastia]. Adam's spending six days inspecting the Garden and formulating preliminary plans for organization was not prearranged; it was worked out from day to day. The choosing of the seventh day for worship was wholly incidental to the facts herewith narrated. [74:8:1]
The legend of the making of the world in six days was an afterthought, in fact, more than thirty thousand years afterwards. One feature of the narrative, the sudden appearance of the sun and moon, may have taken origin in the traditions of the onetime sudden emergence of the world from a dense space cloud of minute matter which had long obscured both sun and moon. [74:8:2]
The story of creating Eve out of Adam's rib is a confused condensation of the Adamic arrival and the celestial surgery connected with the interchange of living substances associated with the coming of the corporeal staff of the Planetary Prince more than four hundred and fifty thousand years previously. [74:8:3]
The majority of the world's peoples have been influenced by the tradition that Adam and Eve had physical forms created for them upon their arrival on Urantia. The belief in man's having been created from clay was well-nigh universal in the Eastern Hemisphere; this tradition can be traced from the Philippine Islands around the world to Africa. And many groups accepted this story of man's clay origin by some form of special creation in the place of the earlier beliefs in progressive creation--evolution. [74:8:4]
Away from the influences of Dalamatia and Eden, mankind tended toward the belief in the gradual ascent of the human race. The fact of evolution is not a modern discovery; the ancients understood the slow and evolutionary character of human progress. The early Greeks had clear ideas of this despite their proximity to Mesopotamia. Although the various races of earth became sadly mixed up in their notions of evolution, nevertheless, many of the primitive tribes believed and taught that they were the descendants of various animals. Primitive peoples made a practice of selecting for their "totems" the animals of their supposed ancestry. Certain North American Indian tribes believed they originated from beavers and coyotes. Certain African tribes teach that they are descended from the hyena, a Malay tribe from the lemur, a New Guinea group from the parrot. [74:8:5]
The Babylonians, because of immediate contact with the remnants of the civilization of the Adamites, enlarged and embellished the story of man's creation; they taught that he had descended directly from the gods. They held to an aristocratic origin for the race which was incompatible with even the doctrine of creation out of clay. [74:8:6]
The Old Testament account of creation dates from long after the time of Moses; he never taught the Hebrews such a distorted story. But he did present a simple and condensed narrative of creation to the Israelites, hoping thereby to augment his appeal to worship the Creator, the Universal Father, whom he called the Lord God of Israel. [74:8:7]
In his early teachings, Moses very wisely did not attempt to go back of Adam's time, and since Moses was the supreme teacher of the Hebrews, the stories of Adam became intimately associated with those of creation. That the earlier traditions recognized pre-Adamic civilization is clearly shown by the fact that later editors, intending to eradicate all reference to human affairs before Adam's time, neglected to remove the telltale reference to Cain's emigration to the "land of Nod," where he took himself a wife. [Genesis 4:16,17] [74:8:8]
The Hebrews had no written language in general usage for a long time after they reached Palestine. They learned the use of an alphabet from the neighboring Philistines, who were political refugees from the higher civilization of Crete. The Hebrews did little writing until about 900 B.C., and having no written language until such a late date, they had several different stories of creation in circulation, but after the Babylonian captivity they inclined more toward accepting a modified Mesopotamian version. [74:8:9]
Jewish tradition became crystallized about Moses, and because he endeavored to trace the lineage of Abraham back to Adam, the Jews assumed that Adam was the first of all mankind. Yahweh was the creator, and since Adam was supposed to be the first man, he must have made the world just prior to making Adam. And then the tradition of Adam's six days got woven into the story, with the result that almost a thousand years after Moses' sojourn on earth the tradition of creation in six days was written out and subsequently credited to him. [74:8:10]
When the Jewish priests returned to Jerusalem, they had already completed the writing of their narrative of the beginning of things. Soon they made claims that this recital was a recently discovered story of creation written by Moses. But the contemporary Hebrews of around 500 B.C. did not consider these writings to be divine revelations; they looked upon them much as later peoples regard mythological narratives. [74:8:11]
This spurious document, reputed to be the teachings of Moses, was brought to the attention of Ptolemy, the Greek king of Egypt, who had it translated into Greek by a commission of seventy scholars for his new library at Alexandria. And so this account found its place among those writings which subsequently became a part of the later collections of the "sacred scriptures" of the Hebrew and Christian religions. And through identification with these theological systems, such concepts for a long time profoundly influenced the philosophy of many Occidental peoples. [74:8:12]
The Christian teachers perpetuated the belief in the fiat creation of the human race, and all this led directly to the formation of the hypothesis of a onetime golden age of utopian bliss and the theory of the fall of man or superman which accounted for the nonutopian condition of society. These outlooks on life and man's place in the universe were at best discouraging since they were predicated upon a belief in retrogression rather than progression, as well as implying a vengeful Deity, who had vented wrath upon the human race in retribution for the errors of certain onetime planetary administrators. [74:8:13]
The "golden age" is a myth, but Eden was a fact, and the Garden civilization was actually overthrown. Adam and Eve carried on in the Garden for one hundred and seventeen [117] years when, through the impatience of Eve and the errors of judgment of Adam, they presumed to turn aside from the ordained way, speedily bringing disaster upon themselves and ruinous retardation upon the developmental progression of all Urantia. [74:8:14]
The So-Called Fall of Man.
[The information in Genesis 3:1-24 is an entirely fictitious account of what happened in the Garden. There was no talking serpent. Remember that the Jewish religious leaders completely rewrote their known history during the Babylonian captivity. No attempt was made to write their new history in conformity with the facts. In fact, fully 99 percent of the Old Testament can be viewed as fictitious.]
Adam and Eve did fall from their high estate of material sonship down to the lowly status of mortal man. But that was not the fall of man. The human race has been uplifted despite the immediate consequences of the Adamic default. Although the divine plan of giving the violet race to the Urantia peoples miscarried, the mortal races have profited enormously from the limited contribution which Adam and his descendants made to the Urantia races. [75:8:1]
There has been no "fall of man." The history of the human race is one of progressive evolution, and the Adamic bestowal left the world peoples greatly improved over their previous biologic condition. The more superior stocks of Urantia now contain inheritance factors derived from as many as four separate sources: Andonite, Sangik, Nodite, and Adamic. [75:8:2]
Adam should not be regarded as the cause of a curse on the human race. While he did fail in carrying forward the divine plan, while he did transgress his covenant with Deity, while he and his mate were most certainly degraded in creature status, notwithstanding all this, their contribution to the human race did much to advance civilization on Urantia. [75:8:3]
In estimating the results of the Adamic mission on your world, justice demands the recognition of the condition of the planet. Adam was confronted with a well-nigh hopeless task when, with his beautiful mate, he was transported from Jerusem to this dark and confused planet. But had they been guided by the counsel of the Melchizedeks and their associates, and
had they been more patient, they would have eventually met with success. But Eve listened to the insidious propaganda of personal liberty and planetary freedom of action. She was led to experiment with the life plasm of the material order of sonship in that she allowed this life trust to become prematurely commingled with that of the then mixed order of the original design of the Life Carriers which had been previously combined with that of the reproducing beings once attached to the staff of the Planetary Prince. [75:8:4]
Never, in all your ascent to Paradise, will you gain anything by impatiently attempting to circumvent the established and divine plan by short cuts, personal inventions, or other devices for improving on the way of perfection, to perfection, and for eternal perfection. [75:8:5]
All in all, there probably never was a more disheartening miscarriage of wisdom on any planet in all Nebadon. But it is not surprising that these missteps occur in the affairs of the evolutionary universes. We are a part of a gigantic creation, and it is not strange that everything does not work in perfection; our universe was not created in perfection. Perfection is our eternal goal, not our origin. [75:8:6]
If this were a mechanistic universe, if the First Great Source and Center [God the Father] were only a force and not also a personality, if all creation were a vast aggregation of physical matter dominated by precise laws characterized by unvarying energy actions, then might perfection obtain, even despite the incompleteness of universe status. There would be no disagreement; there would be no friction. But in our evolving universe of relative perfection and imperfection we rejoice that disagreement and misunderstanding are possible, for thereby is evidenced the fact and the act of personality in the universe. And if our creation is an existence dominated by personality, then can you be assured of the possibilities of personality survival, advancement, and achievement; we can be confident of personality growth, experience, and adventure. What a glorious universe, in that it is personal and progressive, not merely mechanical or even passively perfect! [75:8:7]
Additional Comments
Evil and Sin on Earth.
Evil and sin visit their consequences in material and social realms and may sometimes even retard spiritual progress on certain levels of universe reality, but never does the sin of any being rob another of the realization of the divine right of personality survival. Eternal survival can be jeopardized only by the decisions of the mind and the choice of the soul of the individual himself. [67:7:5]
Sin on Urantia did very little to delay biologic evolution, but it did operate to deprive the mortal races of the full benefit of the Adamic inheritance. Sin enormously retards intellectual development, moral growth, social progress, and mass spiritual attainment. But it does not prevent the highest spiritual achievement by any individual who chooses to know God and sincerely do his divine will. [67:7:6]
Caligastia rebelled, Adam and Eve did default, but no mortal subsequently born on Urantia has suffered in his personal spiritual experience because of these blunders. Every mortal born on Urantia since Caligastia's rebellion has been in some manner time-penalized, but the future welfare of such souls has never been in the least eternity-jeopardized. No person is ever made to suffer vital spiritual deprivation because of the sin of another. Sin is wholly personal as to moral guilt or spiritual consequences, notwithstanding its far-flung repercussions in administrative, intellectual, and social domains. [67:7:7]
While we cannot fathom the wisdom that permits such catastrophes, we can always discern the beneficial outworking of these local disturbances as they are reflected out upon the universe at large. [67:7:8]
Myths and Legends.
As previously stated, Caligastia and the Staff of One Hundred arrived on earth from Jerusem about 500,000 years ago. [66:0:2]
The arrival of the Prince's staff created a profound impression. While it required almost a thousand years for the news to spread abroad, those tribes near the Mesopotamian headquarters were tremendously influenced by the teachings and conduct of the one hundred new sojourners on Urantia. And much of your subsequent mythology grew out of the garbled legends of these early days when these members of the Prince's staff were repersonalized on Urantia as supermen. [66:4:1]
The serious obstacle to the good influence of such extraplanetary teachers is the tendency of mortals to regard them as gods, but aside from the technique of their appearance on earth the Caligastia one hundred--fifty men and fifty women--did not resort to supernatural methods nor superhuman manipulations. [66:4:2]
The corporeal staff were definitely superhuman. [66:4:3]
The One Hundred were material but superhuman beings, having been reconstituted on Urantia as unique men and women of a high and special order. [66:4:8]
Adam and Eve can be described in much the same way.
The transactions in connection with the repersonalization of the One Hundred gave origin to numerous legends, many of which subsequently became confused with the later traditions concerning the planetary installation of Adam and Eve. [66:2:8]
The Nodites.
The postrebellion era on Urantia [i.e., following the outbreak of the Lucifer Rebellion] witnessed many unusual happenings. A great civilization--the culture of Dalamatia--was going to pieces. "The Nephilim [Nodites] were on earth in those days, and when these sons of the gods went in to the daughters of men and they bore to them, their children were the 'mighty men of old,' the 'men of renown.'" While hardly "sons of the gods," the staff and their early descendants were so regarded by the evolutionary mortals of those distant days; even their stature came to be magnified by tradition. This, then, is the origin of the well-nigh universal folk tale of the gods who came down to earth and there with the daughters of men begot an ancient race of heroes.
And all this legend became further confused with the race mixtures of the later appearing Adamites in the second garden. [77:2:3] [Genesis 6:4]
Usually the violet peoples do not begin to amalgamate with the planetary natives until their own group numbers over one million. But in the meantime the staff of the Planetary Prince proclaims that the children of the Gods have come down, as it were, to be one with the races of men; and the people eagerly look forward to the day when announcement will be made that those who have qualified as belonging to the superior racial strains may proceed to the Garden of Eden and be there chosen by the sons and daughters of Adam as the evolutionary fathers and mothers of the new and blended order of mankind. [51:5:2]
As the Lucifer Rebellion was still in full swing at the time of the arrival of Adam and Eve, this plan was somewhat modified: The Melchizedeks counseled Adam not to initiate the program of racial uplift and blending until his own family had numbered one-half million. [73:7:3]
The Second Garden.
It required almost a full year for the caravan of Adam to reach the Euphrates River. Finding it in flood tide, they remained camped on the plains west of the stream almost six weeks before they made their way across to the land between the rivers which was to become the second garden.
Cain [the son of Eve and Cano] and Sansa [the daughter of Adam and Laotta] were both born before the Adamic caravan had reached its destination between the rivers in Mesopotamia. Laotta, the mother of Sansa, perished at the birth of her daughter; Eve suffered much but survived, owing to superior strength. Eve took Sansa, the child of Laotta, to her bosom, and she was reared along with Cain. Sansa grew up to be a woman of great ability. She became the wife of Sargan, the chief of the northern blue races, and contributed to the advancement of the blue men of those times. [76:0:2] [76:1:1]
Adam leaves 1,570 superior men and women on earth.
After becoming established in the second garden on the Euphrates, Adam elected to leave behind as much of his life plasm as possible to benefit the world after his death. Accordingly, Eve was made the head of a commission of twelve on race improvement, and before Adam died this commission had selected 1,682 of the highest type of women on Urantia, and these women were impregnated with the Adamic life plasm. Their children all grew up to maturity except 112, so that the world, in this way, was benefited by the addition of 1,570 superior men and women. Though these candidate mothers were selected from all the surrounding tribes and represented most of the races on earth, the majority were chosen from the highest strains of the Nodites, and they constituted the early beginnings of the mighty Andite race. These children were born and reared in the tribal surroundings of their respective mothers. [76:4:8]
Adam and Eve: First mortals on Earth? NO!
The following information about Cain indicates that Adam and Eve were
not the first mortals to appear on earth: And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. [Genesis 4:16]
Cain married one of the Nodite women. [Genesis 4:17]
Cain's life in the second Garden had not been exactly happy since he was in such a peculiar way symbolic of the default. It was not that his associates were unkind to him, but he was aware of their subconscious resentment of his presence. Therefore, Adam and Eve encouraged Cain in his decision to leave the second Garden.
However, even in the days of Cain it was fatal to go abroad alone without some mark of group association. Cain knew that since he bore no tribal mark, he would be killed by the first neighboring tribesmen who might chance to meet him. The lone man was helpless unless he bore a tribal mark which testified that he belonged to a group which would certainly avenge any assault made upon him.
Hence the passage at Genesis 4:15:
. . . And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. [68:1:2] [76:2:7,8]
And so Cain departed for the land of Nod, east of the second Eden. He became a great leader among one group of his father's people and did, to a certain degree, fulfill the predictions of Serapatatia, for he did promote peace between this division of the Nodites and the Adamites throughout his lifetime. Cain married Remona, his distant cousin, and their first son, Enoch, became the head of the Elamite Nodites. And for hundreds of years the Elamites and the Adamites continued to be at peace. [76:2:9]
Adamson and Ratta.
Adam and Eve were the founders of the violet race of men, the ninth human race to appear on Urantia. Adam and his offspring had blue eyes, and the violet peoples were characterized by fair complexions and light hair color--yellow, red, and brown. [76:4:1]
Adamson, born in the first Garden of Eden, was the first-born of the violet race of Urantia. [77:5:1]
Adamson was one of the children of Adam and Eve who elected to remain on Urantia to assist them in the creation of the Second Garden of Eden. [77:5:2]
Before Van and Amadon left the planet, Van described for Adamson their highland home in the north. When Adamson was 120 years old, he decided to go in search of this highland home of Van and Amadon. Adamson and a band of twenty-seven left the Second Garden. In a little over three years they found the home which Van had described. [77:5:3,4,5]
Among these people he discovered a wonderful and beautiful woman, Ratta, twenty years old, who claimed to be the last pure-line descendant of the Prince's staff. Adamson and Ratta soon decided to marry. [77:5:5]
They had a family of sixty-seven [67] children. They gave origin to a great line of the world's leadership. The Adamsonites maintained a high culture for almost seven thousand years from the times of Adamson and Ratta. Some of their descendants were included among the "mighty men of old." [77:5:6-9] [Genesis 6:4]
The civil rulers of the Adamites were derived hereditarily from the sons of the first garden. Adam's first son, Adamson (Adam ben Adam), founded a secondary center of the violet race to the north of the second Eden. Adam's second son, Eveson, became a masterly leader and administrator; he was the great helper of his father. Eveson lived not quite so long as Adam, and his eldest son, Jansad, became the successor of Adam as the head of the Adamite tribes.
Adamson lived for 396 years. [77:5:7]
Note: Numerous statements in this paper were quoted verbatim from the source.
Beginning of Paper
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Source:
The Urantia Book, published by Uversa Press.
http://www.urantiabook.org
fellowship@urantiabook.org
The King James Study Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville TN.
Revised January 10 2007