EARTHKEEPING NEWS A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY Volume Six, Number Six September/October 1997 READERS WRITE GOD CREATES THE NATURAL, AND MAN, THE SUPERNATURAL See also Mr. Johnson's complete text In all homeowner casualty insurance policies the phrase Act of God is used for natural causes of damage to property. This has always troubled people who have been taught to think of God "as love." Not everything about the natural world, from which all living things receive the gift of life, is to our liking. The regeneration of all species is a creative Act of God. It must not be forgotten that all life forms are guests in God's world with no exceptions to that natural order. The living world must be taken as it is, not as we would wish it to be. The medical profession has become proficient in countering the effects of trauma and disease. This is supernatural, because in the wild no attempt is made to prolong life, only to assure that new life will replace whatever life has ended. In the natural world, perfection of the species is paramount and the individual, expendable. Human intervention in the disease processes is not respectful of the natural order when it results in an inordinate human presence on Earth that overwhelms the habitat of other species essential to the whole of life on a planet unique in all of the universe. The world man has superimposed upon Earth could not exist but for the natural world, of which man is a part. Man's world can overwhelm the natural, and thus contribute to its own demise. This will not be an act of God, but a terrible act of man. Albert E. Johnson Cranford NJ THE INTERNET INAPPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY FOR NACCE This letter is to encourage you to reconsider any serious involvement with such things as internet and web pages. The internet takes time and energy away from sunsets, June bugs and warm dirt between your toes. It teaches that all manner of things can be found on a computer screen, and that virtual reality is more engaging than ecological reality. The internet may be a clever creation of man, but God's creation is by far the more glorious. We cannot use an inappropriate technology to teach matters of appropriate technology. Robert Mohler Ord NE CHRISTIAN ACTIVISTS INSENSITIVE TO ANIMAL ABUSE Please take the time to prayerfully consider the point of view expressed in the article "Ecology and Christian Activists," HUMANE RELIGION, vol. 2 no. 2, May/June 1997 (Viatoris Ministries, PO Box 25354, Sarasota FL 34277; 941/ 924-8887). One quote: "Another group trying to 'encourage churches to become centers of creation awareness and teach reverence for God's creation' is the North American Conference on Christianity and Ecology. After reading a number of issues of Earthkeeping News it became apparent that NACCE's 'reverence for creation' does not include responsibility for the animals. One of their newsletters contained an article entitled Mini-Church takes on Mega-hog Farm. The story showed a complete insensitivity to the animals. Neither the church, nor the story reporting its activities, had anything to say about the abuse of animals." Perhaps in the future you will put more emphasis on the use/misuse of animals as part of your mission of "teaching reverence for God's creation." Anne Leigh Sarasota FL Home     Table of Contents