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Apart from God,
the two most maligned personalities in the history of Urantia would
have to be Adam and Eve. They were the couple whose
"apple-eating" venture cost us humans the glory that once
was ours. As a result of their mistake all humans are born
inherently evil instead of good! The belief in the innate evil of
mankind was embraced by the father of psychology, Freud, and I
suspect his religious background would have coloured his theories -
which have subsequently been proved wrong.
Humans are born
innately moral and social beings, that is the findings of
psychology. The Church still has great difficulties in trying to
discover whether we are good or bad. It appears that a major problem
is the old testament story of Adam and Eve. That couple did such a
dastardly deed that even Jesus who died on the cross as payment for
mankind's (or is it personkind's?) sins was unable to meet the debt
owing for Adam and Eve's goof. In the best of atonement
believing religions, so also is the concept that we are born bad, so
Jesus could not have been able to fit Adam and Eve's sin on the
cross.
What is
interesting is that it appears that Jesus, in his public ministry
days, did not try to correct the Adam and Eve myth. When talking
about sin and evil with the apostles, the only mention of Adam and
Eve comes in the form of an answer to a question by Thomas:
"You
do not understand the relationships of evil and sin because you view
mankind as beginning on earth with a perfect Adam and rapidly
degenerating, through sin, to man's present deplorable estate. But
why do you refuse to comprehend the meaning of the record which
discloses how Cain, the son of Adam, went over into the land of Nod
and there got himself a wife? And why do you refuse to interpret the
meaning of the record which portrays the sons of God finding wives
for themselves among the daughters of men?" (p.1660).
Hence, in his
exquisite way, Jesus was not going to deal with the error in
religious teachings of his day, but await the truth eradicating
error for, as he points out, the bible is totally contradictory on
the whole story of who Adam and Eve were.
How loved those
two personalities are by Michael!
Throughout the
whole of the Lucifer rebellion Adam and Eve had remained loyal to
Michael. And they were excellent parents. Not one of their 100
children were led astray by the sophistries of Lucifer.
We are not told how many of the 161 million Material Sons of our
local universe are residents of Satania, but we do know that 681,217
Material Sons were lost in Satania, and that 95% were as a result of
the Lucifer rebellion.
Those must have
been very sad times for Adam and Eve and their children, as they
watched many of their friends succumb to the wiles of Lucifer.
And then came the
post of Urantia. All of the Material Sons put in for this
"plum" assignment, and Adam and Eve were chosen as the
most suitable. They had all the necessary skills as well as vast
experience with new arrivals, having been teachers in the
citizenship schools on Jerusem.
They were told of
the difficulties they would experience, the problems they must deal
with, but there is no substitute for real life experience. They were
given responsibilities for which they were deemed to be adequately
equipped and fully instructed; but, their task was also regarded as
nigh on impossible. We can all criticize them for being so
impatient, particularly Eve. If they had been more patient they
would have succeeded, but the reality was they had a mountain of
obstacles to overcome. Other Material Sons and Daughters normally
arrive on a planet at a time when the inhabitants are starting to
undertake programs for the eradication of their defective stock. Not
so on Urantia (which still has not embarked on such a scheme).
Nor could Adam and Eve obtain any enthusiasm from the inhabitants to
any interference with the way things were.
I can imagine the
excitement on Satania when they were appointed. All their friends
would have given them advice on how to approach the Urantia
assignment. There would have been parties and lots of love and
warmth on the beautiful sphere of Satania. Then it is all over and
they arrive on Urantia and they are so very, very lonely. They have
left every vestige of familiarity behind; their children,
their friends, civilization as they had known it for all of their
lives to date - their whole life changed overnight.
No sooner did
they arrive and the locals became hysterical and wanted to make them
gods. That must have been both traumatic and sobering as the
midwayers used their power to get the two physically to the scene of
uproar before it became totally uncontrollable. And as the days
passed, the two must have clung to each other. Gradually each of
their illusions became shattered by the primitiveness of the
inhabitants of Urantia, and the practical appreciation of how slow
progress was going to be.
Seven
years the Melchizadeks and Van remained - such a short time. Adam
did not want them to leave but the time had come. Who could they
talk to? Did they not grieve as their birthdays came around? Or
those of their 100 children? There were no fun times, no escape from
the incessant trauma and pressure of their work.
And work they did. In the short period of
a little over 100 years they achieved incredible results in the
development of Urantia's civilization. And then they erred!
What
a wonderful couple they must be! All that they faced together! I
suspect there are not too many personalities in Nebadon who have
bravely faced up to their demotion to the bottom rung of the ladder,
while at the same time accepting their situation along with their
attendant recognition of their personality characteristics which
caused the error. Manfully, they rolled up their sleeves and made
the best of a bad job. Their love for God and Michael stood the test
of massive defeat and depression, and came through stronger than
ever. |