Using the gospel in ecology
Object:
Mark is an amazing writer. He is an excellent Bible scholar and he researches all of his facts and backs everything up with great statistics that make me always wonder why I should even think about giving an opinion that seems contrary to his conclusions. Who could oppose the concept of global warming or man's endangerment of the ecological systems that are so important to us and the survival of our planet and our life as Christians and part of God's creation? I have read over and over what Mark writes and I am in agreement with most of the conclusions he comes to after his careful wording of the facts as we understand them. I wonder why so many scientists disagree with global warming? Why do they differ if they have had the same education in the same area as those who predict an impending doom?
Some of my friends suggest that I should make reservations to see the movie about 2012 and how close we are to a great cataclysmic strike. The imagination of the movie writers based upon the facts as they are given by men of great scientific achievement have made me create a wish list of everything I want to do or accomplish before the final days of our existence. My list will not be quite as adventuresome as the "bucket list" of Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, but it is a pretty good list.
I remember when Saint Paul had to contend with the first group of Adventists who lived on a mountain expecting people in the villages to support them with food and other necessities while they awaited the return of Jesus. Evidently Paul painted to good of a picture of what the new life was going to be and the Greeks, now Christians, decided to be the first ones in line. They climbed as close as they could to heaven and just sat down and waited. It was up to the non-believers to keep them healthy until the day of Christ's coming again.
I am always a little skeptical of the true believers in science. So many times they have had all of the facts to support their claims and then some tiny fact seems to break through like a blade in the crack of my cement patio and I soon have to admit that I did not remove every seed from under the black plastic and tamped gravel before placing the pavers. Somehow there is enough sunlight and rain that penetrates through all of my doing to present me with a weed of unknown origin.
A couple of months ago I heard an announcement that many wished would not be made. The announcement was that women under fifty should not have to have a breast exam. They could begin at fifty if they wanted to, but it was a known fact that the scientific examinations had cast little light on the saving of lives. They also said that self-examinations of the breasts were of little help in detecting breast cancer. Now how do you justify such a comment after pounding into the heads of women for years the importance of these examinations as specified by the best medical researchers in the world? Some of the commentators said the idea that insurance companies would deny such practices for forty-year-old women would be met with the firmest resistance and that they would have to give in to anyone having breast exams regardless of the findings.
I, too, wonder why we believe that we can do something for the environment that will prevent the melting of the ice and perhaps the extinction of the polar bear in their natural habitat. Did we not have glaciers melting in other times? Isn't the earth a changed earth from what it was thousands of years ago? One day I was sent an email with a link to one of the most exciting things I have ever seen. It was the formation of an island in the Pacific Ocean. It happened there before my very eyes. Planes noticed the emergence of a volcano in the ocean and photographed it as rose from the depths of the ocean and within days formed a new land mass. The reverse is also true that during times of severe weather our lands are eroded and rock and dirt are dragged out to the sea. In Florida we must keep rebuilding our beaches because they are so important to our economy. I lived in Ohio where the great glaciers ended their spread over the land and flattened the earth in such a way that you can see for miles without any evidence of a hill. The soil is as rich as the Mississippi Delta because of the deposits that were left when the ice retreated. Did man have anything to do with these changes in the climate? Are we important enough that we can keep the creation of God from happening? Maybe so, because we are hastening a process that we are not ready for and it will cause us much distress. Many religions speak of a flood that was such a disaster that it removed any known sight of other men or animals but the few who were saved because they floated upon the seas after the warnings they received from a revelation.
I would imagine that the people in the Far East who experience the worst: a tsunami, fear that the world is coming to an end. Many believe that their actions have caused their god to be so angry that he desires that they should start over and that those who died, died because they defied the gods.
I am firmly behind the "green" movement to stop the waste of energy and to do things smarter. But what I like best is that it is not just for me. I am pleased that the savings in energy makes things better for us health wise and more economical, but the best part is that we will be finding ways to bring many people in the world without energy resources into the twenty-first century. Just like the computer does the work of many and brings knowledge to the Third World, it also brings freedom and understanding. It is a fantastic benefit. War seems so primitive in the landscape of knowledge that will soon be coming to places that presently live in ways that they had to live hundreds and hundreds of years ago. And I remind myself every day of the fact that it is God's hand in it that is making all of this possible. I think the texts for these Sundays teach us to better understand what amazing ways God reveals himself to us.
Some time ago I visited a visionary that spent his life in Japan and other Far East countries inventing and developing technology. He returned home because he had an idea of how to build houses so ecologically sound that they would produce energy rather than use it. A house would produce enough energy that it would also provide energy for the car, the lawnmower, the outside lighting, and along with other homes, provide energy for the new community. I watched the excitement in the eyes of this man as he showed demonstration after demonstration of God's power working in the community of man. It is an energy that we do not create but rather used because it was already there.
The world can't be moved to be a perfect place. Each generation lives with the expectation that they want to leave the world a better place than they found it but instead the critics begin to harp on each generation and the crimes they are committing. Mark talks about the pollution of all the electronic junk that we are selling off and polluting the poor. Still others are praising the efforts of a few that are making computers available to some of the poorest places on earth and children are learning quickly about the possibilities that exist. Is every discovery a bad discovery? Should we be ashamed of the first people that discovered fire? Is every other advance in energy like coal, oil, and nuclear something we should put behind us? We don't know what will go wrong with wind. We are not far enough along to see the major problems we will create with solar power. Today we think the possibilities are endless in new forms of energy but what will wind and sun affect in the world of fauna and flora. I don't know and I suppose not many people do know.
Are the poor going away? I don't think so. Will all diseases be conquered? I don't think so. Will greed disappear from the earth? I don't think so. Will there be a time when we will declare world peace as achieved and permanent? I don't think so.
As I said before, I am in favor of a "green" world but let's begin with things we can get our hands on and see the results. People want to invest but they also want a return on their investment. We are still looking for better ways to educate our young and keep them out of prison. We deny that two good parents, a husband and wife, are necessary. We want children to learn love and respect but we do not have the fundamental ingredients in place to teach them. Everyone must have a meaningful vocation and many children do grow up in child care facilities and latch key programs and do not end up in prison. But this is not the best evidence of a family that is rich in spirit and grounded in love.
One Sunday school class decided to try and find something that they could do to help improve the environment. Each week a new suggestion was brought and the class agreed to adopt the subject that was approved on Sunday. First, they all agreed to give up Styrofoam cups and not use them at home, at church, and other places where they had the option. Next, they tackled some of the detergents that were found objectionable. Gardeners agreed to grow organic food and not get rid of pests with pesticides. So far, so good! It is a small part of the lesson plan each Sunday but with a quality presentation and understanding people are willing to cooperate and spread the word. No laws are needed.
Our pulpits are poor places for pointing fingers. I believe we should teach the joy of believing in a God that did things right and how we can follow in the footsteps of a Savior that battled the sin that overwhelmed the world. It is hard to love Jesus and take part in killing others with pollution. So, let's make it a little simpler and begin to work with what we have and learn what we can do with the small things in our life and be led to accepting a more positive world as we plan the future.
Wesley T. Runk is an ordained pastor in the ELCA and the founder of CSS Publishing Company. He is the author of more than thirty books, including "The Giant Book Of Children's Sermons."
Some of my friends suggest that I should make reservations to see the movie about 2012 and how close we are to a great cataclysmic strike. The imagination of the movie writers based upon the facts as they are given by men of great scientific achievement have made me create a wish list of everything I want to do or accomplish before the final days of our existence. My list will not be quite as adventuresome as the "bucket list" of Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, but it is a pretty good list.
I remember when Saint Paul had to contend with the first group of Adventists who lived on a mountain expecting people in the villages to support them with food and other necessities while they awaited the return of Jesus. Evidently Paul painted to good of a picture of what the new life was going to be and the Greeks, now Christians, decided to be the first ones in line. They climbed as close as they could to heaven and just sat down and waited. It was up to the non-believers to keep them healthy until the day of Christ's coming again.
I am always a little skeptical of the true believers in science. So many times they have had all of the facts to support their claims and then some tiny fact seems to break through like a blade in the crack of my cement patio and I soon have to admit that I did not remove every seed from under the black plastic and tamped gravel before placing the pavers. Somehow there is enough sunlight and rain that penetrates through all of my doing to present me with a weed of unknown origin.
A couple of months ago I heard an announcement that many wished would not be made. The announcement was that women under fifty should not have to have a breast exam. They could begin at fifty if they wanted to, but it was a known fact that the scientific examinations had cast little light on the saving of lives. They also said that self-examinations of the breasts were of little help in detecting breast cancer. Now how do you justify such a comment after pounding into the heads of women for years the importance of these examinations as specified by the best medical researchers in the world? Some of the commentators said the idea that insurance companies would deny such practices for forty-year-old women would be met with the firmest resistance and that they would have to give in to anyone having breast exams regardless of the findings.
I, too, wonder why we believe that we can do something for the environment that will prevent the melting of the ice and perhaps the extinction of the polar bear in their natural habitat. Did we not have glaciers melting in other times? Isn't the earth a changed earth from what it was thousands of years ago? One day I was sent an email with a link to one of the most exciting things I have ever seen. It was the formation of an island in the Pacific Ocean. It happened there before my very eyes. Planes noticed the emergence of a volcano in the ocean and photographed it as rose from the depths of the ocean and within days formed a new land mass. The reverse is also true that during times of severe weather our lands are eroded and rock and dirt are dragged out to the sea. In Florida we must keep rebuilding our beaches because they are so important to our economy. I lived in Ohio where the great glaciers ended their spread over the land and flattened the earth in such a way that you can see for miles without any evidence of a hill. The soil is as rich as the Mississippi Delta because of the deposits that were left when the ice retreated. Did man have anything to do with these changes in the climate? Are we important enough that we can keep the creation of God from happening? Maybe so, because we are hastening a process that we are not ready for and it will cause us much distress. Many religions speak of a flood that was such a disaster that it removed any known sight of other men or animals but the few who were saved because they floated upon the seas after the warnings they received from a revelation.
I would imagine that the people in the Far East who experience the worst: a tsunami, fear that the world is coming to an end. Many believe that their actions have caused their god to be so angry that he desires that they should start over and that those who died, died because they defied the gods.
I am firmly behind the "green" movement to stop the waste of energy and to do things smarter. But what I like best is that it is not just for me. I am pleased that the savings in energy makes things better for us health wise and more economical, but the best part is that we will be finding ways to bring many people in the world without energy resources into the twenty-first century. Just like the computer does the work of many and brings knowledge to the Third World, it also brings freedom and understanding. It is a fantastic benefit. War seems so primitive in the landscape of knowledge that will soon be coming to places that presently live in ways that they had to live hundreds and hundreds of years ago. And I remind myself every day of the fact that it is God's hand in it that is making all of this possible. I think the texts for these Sundays teach us to better understand what amazing ways God reveals himself to us.
Some time ago I visited a visionary that spent his life in Japan and other Far East countries inventing and developing technology. He returned home because he had an idea of how to build houses so ecologically sound that they would produce energy rather than use it. A house would produce enough energy that it would also provide energy for the car, the lawnmower, the outside lighting, and along with other homes, provide energy for the new community. I watched the excitement in the eyes of this man as he showed demonstration after demonstration of God's power working in the community of man. It is an energy that we do not create but rather used because it was already there.
The world can't be moved to be a perfect place. Each generation lives with the expectation that they want to leave the world a better place than they found it but instead the critics begin to harp on each generation and the crimes they are committing. Mark talks about the pollution of all the electronic junk that we are selling off and polluting the poor. Still others are praising the efforts of a few that are making computers available to some of the poorest places on earth and children are learning quickly about the possibilities that exist. Is every discovery a bad discovery? Should we be ashamed of the first people that discovered fire? Is every other advance in energy like coal, oil, and nuclear something we should put behind us? We don't know what will go wrong with wind. We are not far enough along to see the major problems we will create with solar power. Today we think the possibilities are endless in new forms of energy but what will wind and sun affect in the world of fauna and flora. I don't know and I suppose not many people do know.
Are the poor going away? I don't think so. Will all diseases be conquered? I don't think so. Will greed disappear from the earth? I don't think so. Will there be a time when we will declare world peace as achieved and permanent? I don't think so.
As I said before, I am in favor of a "green" world but let's begin with things we can get our hands on and see the results. People want to invest but they also want a return on their investment. We are still looking for better ways to educate our young and keep them out of prison. We deny that two good parents, a husband and wife, are necessary. We want children to learn love and respect but we do not have the fundamental ingredients in place to teach them. Everyone must have a meaningful vocation and many children do grow up in child care facilities and latch key programs and do not end up in prison. But this is not the best evidence of a family that is rich in spirit and grounded in love.
One Sunday school class decided to try and find something that they could do to help improve the environment. Each week a new suggestion was brought and the class agreed to adopt the subject that was approved on Sunday. First, they all agreed to give up Styrofoam cups and not use them at home, at church, and other places where they had the option. Next, they tackled some of the detergents that were found objectionable. Gardeners agreed to grow organic food and not get rid of pests with pesticides. So far, so good! It is a small part of the lesson plan each Sunday but with a quality presentation and understanding people are willing to cooperate and spread the word. No laws are needed.
Our pulpits are poor places for pointing fingers. I believe we should teach the joy of believing in a God that did things right and how we can follow in the footsteps of a Savior that battled the sin that overwhelmed the world. It is hard to love Jesus and take part in killing others with pollution. So, let's make it a little simpler and begin to work with what we have and learn what we can do with the small things in our life and be led to accepting a more positive world as we plan the future.
Wesley T. Runk is an ordained pastor in the ELCA and the founder of CSS Publishing Company. He is the author of more than thirty books, including "The Giant Book Of Children's Sermons."
