© 1994 Ann Bendall
© 1994 The Brotherhood of Man Library
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? UB 148:4.7.
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.
It is beyond my imagination to comprehend the horror and grief of their situation. They had been fully informed of the personal consequences of their departure from the divine plan. Having no knowledge of the immortality status of the material order of sonship, I cannot put myself into their shoes to appreciate what they thought, or how they felt, after those dreadful days of their expulsion from Eden. Nor can I imagine the grief of Eve (from which she never fully recovered), of those thirty days during Adam’s absence. Two people designed by Michael to never work alone. Nor can I fully appreciate the hell that Adam went through. The superhuman love he had for his mate; what he had to go through as he made, what was for him, the only decision he could have made.
The sadness and disappointment of the midwayers and seraphim who so loved the couple and who saw their every dream and hope for the planet crumble. What a place it must have been, no humour, no lightness, no sunshine!
They left the garden with no knowledge of what the future would hold for them, knowing the judges on Salvington would be currently deliberating their fate. The only thing keeping the two functioning would have been the incredible loving pity and sympathy of Adam for his mate.
The ruling was handed down and they were judged in default. They had violated the covenant of their trusteeship as the rulers of Urantia, but had been absolved from all charges of standing in contempt of the Universe Government. They were not held guilty of rebellion!
We are told that there never has been (probably) a more disheartening miscarriage of wisdom on any planet in the whole of Nebadon, and I verily believe Adam and Eve realized this, and, wondrous couple as they are, they accepted this miscarriage as their deed.
And so they trudged on, valiantly establishing the second garden. How much they must have missed the soothing beauty of Jerusem. I guess they spent their nights wondering about their future as mere mortals of Urantia.
So very much they had lost—their ability to telepathize with their children, and many other powers inherent in their immortal status, all abruptly terminated. In that brief period of about 115 years, they contended with and overcame so many difficulties, making the most of the situation of their own doing. Can you imagine their acute sense of disappointment as they thought of all their friends and children in Jerusem. And their grief at the loss of their Urantia children, when the seraphim took them to Edentia? As the revelators say, “the way of the transgressor is hard.” All I can feel is admiration for these two great souls.
With grace and fortitude they bore their diminished estate, and with joy felt/realized that they were Adjuster indwelt. Adam deduced that he and his mate would be repersonalized at the next dispensation attendant upon the arrival of another order of Sonship on Urantia, at some indefinite future time. In the interim, they would be sleeping survivors. And then they received their first and only message from Michael whilst they were on Urantia. We are only given a fragment of it in The Urantia Book, but are told that amongst expressions of friendship and comfort, Michael said “I have given consideration to the circumstances of your default, I have remembered the desire of your hearts ever to be loyal to my Father’s will, and you will be called from the embrace of mortal slumber when I come to Urantia if the subordinate sons of my realm do not send for you before that time.” UB 76:5.3
What joy they must have felt! I suspect that their hearts sang with lightness as they received their beloved Creator’s message—a Creator who was their true friend, and whose word was his bond, assuring them that they would be part of the next dispensational roll call, if not before; and not only that, but that Michael was coming to Urantia! The planet that they so loved was to be blessed with the personal presence of Michael!
And so they proceeded through their life on Urantia, much wiser, doing the best they could until death overtook them. Adam was alone for 19 years following the death of Eve. Three days after his passing away, orders were received, concurred in by the Union of Days of Salvington, Emmanuel, acting for Michael, that there be a special roll call of distinguished survivors of the Adamic default on Urantia.
And so now, having romped through the seven mansion worlds, they are once again at Jerusem, this time as ascending mortals and members of the council of twenty four. Michael deems them fit and worthy to be two of the twenty four people who are his personal agents on Jerusem; who have authority to represent him “in all matters concerning the roll calls of Satania and in many other phases of the scheme of mortal ascension on the isolated worlds of the system. They are the designated [all 24] for executing the special requests of Gabriel and the unusual mandates of Michael.” UB 45:4.1
When I get to Jerusem I hope that Adam and Eve are still there and have the time available to have a chat. They are two great people I would love to meet, simply to give a great big morontia hug to!
¶ External links
- Article in Innerface International: https://urantia-book.org/archive/newsletters/innerface/vol1_2/page9.html