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Something need not be factual to be true.
A pile of facts should not be confused with truth.
I usually try and keep my posts as short as I can and still do justice to my ideas. This one is a little long, but germane to our discussion.
To a critical observer, the problems with the science in UB are manifold and obvious. It seems everywhere you look there is a red herring. Could the inclusion of red herrings be a subterfuge?
I will recall a story from my college days at the University of Oklahoma. I was taking a history of science class. As I was in an honors program, all my classes were small and taught by full professors. My history of science professor happened to be the head of the department, Dr. Roller. He was world renowned for his knowledge of his subject and was also known as a brilliant teacher. I found this to be true from the first moment of his class. His lectures were informative, humorous, and even passionate.
One day, Dr. Roller began to talk about Galileo Galilei. He soon came to the story about Galileo dropping cannonballs and such off the Tower of Pisa to prove that gravitational acceleration is purely a function of time, and is unrelated to mass, that is, a feather should fall at the same rate as a stone. The story goes that he dropped a cannonball and a much lighter sphere of the same diameter off the Tower of Pisa. The story contends the two spheres arrived at the ground at the same time, proving Galileo correct.
At this point, Dr. Roller stops and asks if anyone in the class has ever performed a similar experiment. One guy raises his hand. This guy says he has done the experiment, dropping stuff off the top of his house. Dr. Roller is skeptical, but this guy insists he has done the experiment, and that objects of different masses always hit the ground at the same time. At this point, Dr. Roller leaves it and goes on with the lecture.
The next class, Dr. Roller continues with his lecture, nothing unusual. Then, about halfway through class, he turns to this guy, and asks him again about the dropping balls experiment. This guy sticks with his assertion, and even gets a little miffed that it came up again. Dr. Roller drops it, and goes on with the lecture. The next time we meet, the same thing happens. Dr. Roller starts his lecture, then about half way through, he asks this guy about the experiment again. This guy is even more adamant than before. He had, by God, done this experiment, and the balls hit the ground at the same time. Dr. Roller drops it and goes on with the lecture. This happened a couple of more times, and each time, Dr. Roller offered this guy a chance to back out. Each time, this guy was more insistent that his story was true.
So one day, we come to class. There is a note on the door that says, "Meet me at the library, first floor, main staircase. Dr. Roller." Eventually, we all assemble at the bottom of the main staircase in the library. It is a grand spiral staircase, four stories high. Dr. Roller seems to be nowhere around, but at last, we hear his voice, falling down on us from the top of the staircase. He welcomes us, and then descends the stairs. He arrives at the bottom with two spheres in his hands. One is a baseball. The other is a sphere of the same size, but made of cork. He turns to this guy, and asks what he thinks will happen if Dr. Roller drops the balls from the fourth floor. This guy hesitates, and then reasserts that they will hit the ground at the same time. Dr. Roller asks him if there might be at least some tiny difference in the time of arrival, owing to air resistance and whatnot. This guy agrees that there might be a very small discrepancy. At this point, Dr. Roller asks him if he might lie down on the floor, getting his head low enough to detect this potential small discrepancy in speed of fall. This guy agrees, and Dr. Roller starts back up the staircase and this guy lies down on the floor with his cheek pressed against the cold marble.
Dr. Roller reaches the top, and with great ceremony reiterates this guys assertion that the balls of different masses will indeed strike the floor at the same time. Then he counts down, five, four, three, two, one, and he drops both balls. The baseball, not surprisingly drops like a stone. The cork ball, on the other hand, seemed more interested in taking its time. The baseball had struck the floor and bounced halfway back up before the cork ball finally made it to the floor. In a four story race to the floor, the heavier baseball had beaten the lighter cork ball by almost two stories. And here was this guy lying on the floor, looking for a difference of fractions of an inch. For him it was an utter humiliation. He had been proven a liar and a fool in front of everyone. But that, of course, was not the point of the exercise. For the rest of us, it was a stunning lesson in the nature of science as well as the nature of humans. From that moment, each and everyone present would find it difficult to believe on its face anything anyone ever says or anything written or published in any source.
Of course, Galileo never performed this experiment off the Tower of Pisa. Or if he did, the results would be the same as Dr. Rollers. And yet, many high school science books in use today say he did perform this experiment, and the balls hit the ground at the same time. In direct contradiction of the known facts. I was stunned when a few weeks ago, I was watching NOVA on PBS, and the announcer made this false assertion about Galileo and the Tower of Pisa. On NOVA! A science writer on public television backed up by editors and fact checkers was still making the same false assertion that this guy made in my history of science class thirty years ago!
I know this is a long post, but it finally illustrates some pertinent points. First and foremost, authority is not to be trusted. Ultimately, we must verify everything for ourselves. That seems to me to be the crux of the task of a mortal ascender from a rebellious planet. This is the path of an agondonter.
The story also illustrates how a brilliant subterfuge was the most powerful bit of teaching that I have ever encountered. Which brings me back to the topic of the post (finally!). Is the inclusion of red herrings in UB part of some well planned process? I have alluded to this possibility previously on another thread. Are these seeming errors, as Randy suggests, anti-fetish devices? Meant to keep us honest and diligent in our search for truth?
I honestly don't know. The fact is, I don't really care. If I hadn't hurt my knee, I'd be skiing powder today. But instead, I sit here counting angels on the head of a pin and trying to write something you guys will find amusing and maybe even informative. I hope I haven't failed you too badly.
Peace,
Arc
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Why else would 95% of the Material Sons be casualties of the Lucifer Rebellion? And even a few Life Carriers stationed on the rebel planets were somewhat influenced by the rebellion of the disloyal princes (page 607). And just how far are the Fathers of Sin going to go to keep Urantia bare-bottomed-stupid about “science”? I am filled with trepidation because every time I ask that “how low will they go” question, the bar starts dropping in free-fall even lower. 
