The account in The Urantia Book of the implantation of “life” on Urantia does not appear to exclude the possibility that ancestral life forms (forms considered to be non-living) were in existence and undergoing evolutionary change prior to the implantation of “life” by the Life Carriers. However, according to The Urantia Book account, it appears to be unlikely that such forms could have existed prior to a maximum of little more than I billion years ago.
Statements in the literature of science that claim that life forms have existed on the earth for perhaps 3.5 billion years cannot be reconciled with The Urantia Book accounts, even allowing for the non- disclosure of unearned knowledge clause of the revelatory mandate.
A possible explanation for the discrepancy is that the dating methods for these far-away times are appallingly inaccurate. This view is supported by many recent remarks in the scientific literature that state that the interpretation of data obtained by use of radiometric dating techniques is an art rather than a science. Some authors go further and state that the methods are worthless. Alternatively, the identification of so-called microfossils in ancient rocks as being the remains of single cell living organisms may be erroneous.
It appears to be possible that the introduction of “life” by the Life Carriers involved a reorganization of the pre-existing protoplasm of the “ancestral life” forms. If so, this re-organization may be marked by the vast differences in the mechanisms of transcription and translation of genetic material that have recently come to light between prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms.
REFERENCES: Cech, T.R. 1986. “RNA as an enzyme.” Scientific American 255 (5),76; Dodd, Robert T. 1986. “Thunderstones and Shooting Stars. The meaning of meteorites.” (Harvard University Press); Glasziou, K.T. 1969. “Control of enzyme formation” Annual Review of Plant Physiology, 20, 63-88; Steitz, Joan A. 1988. “Snurps” Scientific AMERICAN 258 (6) 36; Struhl, K. 1989. Annual Review of Biochemistry 58, 1051.
Urantia Evidence 