A Hope Filled Warning
Every so often I need to step away from civilization to clear my head. It’s not the earth and heavens that confound me, it’s us. Viewing humanity is a matter of perspective and I like to compare the creation with the modifications imposed by human kind. The planet itself is restorative but recently we have developed the attitude of disregard and complexity of technology to destroy it. I’m not thinking of mega-bombs we build but the incidentals that aggregate onto the land, water and into the atmosphere. Our garden isn’t as healthy as it once was. Isn’t it an odd coincidence that the bible prescribes a 7,000 year plan after which … well even the experts can’t agree upon that, but the result is exactly what we are currently experiencing. We are nearing the point of no return for this planet and we are right on that 7,000 year plan (give or take a decade or two), but it’s not all gloom and doom.
First, try to envision this planet feeding a few billion more people than we have on-board right now. Today around 18,000 people die of starvation every day. In a decade, by adding prolonged life expectancy with continued population growth, we will exceed our max agricultural capabilities, even after expanding our farmlands. Adding new farmlands has it’s own problems, as critical forests need to be cleared and waters need to be diverted, negatively impacting other crucial life variables, like the atmosphere and climate. Second, are the diminishing resources and the ever increasing demands. Raw materials have begun to dwindle and people are learning that it takes decades to bring limited new resources in-line to address demands. Oil reserves are dwindling (probably a good thing) by standards measured one generation ago. The list of these compromised resources is large. We’ve expanded our greedy consumption to the point where we can’t even address the waste we generate. Third are the planet’s space limitations, with most of it covered by water, much of the rest is already overly populated. The 2,000 year old bible foretold of a time in our “now to near” future when our planet would face an apocalyptic crisis, which will result in the oceans churning (which is already happening from global warming), where earthquakes and floods will continue to increase (as they are), yet we remain naively oblivious to the damage and decay we are inflicting on our only source of survival. A life raft, a box of food or a mountain get-away won’t offer much hope, but faith in our Creator does. The Good News is that He’s given us the solution (new Earth, 2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 14:3, Revelation 21:1) and now He’s biding time to see who wants to earn the right to live His solution.
JC Calkins with Common Sense 4 Uncommon People
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