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Open up your answer book, What do you suppose you'll find? Answers to the questions You didn't even know you had in mind. Truth is ephemeral, Elusive as a wraith. No matter what you come to know, All you ever really have is faith. Life presents its problems. Every problem is a puzzle to be solved. If you seek to find the key, Sincerity will have to be involved. Know God loves you, and has loved you from the start. Read it in your answer book God has written in your heart.
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Comparison of revelation with discovery and theory.
Footnotes are links to the Urantia Foundation version of the papers, and open in a single separate tab or window.
Hover over footnote for link information.
Hover over footnote for link information.Greetings, fellow UB students!
I've been slowly plowing through a book I stumbled across in the local library, The Origin of Races, by Carleton S. Coon, Knopf 1971. Obviously, this book doesn't benefit from the last twenty-six years of anthropological research. Studies of the human genome had barely begun when it was written. It also doesn't reflect the last quarter-century of political correctness, much of which denies that humanity has races at all. (One probably couldn't get a book about humans with that title published these days.)
Only a couple of years after this book was published (but unrelatedly!), I first found my way into The Urantia Book via the History of Urantia papers on later human evolution. While I'd never taken an anthropology course, was more into the arts than the sciences, I was interested in evolutionary theory in general and the mysteries of the appearance of humanity specifically. What little I had read of anthropology was confusing to me, anthropologists seeming to have no real substantial answers on the actual evolutionary development of homo erectus. The Urantia Book, although addressing the subject only in sweeping and generalized overview written as a small part of its greater revelatory purposes, nevertheless was the most amazing, complete, and straightforward information I'd ever encountered on evolution in general and human evolution specifically.
The UB's descriptions of sudden appearances of new species seemed wild, yet seemed to me to fit the fossil record better than the then generally accepted theories of gradual progression. Since then, what I believe is called punctuated equilibrium, the "beneficent monster" theory, has come more to the fore, and entirely because theory has to adapt to deal with the fact of the insistent absence of so many anticipated transitional forms. In this general regard, this aspect of the UB has held its own through the decades, but in my haphazard and occasional studies of the subject, I haven't been able to correlate the rapidly-growing and -changing body of discoveries and theories of anthropology with the descriptions in the UB. UB and anthropology even seem to be diverging rather than converging, perhaps more than any other area of science. The revelation's statements about the evolutionary progression of man from our lemur-like ancestors to the first humans occurring in only about a million and a half years1 doesn't fit with the increasingly ancient anthropological discoveries; the UB's progression of hominid ancestors from North American through Southwestern Asian development doesn't correlate with the African genesis upon which anthropology seem to be concentrating.
Despite its anachronism in this fast-growing field, Coon's book has helped me understand a little better about several basics about our appearance, and problems in the field of understanding our appearance. (By the way, when I use those five-dollar words, remember that I'm an amateur who doesn't really know his phylum from his genus. I may now understand what Coon means when he writes that "in the human karyotype, none of the autosomal chromosomes are telocentric," but only because as a writer he's a thorough teacher. So if you see me err in usage, don't laugh — well, laugh if you want, but correct my ignorance gently.)
For one thing, primates are apparently among the most plastic of genotypes. The primates, the order of mammals to which humanity belongs, have adapted readily to a wide range of environments by variance of size, means of locomotion, social systems, and diet and related matters like digestive or dental adaptation. Primates are not only highly adaptive, but adaptive over a relatively short time. While I haven't been able to relate Coon's information to the UB's, the rapid changes described in the UB seem to fit with this high genetic flexibility.
Another factor in the difficulty of tracing hominid evolution is habitat. The fossil record depends on fossil preservation. Animals which lived in areas where they could end up trapped in mudpits and the like gave us excellent fossils. While some primates lived in swamps and similarly fortuitous areas, most of our ancestry is actually missing because the primates' habits and habitats are generally not conducive to fossilization.
The plasticity of the primate order brings up another point of difficulty in tracing our evolution, that traits do not appear in neat sequences. A particular type of apparently human trait might appear, and even disappear, from a line of our distant kin, without having any significant relationship to our immediate ancestry. Parallel evolution of traits can confuse the record; brachiation (tree-swinging locomotion) occurred in New World and Old World primates with the same characteristics (length of forearm, chest shape), but apparently developed completely independently.
The simplistic model of evolution originally suggested was that small random mutations would appear, and those few which were positive for the organism — survival-oriented like protective coloration or dietarily propitious — would endure the contest of life while those which were not would be eliminated through attrition. Now, I'm no expert as I said and not entirely clear on my history, but as I recall even during Darwin's lifetime this simple theory proved insufficient. Such adaptation does play a significant role, of course, but there are far more complex mechanisms involved. Given simple organisms, short breeding times, and multiple offspring, random mutation might be a sufficient explanation for the progress of evolution. With complex higher organisms, extended prepubescence, and smaller broods, the appearance of positive traits through purely random mutation should become increasingly rare. Yet primates, especially our ancestors, with long childhoods and only singletons or twins as a rule, evidence incredible adaptability in just a relatively few generations.
More than simple random mutation and survival of the fittest, there seems to be a genuine chromosomal-characteristic response over just a few generations to the demands placed upon the organism by changes in habit or environment. Here I'm going well beyond Coon's book, but as I've read his tracing of primate and other animal adaptations it seems to confirm this adaptive response. The secret of this phenomenal genetic response isn't fully understood, that I know of, and there are theories which postulate elaborate almost metaphysical means for such response — a kind of genetic ether theory — but I think common biological mechanical and electrochemical techniques will, eventually, provide mostly sufficient explanation. (The UB speaks of this characteristic of life as superphysical but not supernatural.)2 There are solid physical reasons why trees grow as they do, to take maximum advantage of the elements, earth, water, air, and sun. As the forests grow, so do the arboreal animals brachiate and their adaptive physiology will therefore be parallel whether in the forests of South America, Asia, or on another planet of material life forms, purely for physical reasons. The impetus for elongated forearms is such brachiating locomotion, and there is more at work than just the superior survivability of the long-armed; the genetic material seemingly responds directly to the demands on the organism to produce longer forearms on demand. This is all theoretical and I don't know of anything proven in this area. But the appearance of sudden new forms when the time and tides are suitable would seem to be (as the UB says3 an entirely natural development of the same type as the less dramatic mutations induced by habit or habitat changes.
Consider this list of complications. Genetic plasticity — rapid and wide adaptation. Traits, even as distinctive as semi-erect posture and partial bipedal locomotion, may appear and disappear rather than appearing in tidy linear sequences (as with the several attempts of evolution at producing birds.4 Parallel evolution — traits may appear at different places and times in different groups without any connection of direct descent (remember where the UB says that had something happened to Andon and Fonta, others would have independently evolve to human-will status5—and perhaps, although the UB doesn't say, did). The already-difficult incompleteness of the fossil record is especially complicated by our ancestors who didn't live in areas and ways which favored fossilization. Relatively rapid-fire changes and sudden speciation deprive us of easily-traced intermediate forms. And although we like to classify and categorize by genus, nature is not so neat and tidy; atypical traits may appear in any group and, beyond the level of the individual organism, taxonomy is always a game of generalization of the average which fails to account for the huge number of overlapping fringe groups (remember how some of Andon and Fonta's less-brilliant descendants could intermate with genetic inferiors).6 Broad-ranging and highly adaptive primates aren't as easily segregated and classified as orders which are more environmentally range-limited (recall that our ancestors which evolved from North American prosimians — lemur-like creatures — which are not in direct ancestry with the modern Madagascar lemurs7 — met and mated with related species when they arrived in the area of India8), and this is increasingly true as greater brain-power made our ancestors even more adaptive and far-ranging. Altogether, these difficulties mean our anthropologists can bark up the wrong trees, in the wrong places, over-segregate closely related groups, infer a sequentiality which is invalid, and otherwise completely misconstrue the taxonomy and phylogeny.
I can't guess to what extent the anthropological information in the UB was restricted by the revelators' limitations on anticipating scientific discoveries.9 I've found little so far to directly substantiate the UB's information on this subject, yet nothing to refute it. I don't know, but I don't think their statements represent human knowledge of the time of the revelation. I suspect their statements may fall into the area of information which we would never be able to recover from the geologic record and which we are therefore entitled to have revealed to us. We may find along the way (or already have) bits and pieces which will, in due time, better substantiate the theories one may derive from the UB's anthropological information, but without the UB's overview, we might never put it together on our own — just as is true with the theological revelations.
Anyone out there with a real anthropological background who can help me out on this, chime in. I don't expect to make a lifetime career of this — I hope to finish Coon's book, and its sequel, by the end of the millennium, but I'm a student of many fields, master of none, and certainly not anthropology. But especially if you can sift and sort for me the information of the anthropological and genetic research of the last few decades, especially as relates (or doesn't) to the UB, I'd enjoy reading about it. Meanwhile, I guess I'll go on plodding through the next two-thirds of this book and then I'll be roughly caught up to at least a quarter-century ago. :)
Yours in study of the wonders of Urantia.
Footnotes refer to The Urantia Book by Paper (P#), section (§#), sometimes by paragraph (¶#), and by page (p#).
1. "The Early Lemur Types" [UP62 §1 pg703]
2. "Evolutionary Techniques of Life" [UP65 §6 pg737]
3. "The sudden appearance of new species...." [UP58 §6 ¶4-5 pg669]
4. "The wading & swimming prebirds...." [UP60 §3 ¶21-22 pg691]
5. "Even the loss of Anton and Fonta...." [UP65 §3 ¶4 pg734]
6. "The groups going west...." [UP64 §1 ¶7-8 pg719]
7. "Neither were they the offspring...." [UP62 §1 ¶1 pg703]
8. "In these lands to the west of India...." [UP62 §1 ¶2 pg703]
9. "The Limitations of Revelation" [UP101 §4 pg1109]
Similarly-themed articles in Urantiana:
Scientific Evidence of Space Respiration
First People in the Americas
Humanity's Lemur-Like Asian Ancestry
Scientific Evidence of Space Respiration
First People in the Americas
Humanity's Lemur-Like Asian Ancestry
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When some decide that UrantiaBookism is their religion, it changes the landscape for everyone else.
In a message about to be sent to U2, under the subject UF-FEF Harmony, I caught myself writing (never much mind the context):
…is this the holy text of the "Urantia Religion," as many non-Urantia Book students imagine?
I have, since I first encountered the Moovement in 1974, persistently and consistently underestimated the proclivity of my fellow students of the revelation to persist in perpetuating the practices of the past which created divisive religious sectarianism. Shortly after writing the above, I went on to read several ardent messages from UB students proclaiming exactly this self-branding.
Labels distort. Cultism distorts. Organization distorts.
I know, I know, the UB's authors acknowledge that the book will result in a cult, and try to direct that cult along the best lines, but their acknowledgment of this tendency and their attempt to steer it as well as possible cannot really be taken as endorsement, as many have done. It's more like when the Hebrew Scriptures say, treat your slaves fairly. Saying "don't have slaves" was just too advanced.
Some people say their religion is Urantia. Some people even say their religion is The Urantia Book! Some of the revelation's most devoted students, too! Other people do not say their religion is Urantia, but while being students of The Urantia Book, continue to call themselves Christian, or whatever. Appreciation for the text does not lead them to say that The Urantia Book is their religion, however, and they would consider that somewhere between a misnomer and a confusion bordering on idolatry.
Some of this is semantics: Nobody's religion is The Urantia Book; that's at best meant as shorthand acknowledging appreciation for the book which helped inspire real religion, the individual's relationship with Our Creator-Parent, the only religion The Urantia Book teaches.
Relatedly, linguistic evolution creates a problem, because while "Urantian" in the original meaning applies to "inhabitant of the planet Urantia," it's a natural language development that those who make an ardent study of the book of that name come to be referred to, or to refer to themselves, as "Urantians."
A group which does not claim to be a religion can remain inclusive. "Urantians" meaning students of the book need not mean an exclusive religious grouping, only an association of some students of the text. No Christian need feel required to say, I'm no longer a Christian, I'm a Urantian.
But when Urantian-Urantians (planetary inhabitants who are students of the UB) decide that Urantianism or UrantiaBookism, as it were, is their religion, everything mutates: Suddenly, these Urantian-Urantian-Urantianists are a separate and distinct sect instead of a pansectarian fellowship. Unto themselves, internally, this is really no problem. However, it changes the landscape for everyone else:
1.
Other students of the UB who see their religion as, say, a moderate variant of some major belief system, or as no-label independent faith in God, and who also sometimes would evangelize not just the smuggled message of faith, fellowship, and service, but the whole revelation of The Urantia Book, suddenly must defend their interest in the UB as being something external from the U-U-U'nists. "I'm not one of them, but I'm into the book." Why is this necessary? Because....
2.
Urantian non-Urantians (planetary citizens NOT students of the revelation) learn of the "Urantian Religion" and identify the cult's actions, behaviors, leaders with the revelation, without considering the book unto itself. Because these Urantian Religionists will inevitably be petty, bickering, squabbling, snobbish, egomanical, pushy (in other words, normal, average, ordinary Urantians), this religion will look just like all the others, identified by its worst public representatives. (Dunno 'bout you, but I've already encountered this resistance and prejudice repeatedly in interfaith religious discussions.) This is the same as the many people who only know Christianity as the beliefs of Evangelical Biblical Fundamentalists, or only know Islam as the more infamous radical Shiites.
3.
The Urantia Book becomes the "sacred text of those Urantians" instead of a revelation for the whole world, just as Jesus Christ became the sacred totem of the Christians instead of a revelation for the whole world. Of course, his revelation was to the world, and his influence did spread far beyond the church which historically monopolized his person, and so shall the UB far transcend the sect which presumes to name itself after the revelation.
Can any of this be helped? Overall, no, as the UB acknowledges. Those who wish to call their religion "Urantiawhatever" will do so, and it's "tough s___" to anyone who objects. What right do you have to tell me what to call myself, they might indignantly object, and I would have to say, of course, I have no right to dictate whether someone can or cannot use the name. I do believe I have the right, even the duty, if I see it, to suggest that the other fellow consider what's right. And then, if my suggestions are persuasive, sometimes an individual may wake up and say, Hey! Why have I tried to usurp "Jesusonian" for my company, or presumed vainly to take "Urantian" as my religion's name, with all the attendant potential for confusion and time delays for the revelation? In the ten years since I first published my little UB Comix, I've come to feel uncomfortable about having taken even that small acronymic name from the revelation, thinking with each recent issue that I'd terminate the series, and go to another title Urantian Urantians could appreciate, but which would be less presumptuous. You may think that in this I'm being oversensitive. It's not something I've felt hugely guilty about, but it's still something I've considered, and seriously. The alternative is, undersensitivity on others' part.
Will Urantian-Urantian-Urantianists be the major force in the Urantia Moovement, the primary identity of Urantia Book students before the world, and thus make the moovement prey to whatever sectarian development or messianic fervor may come to infect this typical Urantian cult? To stand out from this new organized religion is an old problem for the new independent UB students, similar to minorities fighting for rights in a democratic majority, or the old joke about who'd attend the Anarchists' Convention: there's a powerful "huddling proclivity" for organized religionists, while organizing independents is like herding cats. In politics, the Liberals often need to coalesce many small groups with widely divergent interests in order to stand up to the Conservatives who operate much more efficiently for they act and think as a bloc. I'm neither Liberal nor Conservative, so I'm placing no value on either side here, merely drawing the parallel. (For some reason, though, I'm reminded of an old routine which Bill Cosby recorded 'way 'way back in his stand-up comedian days, regarding the rules of engagement between the American Revolutionaries and the British troops. "You guys wear red coats and march in straight lines, while we wear browns and greens and hide behind rocks and trees and stuff." When organzied, the independents actually have the advantage.)
I may favor independents, and may slant my writing their ("our" — grin) way, but I'm not really trying to say there's a right or wrong here; the angels of tradition and the angels of progress tend to focus on different strategies for good reasons, but both work toward the good of God. My concern is linguistic, political, propagandistic, social; aspects which are inherent to the realities of evangelism. The "churchification" issue will need to be continually reappraised. The problems cannot be avoided or prevented, only dealt with, and we deal best with that for which we are prepared. Careful consideration is not a quality for which humanity is much noted. Name your religion Urantia if you must, my fellows, but be aware, you're stealing the name of my book!
Deck us all with Boston Charlie. [pogopossum.com/deckus.htm]
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The revelation gives us the power and purpose to be the spiritual leaders of the world.
To all my sibling students of the revelation, greetings:
I set about this message with a light heart. We have had revealed to us that we are approaching an eventual age of Light and Life on this world, and also we have had revealed to us that we have the potential to realize this Light and Life in our own lives. Through the inspiration of the revealed truths of this remarkable text we are given the challenge, purpose, and power to be spiritual leaders of the world. Our course is clear, to preach and to live the gospel of love and service to God and to our fellows who still live more in shadow than we. I would wager that most of you reading this have already made your choice for God. Now is the time to renew your allegiance to our inspired and inspiring purposes.
Some were raised with Jesus, in a church or a family which, despite mortal shortcomings, did not thwart the voice of the Spirit of Truth as it led to Jesus, and Jesus in turn revealed our Father, so progress into understanding of the revelation's truths was relatively smooth. For others, the change of comprehension was a more dramatic shift. But all of us who have been given the understandings of this revelation have the same challenge, to live our lives with such drawing power that these understandings which we can communicate are attractive to others. The revelation very much depends on our exhibiting the fruits of the spirit. Our grasp of truth may be good but our transmission of truth depends on grace.
For nearly twenty-five years now, I have met and studied with students of the revelation. I have witnessed a progression of generations, a transformation of purpose and personalities. The fellow students whom I earliest met were mostly relatively staid and mundane, the direct descendents of the original readership, reserved but confident in faith, quietly heroic in their willingness to soldier the forward evolutionary dispersal of the revelation. Looking back, I seem to have been part of a transitional generation who came to the revelation independently through a combination of forces, some of which were the general spiritual reawakening of the times and some of which I suspect were the specific guidings of our personal spiritual teachers. Now it seems we have another generation, even less attached to the previous eras, with new interpretations, and a new spirit of inspiration and enthusiasm for the purposes of this revelation, for its power to transform the world of the cross into the jewel in Michael's crown. Whatever turbulence the main clot of adherents of the teachings may suffer, there is a thriving worldwide awakening to the revelation which should encourage every one of us.
As each of our generations becomes "old fogeys" of the company of followers of the newly revived gospel of love and ministry, we should celebrate the success of the combined efforts of mortals and celestials in bringing new blood to the cause. As we struggle to tame excessive enthusiasm, let us not dampen the evangelistic fires. As we present our hard-won understandings of the teachings to the new generations, let us listen carefully for the new insights and fresh perspectives the fresh readers bring not just to interpretation of the work but to the tactics of evangelism. Let our conservative spirits of the churches and our liberal spirits of progress be united in joyous purpose of spreading the gospel to the whole world.
Social and political problems may entangle our institutionalized organizations, but never let those complications cause us to doubt for a moment the world-changing power of our mission. Differences in strategies and tactics may hobble groups in working toward presentation of the Urantia Papers to the world, but every individual who believes this gospel can be an immediate saving force for the people we deal with each day. We live on a world saddled with difficulties rooted in two hundred thousand years of rebellion, default, betrayal, evil, sin, and iniquity, a full dispensation and more behind what we might have been, yet we have working with us and within us the Spirit of a Master Michael, who is even our own Urantian sibling, Prince of our world, and we have the revelation of truth even to the Central and Superuniverses which is usually given only to Post-Teacher Son worlds. The authorities who permitted this revelation demonstrated that same confidence in us which Jesus showed in choosing his apostles and missionaries. We are worthy of their confidence, and we will be positive and constant in our faith and in our preaching. We can accomplish what they expect of us because we are the children of the Almighty Source of all existence, and the siblings and children of the completed Master of a universe. We will make this world fit for Michael's return.
We stand on the brink of a new era of enlightenment and life. We can rise above the dark times and materialistic distractions of the age in which we are born and live today as if already our Father, Brother, Teacher, and Master has returned, in us, to transform the entire human race. No betrayal by some misguided Lanonandeks stops us -- the devils have been ordered behind us and cannot touch us. No default of our Material Son and Daughter hampers us -- their efforts were partial but not completely in vain and we are able to make up for that which they failed to achieve. No lack of connection to the circuits of the universe bothers us -- we are directly connected to the Heart and Soul of all the universe. We are the seed of the age of Light and Life, the harbingers of the Teacher Sons, the students of the Melchizedeks, the children of Christ Michael, and the offspring of God the Universal Father. We are the very vanguard of the Fifth Epochal Revelation to planet Urantia, and as we present a united front to the world, so we are the fulfillment of the promise of this newest presentation of truth.
Our world is fantastic, unique, exciting, wonderful. Our world is unsettled, even primitive in some areas. Yet here we are, with the truth of Paradise. The best of all worlds. Ripe for change. A harvest of souls for the Father. A sudden majestic symphony penetrating a long and frightening silence, a brilliant double rainbow sparkling as a long storm passes in the evening, a cry of new life after an arduous labor, we ourselves are the very Revelation, as it lives in us.
As we grow and preach and teach, we will turn a corner and delight to find fellow teachers and preachers, some inspired by our revelation, some simply surfing forward with us on this wave of the age of spiritual awakening, and we will embrace one another and be amazed together at how the Holy Spirit works to heal our damaged world. As experience in preaching the gospel gives us growing strength of confidence and renewed faith, the small things that trouble us now will grow even smaller, the insignificant difficulties we fret about now will disappear as the illusions they are, and the serious challenges we face will inspire us to new solutions and new answers the world has never seen. No matter if it is a day or a thousand millennia until Machiventa Melchizedek takes the throne of Planetary Sovereign, until the children of Adam and Eve may come back to us, until Michael graces us once more with his presence, because we are already in the presence of God, and we have joy and wonder in our hearts, light and life in our souls, and love and service to bestow on our fellows of this world.
Sing harmonies of joy, shout gladly, and praise God with all our might, for we have seen the beginnings of an age that all the ages have longed for, a day when truth will rule, fellowship will embrace all people, and goodness is the motivation of every heart. We know the truth and we are free. We live the age of light and life here and now. We transcend our environment and escape the limitations of the world of our origin with the insight of divine love. Truth, beauty, and goodness are our heart and glory, our purpose and our motivation to righteousness. The Spirit of Truth fills the minds of all our fellows in the world, this Spirit shines its spotlight on the everlastingly true, beautiful, and good attractiveness of the Master Jesus, and Jesus is our way, truth, and light to our Father Source and Center. Always remember, "the revelation of God to the world, in and through Jesus, shall not fail."
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Is it unreasonable to be disaster-ready in a world which has regularly seen disaster?
Fellows in the revelation:
Seven years before I was born, atomic explosives were used to kill humans for the first time, and for the last time. Since that time, we have seen wars and rumors of wars, and a proliferation of nuclear weaponry. We have seen a Cold War end up with nuclear sabre-rattling several times, come thisclose to all-out atomic war. Despite some relief in the Cold War tensions, humanity still has enough nuclear firepower to lay waste to civilization, and sufficient international hostility to initiate such suicidal war. It is not humanity's fellowship and love which has so far prevented atomic weaponry from again being used against fellowkind; rather, it is self-preservation. If Pakistan decides to nuke India, Pakistan is likely to suffer just as much. All nations, by and large, are healthy and wealthy and sane enough, even the most crazy nations, that sustained civilization is better than nuclear suicide.
But this precious fearful balance may not hold. There is no reason to presume that nuclear explosives won't be used again to kill fellow humans. Hiroshima and Nagasaki have stood as warning against another world war, and the nations of the world have been more than ever forced to arbitrate their disputes, or at least confine them to conventional weapons. But all nuclear disaster requires is one world leader, someone slightly more bent than the media depiction of Saddam Hussein for example, or some vengeful terrorist group who feel that a major city is far enough away from their homeland that they could use a nuke, and off the map go millions of people.
All-out nuclear war is not as likely a scenario as a terrorist nuke at this time. The nations may very well restrain themselves and continue to grow into supernations and even ultimately a world government, passing what Jesus' paraphrased Urmia lectures call that most dangerous point, without resort to nuclear war. A scenario of terrorists nuking a city… or two… is all too likely, however.
Currently, we have a Soviet general claiming that some hundred suitcase-size Soviet nukes are missing. Both Russia and the US have hastened to say the Soviets never had such nukes, much less are any missing, but (1) they could be just trying to allay panic and (2) there could very well be such small nukes on the international black market regardless of the source.
I am not trying to incite fear. The last time the Cold War came close to going hot, ABC-TV had a dramatization of a nuclear war, the major news magazines all had cover stories on nuclear war, and a prominent Urantia Book preacher convinced many that nuclear war was imminent, sell your goods and head for the caves. The response which Mary Jo and I had to that threat was to restate our faith in the continuance of civilization in the most dramatic way we could — to have another child. In response we got two children, and we named those twin boys Michael and Christopher. I would want them, their older sister, their children, and all the world's children, to see continuing civilization, without ever seeing another Hiroshima. I live as if we will have this continuing civilization.
But I also recognize that wishful thinking and even prayer do not necessarily affect reality. World War III is really too all-consuming to care about — if it comes to that, we're back to the caveman days, at best, and it'll be so devastating it won't really matter what happens. But a little bit of nuclear war, say a regional conflict in Southeast Asia (putting it at a good distance from myself — Southeast Asians might want to put it in South America), or a terrorist nuking of a major Western city, that could cause severe problems enough. Responses to such an attack might include tyrannical restrictions of civil liberties, and we might all be suffering severe effects of radiation or other physical consequences.
As I say, I don't mean to cause distress. When we hear a Grim message that nuke war is going to happen, and then it doesn't, there's a tendency to relax, to say, "whew! false alarm," (or "I knew it wouldn't happen" or "Gee! Our prayers were answered and it didn't happen") and get on with the everyday. There's also, for some, considerable education that the efforts toward self-preservation, besides being mostly foolish, were also vain. Are followers of Jesus really willing to hide in our nuclear shelters, shoot our suffering neighbors to defend our canned goods, and otherwise play the game that height-of-the-Cold-War 1950s-fashion way?
When the thought adjuster attempts to flash its message across to our minds, we often get the flash accompanied by all sorts of less-inspired static. One might get a flash about preparedness against a disaster, for example, and the brain will mischievously add on details never included in the original message — where to hide out, when it will happen, who should be told (or not told). When the non-inspired matters prove to be dirty bathwater, out it goes along with the baby of truth contained therein. I'm not saying that by this I believe there was a germ of truth in the unfortunate affair the Urantia Moovement suffered years ago. I just acknowledge the possibility.
Besides nuclear disasters, we have plenty of other threats which might come upon us suddenly. The too-recent Iraqi conflict demonstrated that some folks are still too willing to unleash chemical and biological weapons, which can be more widely devastating than would a local nuclear bomb. Nature can out-do small nukes easily, with (for North American examples) the anticipated San Andreas "Big One," or the less-well known but as-anticipated Madrid earth-shaker which could devastate numerous cities the unprepared heartland of America. An asteroid smaller than the one that is alleged to have hit the Yucatan millions of years ago could still have catastrophic consequences.
Okay, what's the point, fellow truth-seekers and love-doers? Panic and anxiety are not reasonable reactions. Fear is stupid. But should we dismiss preparedness as vain? Is it unreasonable to be disaster-ready in a world which has seen regular disasters all along? Stocking up on food and water may not do us much good if hoardes of hungry neighbors overrun us, and having plenty of fresh batteries for your flashlights and fuel for your heater isn't sensible if you're at ground zero. In such extreme cases, preparedness won't help. Those whose love-inspired charity would not let them preserve their own family while watching fellows die for want of food or medicine would have to make hard decisions in a real disaster. If you're the only family in miles that was ready, you might as well have been unready.
Does this argue against preparedness, though? There are civil defense folks (one example) who have been striving (mostly in vain) to prepare cities like Chicago and Memphis for the very real possibility of a horrific repeat of the Madrid quake of the early 1800s. Should Noah not have followed his own advice to build his house as a boat and take the animals on-board at night during the flood seasons, just because all his neighbors were deaf to his wisdom?
My belief is, disaster will come. It could be local, or it could be worldwide. It could be financial or physical. The ongoing continuous civilization of the past, oh, several centuries, say, is no guarantee that we won't suffer a major setback to civilization. Sometimes we can avoid problems. A Jew in central Europe in the late 1930s might have had enough sense to get one's immediate family out of the way of the oncoming holocaust, and some did. But it can be a bit harder to dodge an unexpected nuke, biological weapons, or an asteroid.
Can you grow your own food? Do you have a water well? Is your shelter strong and secure enough? Do you have fuel and resources to survive for days, or even years, in case of emergency? If not, then, basically, you're running a risk. It may seem an acceptable risk, as year after year you live in relative peace and health, but if you are caught up in an Event, you may wish you'd had insurance. It is not human nature to prepare for winter like ants but rather to play like grasshoppers until the frost. The government widely advertised and promoted low-cost flood insurance in anticipation of flooding that hit Northern America recently, and few were interested.
Even if there's just a small localized disaster, your preparedness may make the difference between life and death for your family or even your neighbors, depending on circumstances. It's rather like fastening your seat belt in a car. A bad enough wreck, a seat belt won't help. Certain wrecks, you'd be better off without a seat belt. But statistically, you should wear it. This is wisdom. And the higher powers, I am given to understand, aren't always all that helpful to those who refuse to act on their light of knowledge and wisdom.
Regardless of whether the Armegeddonists have it right or wrong, preparedness is wise in this world. Faith is good. Trust is important. We cannot save ourselves in all circumstances, and we should always live in principle, act in love, and be so unattached to the world that it doesn't matter if the earth itself should pass away (wow! that asteroid's so big, all we can do is sing psalms until it hits). But we are also given this life, and just as we budget for next week's bills (or ought to — sometimes I have trouble making ends meet), so we would be wise to protect ourselves and our families as much as possible.
This has been a message from your local universe civil defense preparedness organization. This is a test. This is only a test. Had this been a real emergency, you would be wishing you'd stocked up on canned goods, bottled water, and energy sources. (Or, maybe, if it was emergency enough, as the old joke goes, you'd get underneath your desk, stick your head between your legs, and kiss your a$$ goodbye.)
Beep repaired!
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