Divine Creation or Evolution?
Christians who believe that man was created by divine decree can point to numerous passages in the Book of Genesis in support of their beliefs: 1:20-27 ~ 2:7,21-23. According to these passages, God created man and all other creatures separately. [The King James Study Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville TN]
The authors of The Urantia Book state that both Divine Creation and evolution are a fact of life. In various places in the book they emphasize that life does not spontaneously appear on a planet. The Life Carriers, one order of the Divine Sons of God, must initiate it [plant it] on a barren planet and then remain there for long periods to foster and favorably directionize the course of biologic development. On our planet the Life Carriers organized the life patterns after arriving on earth in accordance with formulas previously approved by their superiors. [36:0] [36:3:1,2,7]
Thus we see that the arrival of mortal man on a planet is the result of Divine Creation and the evolutionary process--he is not an evolutionary accident! Under the divine plan, the process of planetary evolution is orderly and controlled. It proceeds according to a precise system: God’s universal law. Creationists and evolutionists could save themselves a lot of stress if both sides to the argument recognize that both Divine Creation and evolution are true. [49:1:6,7]
God the Father, in the eternity of the past, decreed that all mortal-inhabited worlds should be evolutionary in origin and nature. God’s plan of evolution provides for the development of higher organisms from the lower groupings of life. It is on these evolutionary planets that the mortal races of time and space begin their eternal existence if they choose to survive. [49:0:1] [49:1:6,7]
Some planets are unsuited for mortal habitation. The Life Carriers will not plant life on small planets having a high rate of axial revolution as they are not suited for life habitats. Some planets are too large for mortal habitation--their great mass results in oppressive gravity. [49:0:4]
Life is both mechanistic and vitalistic--material and spiritual. Ever will Urantia physicists and chemists progress in their understanding of the protoplasmic forms of vegetable and animal life, but never will they be able to produce living organisms. Life is something different from all energy manifestations; even the material life of physical creatures is not inherent in matter. [36:6:1]
Things material may enjoy an independent existence, but life springs only from life. Mind can be derived only from pre-existent mind. Spirit takes origin only from spirit ancestors. The creature may produce the forms of life, but only a creator personality or a creative force can supply the activating living spark. [36:6:2]
The
Life Carriers can design the patterns of life. They can organize the energy
systems. But an additional step is required: the "breath of life"
must be imparted to these lifeless forms. The Sons of God can construct the
forms of life, but it is the Spirit of God who really contributes the vital
spark. This life-activation spark is provided by the Universe Mother
Spirit who vitalizes the lifeless patterns and imparts to such activated plasm
the prerogatives of organismal reproduction. [36:6:7]
[The Life Carriers believe the Ancients of Days
and the Master Spirits also have a part in the inauguration of life on a new
world.] [Paper 34 discusses the nature and function of our Universe Mother
Spirit. The spirit circuit of the Divine Minister, the Holy Spirit, is one of
the three distinct spirit circuits in our local universe of Nebadon. (34:4:1)]
Some religions teach that persons who are qualified, upon death, are resurrected as immortal and perfected spirits in heaven [Mansion World Number One]. But this is not God’s plan. Such beliefs are but ignorant superstitions and pleasing fables. When the Creators desire to produce perfect beings, they do so by direct and original creation, but they never undertake to convert animal-origin and material creatures into beings of perfection in a single step. Mortals who choose eternal survival achieve perfection over eons of time, one day at a time. The process of intellectual and spiritual development continues into the next worlds. [48:0:1,2]
Unfortunately, a surviving mortal does not wake up in heaven as a perfected personality. However, a person who achieves the requisite level of spiritual and intellectual development during a lifetime on earth has a distinct advantage upon death: On the third day following death that person will be resurrected in heaven [Mansion World Number 1]. If a mortal does not meet this qualification upon death, he/she must rest in unconscious sleep until the next roll call, which could be a shorter or longer period of time. Recall that Jesus came forth from the tomb on the third day following his death. Adam lived 530 years. Eve had died nineteen years previously of a weakened heart. On the third day following Adam's death, both he and Eve were repersonalized and reassembled in the resurrection halls on Mansion World Number One. [30:4:2-5] [49:6:8,9] [76:5:5 ~ 6:2]
Following is a capsule description of the marvelous destiny of those mortals who choose the Paradise ascension program: Evolutionary mortals are born on the planets of space, pass through the morontia worlds, ascend the spirit universes, traverse the Havona spheres, find God, attain Paradise, and are mustered into the primary Corps of the Finality, therein to await the next assignment of universe service. [31:10:13]
It
will require several billions of years to complete the program. As you can see,
it is not a four-year course after which a surviving mortal receives his
diploma!
But worry not! Tuition, text books, room and
board, transportation, and entertainment are all free. All we have to do to
earn all these marvelous benefits is to work hard, study hard, and do our
assigned work to the best of our ability while steadily ascending to ever
higher levels of spiritual development. Age upon age of years of work and study
will pass before we stand in the presence of God the Father on Paradise.
[For a more detailed description of the universe educational system for surviving mortals see the following: ~ 30:4 ~ 35:3,7,10 ~ 37:6 ~ 37:10:6 ~ 43:73 ~ 43:8,9 ~ 44:8 ~ Paper 45 ~ 48:5:6-8 ~ 48:6-8 ~ 50:5-7 ~ Corps of the Finality: Paper 31. The Corps of Mortal Finaliters is the destination of most surviving mortals. ]
We
mortals of animal origin are absolutely the lowest form of will creatures in
the universe. [Will creatures are beings who can choose to do the will of God.]
But there are compensations for starting at the bottom:
When the heights of perfection and eternity are
attained, all the more honor to those who began at the bottom and joyfully climbed
the ladder of life, round by round, and who, when they do reach the heights of
glory, will have gained a personal experience which embodies an actual
knowledge of every phase of life from the bottom to the top. [ 32:3.10]
Source: The Urantia Book, Published by Uversa Press 2003, a subsidiary of Urantia Book Fellowship. http://www.urantiabook.org. fellowship@urantiabook.org. Note: Numerous statements in this paper were quoted verbatim from The Urantia Book.
Revised January 28 2005