One of the things I have never been able to do is get an accurate or even informed discussion of its provenance. Where did this come from? When did it appear? What would give anyone the idea that it had anything to do with reality?
I will say also that having looked at it in a somewhat cursory way, there are at least several places where it outright flies in the face of the litteral Word although not having a copy of the material at hand any more I cannot cite chapter and verse.
I would also point out that conceptually, the organization of the documents assumes the validity of the Augustianian foundation of Covenant Theology--Satan was bound for the thousand years at the death of Jesus Christ; that the thousand years has been extended because of the failure of mankind to do what we were directed to do and spread the Word everywhere; that there is no tribulation to come; no end of the Church Age on Earth; no rapture; and no finite expected visible physical return of Jesus Christ.
Now I do not want to offend anyone here who is a Covenant Theologist. However at this point, I think it is a reasonable position that Darby was correct--Dispensationalism is a reasonable analysis of the words without regard to the facts on the ground (pretty hard to believe that the devil is in chains somewhere) and the events as they unfold seem to be those which Darby and the Dispensationalists tell us to expect.
Thus these guys are pitching the idea that they have the word of truth from one who knows all but the truth they are pitching seems to be founded on a doctrine that is being eliminated by the facts on the ground.
So does anyone know where this stuff comes from? Or where it is supposed to have originated in deep dark history?
I don't have the details memorized, but the book was supposed to have been "channeled" via, if I remember correctly, a combination of automatic writing trance dictation. Here is a skeptical assessment:
According to The Urantia Book Fellowship (UBF), The Urantia Book (UB) is
an anthology of 196 'papers' indited [i.e., dictated] between 1928 and 1935 by superhuman personalities.... The humans into whose hands the papers were delivered are now deceased. The means by which the papers were materialized was unique and is unknown to any living person.Martin Gardner is skeptical of the UBF's claims. He believes the UB has very real human authors. Originally, he says, the UB was the "Bible" of a cult of separatist Seventh Day Adventists, allegedly channeled by Wilfred Kellogg and edited by founder William Sadler, a Chicago psychiatrist. According to Gardner, in addition to an array of bizarre claims about planets and names of angels, etc., the Urantia Book contains many Adventist doctrines. Sadler died in 1969 at the age of 94 but his spiritual group lives on. Sadler got his start working for Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, Adventist surgeon, health and diet author, and brother of cornflake king William Keith Kellogg. These are the same Kellogg brothers who were featured and lampooned in the movie "The Road to Wellville." <
[The Skeptic's Dictionary: The Urantia Book]
Mark W.