The Pages for this day address some aspects of nature that help us understand God’s plan, and ought to guide us in mankind’s plan for habitat. We address the functioning of nature for this Page. Scientists devoted to earth-knowledge have discovered the magnificent system in force that slowly but constantly refurbishes the earth for the benefit of life – animal and vegetable. They have evidence that the Sun is bombarding the Solar System with rays and forces that would, without some defense, make earth like the other planets in the system, barren and uninhabitable for life as we know it. We do not here address the matter of heaven, but note that it is mentioned in context with earth, as a created entity, and identified in a way that we have suggested in our concepts of heaven – that it is above us. The point is that the heaven referred to in Scripture is a created identity, not coterminous with the eternity of God. Elsewhere in Scripture we discover that both the earth and heaven of Scripture will be replaced by God. It seems apparent that he is not satisfied with what has been experienced by his living creation.
Scientists tell us that water is utterly vital to earth life, perhaps to any life. Scripture makes it important from the outset, and divides the water of the earth from that which is above the earth. That is a clue to something we may study to understand what is happening to our habitat, and what we need to do to relate to it – a natural story applying to all persons whether they care about spiritual perceptions or limit themselves only to nature. We now know that the Sun bombards earth with deadly influences, as well as life giving resource. I have recovered from malignant melanoma (cancer) that almost certainly was related to my frequent exposure to summer Sun when I was a lad seeking skin tan in the course of my work and play. The larger possibility of sun damage is caught in the protective factors that surround the earth, and blunt the negative effect of the sun rays. The energy that penetrates has meaning, part of which is found in the waters of earth. Beginning at the poles, the water begins its long and tortuous journey through all the oceans creating such things as plankton that nourishes sea life, even providing fish for human consumption. The flow of water through all the earth in constantly moving forms provides a type of re-creation. Even land masses move, sometimes in eruptions that threaten surface life, but actually bring nutrients to earth, especially for plants, and the plants to the service of mankind in food and the production of oxygen. The story can be expanded, and we are somewhat awestruck with its effectiveness.
There are problems that can be identified and understood. One relates to oxygen, the by-product of vegetable life, but absolute necessity for the context of mankind. The greatest resource of oxygen in our era has been the production of the Amazon forests. Both those forests and others have been reduced by the expansive programs of mankind, so to reduce the production of oxygen and other needed products. In the meantime the demand for oxygen expands in the increase of populations, and the demand for elements in a modern society. At the present rate, the demand is approaching conflict with declining production. In all this we sense that mankind does have something to do with the patterns of nature that threaten the course of life on earth. The depletion of this and other resources to a greater extent than resources can be regenerated is persuasive in light of the evidence. So it is that responsible voices are calling for the greening of the earth – which means simply that human populations live according to the rules of nature.
Human nature can’t defy earth’s nature for expanding populations. God’s plan for mankind and earth was to alert our first parents to the understanding of nature, to learn about it, control it, and live by it. The whole concept is found in the first chapter of Genesis. Contrary to the plan of adjustment to what is available, there has been rape of the planet to the degree that humankind is presently faced with death-dealing context of habitat leading to death of human life, even if founded in the self-conscious image of God. The answer of science is that creative research will find a way out of a world tangled web. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020