Jeremiah 17:5-10 (first published 15 February 2004)
When European farmers first moved to Australia, they saw a vast, sparsely inhabited land that was ripe for agriculture. Using tried and true techniques from Europe, they cut down existing vegetation and planted such non-native crops as wheat, rice, and corn (maize). The crops prospered for awhile, but soon farmers began noticing that their yields weren't as great as before. Adding fertilizer and other chemicals to the soil didn't help much, because the land itself was changing. Australian soil is naturally salty, and native plants had evolved deep, complex root systems to reclaim the maximum amount of water possible from the upper levels of the soil, as well as reaching water that lay well beneath the surface. The crops planted by the Europeans had shallower roots, so more water from rain and floods escaped their roots and reached the water table, making it rise. The rise in the water table leached more salt from the soil, making the water even saltier than it already was, reducing the land's ability to produce the farmer's crops. The Australian government estimates that about 5.7 million hectares currently suffer from salinization, and the amount of land may triple by 2050 if agricultural practices do not radically change. Jeremiah compares those who trust in humans rather than God to shrubs in a salty, uninhabitable wilderness. Life is possible, but it does not flourish. Growth is retarded by salinization. It's tempting to put our trust in other people rather than God, because we humans are adept at seeking short-term solutions and quick fixes. God wants us to take a longer view of life. Just as Australian farmers of European descent assumed that European agricultural methods would work in Australia, so we in the industrialized world think that our religious practices, customs, economic theories, and political structures will work with little or no modification in China, India, Iraq, Iran, Liberia, Congo, or Haiti. We overthrew Saddam, so let's set up a representative democracy by the end of June! Free-market capitalism worked in North America and Western Europe, so let's export it to Russia, Brazil, and China! Our Puritan-influenced version of Christianity has taken roots in the U.S., so let's make sure that Christians in other countries espouse the same doctrine and rituals as we do! God tells us to slow down. Look at the native plants of Australia; observe their root systems and learn from them. They know how to survive in salty soil; they can teach us. Pay attention to the biodiversity of the tropical rain forests; they support untold quantities of varied plants and animals. These diverse organisms live together in a web of life more complex than those present in the temperate zones; they show us that people with different customs and viewpoints can live together in harmony. It's time to stop assuming that we humans know what's best just because it's the way we've always done it. It's also time to learn to observe creation to see what God wants to teach us through it.
For twenty of the past twenty-four months, we have had below average
rainfall in the area. Despite a slight improvement over the winter,
conditions have yet to get much better, and if this summer is anything
like last summer--the hottest on record, and one of the driest--things
look bad for local vegetation and wildlife. At the school where I work
someone planted a magnolia tree a long time ago, maybe thirty or forty
years ago or so, and it died last summer from lack of water. Even though
every other tree on campus survived, this particular one didn't, and no
one noticed that it needed water until it was too late. We have a river
running through the center of town, and tourists--and the occasional
native--can take rides on flat boats to see the sites. As you round a
bend and see a building that looks like it's completely two-dimensional on
your left, if you'll look to your right you'll see a huge magnolia tree on
the bank of the river, with its roots extending down into the water.
This tree must be more than a hundred years old, and it's still going
strong. The difference between the two magnolia trees is obvious: one has
roots that have constant access to life-giving water, and the other
didn't. The psalmist says that our lives are like those magnolia trees.
If we put our trust in God and live our lives to the best of our abilities
in accordance with our understanding of God's will, we will flourish.
No, we won't always succeed in everything we undertake, but we will live.
We'll survive the disappointments in life, the tragedies that we
experience, and the times when we wonder exactly what it is God wants us
to do. We'll rejoice in our own successes and in the successes of friends
and family, in the unexpected pleasures that life sometimes brings, and in
the satisfaction of knowing that we've lived life well. When we moved
back to Texas from Georgia a little over two years ago and moved into our
new house, I planted a magnolia tree in my front yard. It hasn't seen a
lot of rain since it's been there, but I've watered it regularly, and it's
put forth big, white, sweet-smelling blossoms each spring, and it's grown
about a foot. I had to stake it to the ground for more than a year to
make sure that the high winds that we sometimes get here wouldn't rip its
roots right out of the ground. The stakes are gone now, because its roots
are deep and strong. I'm sure they haven't grown deep enough to reach the
water table yet, so I'll keep watering it. I hope to see new flowers on
it this spring and summer, and I hope it's full of big green leaves.
Every magnolia tree needs water to live, and every human needs contact
with the divine.
1 Corinthians 15:12-20 (first
published 15 February 2004)
Belief in an afterlife has been with humanity for tens of thousands of
years. Neanderthals buried their dead over 100,000 years ago, though
whether their arrangement of the bodies in a sleeping position or the few
artifacts they buried with the corpse signifies some sort of religious
belief is debated. The burial practices of modern Homo sapiens
provide more evidence of belief in an afterlife at least 30,000 years ago.
Some of their graves include tools, weapons, and ornaments, suggesting
that the deceased was being supplied with items that would be needed in
the next life. The earlier sections of the Old Testament paint an image
of the afterlife as a world of shadowy existence and separation from God,
but some later passages offer hope in a better post-death experience
(e.g., Psalm 139:7-12). Finally, in Daniel 12:13, one of the latest portions of the Old
Testament, belief in the resurrection of the dead is stated explicitly.
By the time of Jesus, belief in the resurrection was common among the
Jews, accepted by the Pharisees and rejected by the Sadducees. In Acts
Paul is portrayed as throwing the Sanhedrin into a tumult with the claim
that he was on trial for the resurrection of the dead (Acts 23:6), but perhaps his strongest statements
concerning the resurrection are found in 1
Corinthians 15. After providing the evidence of tradition for the
resurrection of Jesus in 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, he shifts to a logical argument
based on the common experience of believers, and he broadens his scope to
include the resurrection of the dead in general. If the dead are not
raised, then neither has Christ been raised, he argues. And if Christ has
not been raised, then our faith is futile. From the standpoint of pure
logic, this last statement cannot be supported by his argument, but it's
certainly a possible inference, and one that is relevant to believers
today. A close friend of mine died this week, after several months of
declining health. One of the last times he used his computer, he modified
his screen saver to display the following message: "Credo--Deus
providebit--Credo!" "I believe--God will provide--I believe!" He knew
that he was dying and had only a short time to live, yet he put his trust
in God. Some argue that the resurrection of Jesus was a literal, bodily
resurrection. For others, the resurrection occurs every time a person has
an individual encounter with the resurrected Christ. Rather than argue
over the literality of the resurrection in the first century, I prefer to
focus on the power that the resurrection has today. Contrary to the
writings of apologists like Josh McDowell and others, the physical
resurrection of Jesus can't be historically validated. Nevertheless, the
effect of the resurrected Christ on thousands of contemporaries cannot be
doubted. Whether such a mass movement could have been based on anything
other than a bodily resurrection can be debated. What cannot be debated
is the fact that encounters with the resurrected Christ changed the lives
of many people in the first century. Encounters with the resurrected
Christ set the course of world history. And encounters with the
resurrected Christ continue to give hope, inspire action, and change lives
today.
Luke 6:17-26 (first published 15
February 2004)
Famous Conservatives | Famous Liberals |
---|---|
Adolf Hitler | Dietrich Bonhoeffer |
Genghis Khan | Mahatma Gandhi |
Attila the Hun | Martin Luther King, Jr. |
Tomás de Torquemada | Martin Luther |
P. W. Botha | Nelson Mandela |
Benito Mussolini | Jesus Christ |