I once had a conversation with a Born-Again Christian friend about the environment and I was alarmed with his retort concerning the issue. I asked him what he can say about the depleting ozone layer. He said that it really doesn’t matter since this world is really temporary and Christians will sooner or later leave this planet to enter a better world. I thought this kind of reaction is really not in the mind of majority of Christians...well I was wrong.
Generally speaking, most Christians are too ignorant about Earth science and biology. Such ignorance sometimes leads to mistakes and these mistakes are too devastating. For example, a certain Christian cult member in Friendster posts this article concerning their leader’s thought about biology, astronomy and Earth science in general...I would like to share this to all of you.
According to their self-proclaimed “apostle”, “All my life I have been interested in Science. Fate has it, I believe, that this interest led me to the study of the Holy Scriptures. The Bible even enhanced my interest in everything scientific...I am interested about everything around me. I observe keenly how ants move, how birds fly, and how people live their lives. In my elementary grades, when I first heard the Darwinian Theory on evolution, the first doubt that came into my mind was that, if humans came from apes, why are there people with faces that look like horses and dogs?”
So you see my dear readers, this statement signify a complete ignorance in the theory of evolution. Well, we can forgive him for such ignorance...public elementary schools here in the Philippines are lacking. But going further with his rants, I notice this statement, “Are there other planets that can sustain life much like that of the earth? I am sure of the answer! And my answer comes from the book which I have revered all my life because it is the only book that I found to be logical and scientific in answering not only the questions of hundreds of thousands of people I am favored to meet, but my own questions which I do not hear from other people. The Bible has it!”
According to this fellow, the answer is found in Acts 17:26-27!
And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
He continued:
The verse mentions the planet Earth, and we must especially notice the phrase bounds of their habitation.
So what’s the scientific connection? Well because the verse mentioned the word “earth”, this evangelist assumed it’s talking about a place that can sustain or support human life. The verse is really talking about the Judeo-Christian belief that every life stream (blood) of the whole human race to be one and flowing from one source, which is..., you guessed it...God!
So he was contemplating that Earth was created perfectly by God so humans can flourish...Hmmmm nice thought, but let me remind the believers that Nature is amoral.
Planet Earth was already here before humans entered the picture a few million years ago. Human history is not even a 1/4th of Earth’s history. We have arrived here quite late. The Christian god even entered it a bit later.
The problem is that we humans are too egocentric when it comes to religious belief. We always presuppose that everything was made to fit our standards. Just because we have 10 fingers in our hands, we assume that mathematics is only base 10. To support this arrogance of being human centered, god-believers pretend to know so-called nonexistent knowledge and hides in the curtain of superstitions. They avoid rather than confront the world.
Ah how vast the Cosmos really is...God’s footstool is only a speck of dust in the grandeur of the Universe, and no amount of “holy books” and “divine chapters and verses” will make us tamed it. We must understand the universe as it is and not to confused us with how we wish it to be.
Let us continue to look at this self-professed apostle's claims:
God is an exact God. Reduce the size of the earth; reduce the heat of the sun; and we will freeze. Make it a little closer to the sun and we will be baked or burned. Make it as large as Mars and our weight will be more than doubled. The Earths size and distance from the sun are the exact measurements needed to sustain human life! GOD MEASURED IT.
You want proof? Read the book Job 38:4, it says:
Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell if you have understanding! Who has set its measurements, for you know? Or who has stretched the line on it? On what are its bases sunk, or who cast its cornerstone
After all, the universe is... (*yawn*)
So that’s it... I never really hassled myself on posting his twaddle. They’re nothing but biblical hooeys and bad astronomy anyway.
So what was Earth look like before life emerged? Is there a garden in which a tree that bears a fruit that can give eternal life and knowledge already planted? Did a god really created Earth to kowtow to our requirements?
Let us bear in mind that planet Earth didn’t conform itself to support humans. It’s really the other way around. We humans will not even materialize if not because of anaerobic bacteria. These bacteria are the first creatures that lived on Planet Earth and provided the air we now breathe. Adam needed a mouthful of air right? Give the credit where it’s properly due. Let’s be grateful to these bacteria for making air available to every life in this planet
Just like other planets in the Solar System, primitive Earth is really a nasty place. Hydrogen is the most abundant element in Earth. Yet hydrogen is not life sustaining. Humans cannot live without oxygen...so does higher forms of animals, so molecular life forms flourished in the simple hydrogen-rich atmosphere of primitive Earth. Yet until the development and the domination of the microscopic blue-green algae, oxygen was not introduced to Earth’s atmosphere. But oxygen tends to make organic molecule to fall apart. Pure oxygen is a poison. Primitive life forms such as botulism and tetanus bacilli manage to survive and began the transition. So we can say that 99% of today’s atmosphere is of biological origin.
So Christians imagine that planet Earth was created by God to conform the needs of these haughty humans and then after everything goes haywire (thanks to the same humans who think he got dominion over Earth) what’s next? Well it ends in the belief that God created heaven so every Christian will depart Planet Earth (after exploiting her resources) and go off to their real home which is in heaven. Stupid isn’t it?
The ignorance of those who wrote and compiled the Bible is quite obvious, yet somehow these idiocies are being justified by “salvation salesmen” (AKA Christian evangelists) promising us of a dream world that lies somewhere in the borders of insanity and fantasy. Alas! We are now in the very edge of our doom, thanks to their god and those who lick its smelly ass!
The Bible is not equipped of anything...especially in the issue of ecology. The Bible said that we are the care taker of this planet...yes, yet dominion is given unto us. Dominion to what? The idea was too archaic. Ancient Hebrews never knew about the ozone layer, global warming and the melting of the polar ice caps. They don’t even understand global weather patterns. You won’t see those issues in the Bible. They believe that since humans are God’s favorite...we can subdue the planet. They were wrong!
Bible believers have forged a caustic worldview that planet Earth is nothing but a temporary home. That someday everyone will be taken out of this planet to live in heaven. So to take care of our environment is really a futile effort. For Christians, heaven is the real home. Because of this, global consciousness took a very long time to develop in the Western world...thanks to the Christian influence. Now we reap what we sow. Today Mother Nature fights back.
Here in the Philippines, we are diminishing our natural resources. Virgin forests are being exhausted very fast. We now have less forest compare to 5 to 10 years ago. These caused severe floods on lower areas. I wish I’m just talking about small floods but most floods today can even cover a whole town.
I remember news about small towns vanishing in maps, especially in places like Pampangga. Old folks say that those towns were once flood free. Not only floods but think of all those undiscovered natural medicines and animal life forms, what a waste! The weather is even getting to bit more extreme. Look at the typhoons. Signal number 4 are getting too common lately.
A friend even told me that fishes will be quite rare in the tables 20 years from now because of the changing climate and the Ozone hole. Alas, our children will never even taste the delicious “galunggong” and “sap-sap”.
But the most dangerous is the effect of the heating climate, the “Greenhouse Effect”. Just look at planet Venus...and think if it will be the fate of Planet Earth.
Another belief that prospered, especially in Catholic country like the Philippines is found in Genesis 1:28.
My mom always told me that Genesis 1:28 is incorrectly inferred by Christian believers. She said that when God told this commandment it was when the only people in this planet were Eve and her husband. Hahaha! Maybe she’s right. Yet today, thousands of Roman Catholic believed this verse as a commandment of God.
But what are the consequences?
The Roman Catholic Church has been doing everything in its power to prevent the use of artificial birth control. Well you have to visit the Baseco Compound here in Manila and watch those families living on shanties. Does it sometimes surprise you that most wealthy family here in Manila seems to plan their family? Majority of family below poverty line here in Manila have dozens of mouth to feed. Strange isn’t it?
Old folks believe that the more children you have, the more treasures you have. Hmmmm...Nowadays most of these “excess” kids are left in the streets by their own parents to mind themselves. They become beggars, addicted to rubber glue and prostitutes. Worst they become street thugs or petty criminals. If they won’t be killed by the age of 18 or if diseases doesn’t eradicate them by the age of 20, they become parents in an early age...giving birth to a new dozen of kids to repeat the cycle.
So today, a lot of Filipinos are living in sub-human conditions. And not even prayers are sufficient to elevate their misery. It’s really a simple issue of supply and demand...the more demands the lesser the supply. The more mouths to be fed, the fast the resources deplete.
Did the Bible teach us what to do about that?
As John Shelby Spong said, bad theology creates bad ecology. Maybe it’s time to leave Bible interpretations in the hands of these con-artists and let planet Earth in the hands of the environmentalists. Remember, this island Earth is our home...our only home and our responsibility.
Until next time,
