SECTION 5
We have been told that the Urantia Revelation “is intended for the coming age,” but we also know that its human sources—though of very high quality—predate the middle of the twentieth century. In addition, we are aware that each of the 196 Papers was edited several times by the revelators in response to queries from the Forum in the period of 1924 to around 1942 (or a bit later) in Chicago, as mentioned earlier. The lore of those heady times indicates that several Papers were actually withdrawn because they were beyond the comprehension of the Forumites. And at least one very difficult Paper (“Diety and Reality,” Paper 105) was incorporated into the text because of the persistent questions by Contact Commissioner Bill Sadler, Jr. I can testify that the resulting presentation is too advanced for most of us.142
It is an undisputed fact that the readers in the Forum presented hundreds of questions through the Contact Commission, although we don’t know very much about the questions themselves. New drafts of each Paper that came forward over the nearly twenty years of the revelatory process addressed their most pertinent questions. Early histories indicate that the operating slogan for this unique cooperative effort between these humans and the celestial authors was “No questions?—no Papers!”
In this connection, it is an interesting fact that a legal theory once entertained by the Urantia Foundation was that because the Forumites had shaped the UB’s content through their questions, a possible interpretation of copyright law might allow that legal human authorship be granted to this group.
It is undeniable that an interactive process conditioned the content of the Urantia Papers. Part of the mandate of the revelators was to directly respond to the intellectual trends of the early twentieth century—an evolutionary approach that is considered optimal for an effective planetary revelation. But there are other important implications as well. First, it is entirely wrong-headed to think of any revelation as inerrant. There are no infallible scriptures and never will be, as this statement makes clear:
But no revelation short of the attainment of the Universal Father can ever be complete. All other celestial ministrations are no more than partial, transient, and practically adapted to local conditions in time and space. While such admissions as this may possibly detract from the immediate force and authority of all revelations, the time has arrived on Urantia when it is advisable to make such frank statements, even at the risk of weakening the future influence and authority of this, the most recent of the revelations of truth to the mortal races of Urantia. [94:2]
Purportedly revelatory texts can only be approximations of what we might think of as ultimate truth because they are conditioned by the needs and the mentality of its recipients in a particular time and place. Revelation is always at least partially an evolutionary product.
Secondly, the revelatory process is not unlike like the manner in which the individual soul evolves. I’ve explained that in the process of soul-making, the Indwelling Spirit of God reaches down to meet the highest thoughts and feelings of its human ward as these rise upward in the heart in an effort to grasp the living truth and make choices based on it. The resulting soul-substance is a beautiful cocreative blend, but it is never itself pure spirit.
Third, a revelatory mandate requires pure revelation as well. Crucial errors that are blocking the further evolution of consciousness do need to be corrected through a major download of grace. For example, decades of research have found no significant human sources for Papers 107 through 112, which are critical to the UB’s original description of the inner triad that I present in this book. When the revelators want to make sure to correct humankind on key issues, one can easily sense the authoritative tone; you will find this in many instances, including Paper 111, the UB’s principal discourse on the human soul.
And finally, the spiritual import of an inspired text requires exegesis over time. Revelatory scripture needs to be reinterpreted and adapted in the light of current evolutionary thought and the existing human predicament on the ground. Because human knowledge is progressing at an exponential rate and we are caught up in times of very rapid social change, I have little doubt that some of the interpretation I provide in Your Evolving Souls will itself go out of date. In that light, I invite you to enjoy my effort in the spirit of these times.
142 Bill Sadler Jr. was the only child of William and Lena Sadler. He was an original member of the Contact Commission and the author of several important studies that are still in print. Fortunately, many of his lectures in the 1950s that explicate the most important and difficult concepts in the UB were recorded and are also available online. Many readers of the revelation consider these talks to be unsurpassed by any other commentary in their quality, depth, and humor. The Sadlers were a family of orators.