I feel like I should be renaming my blog something sciencey........
After the last post, my friend Beans asks, "So why is it lightening outside right now but no thunder??" Lisa, Madam Physics and Master of Other Science-Type Things, can you help? (PS all in favour of Lisa changing her blog name to "Lisa Knits and Does Science" say I.)
6.30.2006
6.27.2006
earthy goodness lost in translation
“The ethic of conservation is the explicit abnegation of man's dominion over the Earth. The lower species are here for our use. God said so: Go forth, be fruitful, multiply, and rape the planet — it's yours. That's our job: drilling, mining and stripping. Sweaters are the anti-Biblical view. Big gas-guzzling cars with phones and CD players and wet bars — that's the Biblical view.” Ann Coulter. Oil good; Dems bad. Jewish World Review. October 13, 2000.
It’s not just dumb Ann Coulter that thinks this way. And that’s a problem. And that has me thinking…thinking about the earth. Maybe I’m becoming a bit of an environmentalist, left-wing hippie. Maybe I always was and I’m just embracing. You know, it’s not just the ginormous, and incessant paper-wasting that goes on at work that gets me. No, it’s much more. It’s cars, and big trucks; the lack of recycling around campus; the lack of locally grown foods in the market (minus whole foods); it’s the dependence on oil; it’s the lack of awareness…of care that is so prevalent. Lately a lot of my spare brain time has been used up by thinking of the earth.
Ann Coulter’s opinion makes me want to puke feels wrong. It feels wrong for me. But it also feels inconsistent with what I know about the Word of God, and the character of God. Excuse me - I'm certainly not a theology student (but maybe working for the theological college is rubbing off), nor do I claim to know a lot about this stuff..... So take this for what it is, and let me know what you think.
First, let's be clear. The verse Ms. Coulter refers to is Genesis 1:28 which actually reads: "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." I'm not quite sure how replenish got translated into 'rape' in Ms. Coulter's Bible.
Ok. I think first of all we have to acknowledge that the universe was the work of an all-loving Creator (and yes, you can still believe in evolution and think that). The love of God, in this context, must be extended to include a love for the inanimate, the plants, the animals and people. But nature in all its beauty and glory was created for humans - God saw benefits for humans in nature - therefore we should not be spoiling it. Rabbi Dr. Nahum Rakover, Chair of the World Jewish Congress, writes, "Man's connection to nature can restore him to his original character, to a natural state of happiness and joy."
Why the Jewish lit? I'm not quite sure, but I've been reading a lot of it lately. And while I'm not considering converting (the whole no Jesus thing, you know?) they have some good points. Turns out the Jews have been thinking about this stuff for a long time. Pretty much since Moses came down with those stone tablets. Well...not exatly. But as soon as there were Jewish scholars, it appears there were Jewish environmentalists.
Around 600 BC a Haggadic commentary on Ecclesiastes included the following 'verses': "When God created Adam, he showed him all the trees of the Garden of Eden and said to him: See my works, how lovely they are, how fine they are. All I have created, I created for you. Take care not to corrupt and destroy my universe, for if you destroy it, no one will come after you to put it right" (Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7). And this in 600 BC. The plow had barely been invented, let alone oil dripping tractors and genetically engineered foods!!!!
There's a lot more going on in my head right now. But as my blog posts appear to be running longer and longer (and I run the risk of you not reading this), I'll hold off for now and give you another dose of this earthy goodness later.
It’s not just dumb Ann Coulter that thinks this way. And that’s a problem. And that has me thinking…thinking about the earth. Maybe I’m becoming a bit of an environmentalist, left-wing hippie. Maybe I always was and I’m just embracing. You know, it’s not just the ginormous, and incessant paper-wasting that goes on at work that gets me. No, it’s much more. It’s cars, and big trucks; the lack of recycling around campus; the lack of locally grown foods in the market (minus whole foods); it’s the dependence on oil; it’s the lack of awareness…of care that is so prevalent. Lately a lot of my spare brain time has been used up by thinking of the earth.
Ann Coulter’s opinion makes me want to puke feels wrong. It feels wrong for me. But it also feels inconsistent with what I know about the Word of God, and the character of God. Excuse me - I'm certainly not a theology student (but maybe working for the theological college is rubbing off), nor do I claim to know a lot about this stuff..... So take this for what it is, and let me know what you think.
First, let's be clear. The verse Ms. Coulter refers to is Genesis 1:28 which actually reads: "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." I'm not quite sure how replenish got translated into 'rape' in Ms. Coulter's Bible.
Ok. I think first of all we have to acknowledge that the universe was the work of an all-loving Creator (and yes, you can still believe in evolution and think that). The love of God, in this context, must be extended to include a love for the inanimate, the plants, the animals and people. But nature in all its beauty and glory was created for humans - God saw benefits for humans in nature - therefore we should not be spoiling it. Rabbi Dr. Nahum Rakover, Chair of the World Jewish Congress, writes, "Man's connection to nature can restore him to his original character, to a natural state of happiness and joy."
Why the Jewish lit? I'm not quite sure, but I've been reading a lot of it lately. And while I'm not considering converting (the whole no Jesus thing, you know?) they have some good points. Turns out the Jews have been thinking about this stuff for a long time. Pretty much since Moses came down with those stone tablets. Well...not exatly. But as soon as there were Jewish scholars, it appears there were Jewish environmentalists.
Around 600 BC a Haggadic commentary on Ecclesiastes included the following 'verses': "When God created Adam, he showed him all the trees of the Garden of Eden and said to him: See my works, how lovely they are, how fine they are. All I have created, I created for you. Take care not to corrupt and destroy my universe, for if you destroy it, no one will come after you to put it right" (Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7). And this in 600 BC. The plow had barely been invented, let alone oil dripping tractors and genetically engineered foods!!!!
There's a lot more going on in my head right now. But as my blog posts appear to be running longer and longer (and I run the risk of you not reading this), I'll hold off for now and give you another dose of this earthy goodness later.
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