A:

Thanks so much for this important question. I am sure that everyone wishes and hopes that one day, sickness and disease will be eradicated from our world. Let’s look at disease from a Urantia Book perspective:

The nature of evolutionary life is that it needs the presence of microscopic organisms. These organisms pervade our environment and even our bodies, where they can do marvelous things, such as digest our food and even our natural defense – our immune system – relies on “friendly” bacteria that help protect us from harmful bacteria. Many diseases are caused by such harmful organisms: bacterial organisms and viral organisms.; diseases such as polio, diphtheria or even the common cold are examples.

Many other diseases are caused by genetic disfunction – degenerative diseases like cancer, diabetes, or Alzheimer’s, for example. Some diseases afflict primarily certain races, like sickle-cell anemia.

Our primitive ancestors believed that all diseases – and death itself – were due to activities of evil spirits.As time wore on a belief developed that sickness is a punishment for sins of either the suffering one or of an ancestors. This belief is a result of a more pervasive belief – that of God’s wrath.

In our more modern, more enlightened era, we recognize that all disease stems from natural causes; some still have the belief in God’s wrath in this regard, but most people understand that disease is not willed by God.

Nevertheless, we here on earth do suffer more disease than other normal planets in the same stage of evolution. One cause of this unfortunate reality is the failure of Adam and Eve to complete their mission – part of which was meant to successfully eradicate the causes of most bacterial cause of disease, as well as to upstep the genetic and racial makeup of human beings by the infusion of the Violet race’s life plasm.

76:4.7 “You would be far more disease resistant if your races carried more of the Adamic life.”

49:5.24 These imported beings (Adam and Eve) are of service as biologic uplifters; their default on Urantia further complicated your planetary history.

So it can be understaood that we here on earth have a great challenge ahead of us in the fight against disease. Our progress has been hampered by the default of Adam and Eve – which in turn was derailed by the effect of Lucifer rebellion – a definite negative factor in that unfortunate default.

Nonetheless, great strides have been made in modern times – medical technology remains one of the fastest-growing and more productive of the sciences and has borne much good fruit; and we can expect that progress to continue. Even today, man’s life expectancy has risen to 87 years in some of the more progressive, developed parts of the world. In primitive time, that life expectancy might have been only 25 years; on “more advanced and older spheres,” up to 500 years! So, we have a ways to go…

Regardless of our conditions here, we know that earth is not our home, really – only for a short while. Our real and permanent condition will be as spirit ascenders in the worlds beyond; no matter whether we are victims of disease or not, whether we live a long or a short life we have an equal capacity for eternal life with the Father as we adapt to and accept his amazing plan of mortal ascension.