Читать книгу Blessing the Curse? - Ksenija Magda - Страница 26

Though many influential men of the world may deny it, the world is on the brink of extinction. Even more worrying is the fact that many Christians believe that the Bible predicts the destruction of the world as necessary. Consequently, they bless the curse by claiming that the Bible allows them to continue to exploit the earth’s resources and people in order to bring about this final end.

I have met people who believe this on my travels in all parts of the world. They insist that their privileged place in the global hierarchy of power and entitlement is a compensation from God for their “right” Christian beliefs. They argue that those who are poor and underprivileged do not believe in the “right” God in the “right” way. Moreover, they believe that the troubles of the poor prove that they were either created inferior, or they were disobedient to the will of God.

Yet the global picture reveals a different truth. The Christian doctrine of the sanctity of human life has brought humanity to the point of near self-extinction. In the name of human supremacy, creation has been abused and polluted to such an extent that it has become hazardous and threatening for all life, including humans.^[23] Those at the top of global hierarchies who have assumed godlike power and authority have jeopardized the entire world through their decisions and actions. Many of these semi-gods think that they are unsusceptible to mere human suffering and will be exempt from the general destruction of the world. But as we have seen in family hierarchies, nature has the power to strike back against humans who want to be gods. Like any other humans, these semi-gods are reaping what they have sown (Gal 6:7).

Nature works according to the principles and rules ordained by the Creator, and these rules are countercultural to the reigning principals of exploitation in the world. Though god-deluded humans may delay some of the consequences of pollution in their own yard for a while by abusing nature on the other side of the world, they cannot dodge them endlessly. As the old saying goes, “What goes around, comes around!” Yet those at the higher end of the hierarchy continue to deceive themselves, assuming that they are exempt from the destruction that they have created for others.

Human autocrats often superficially assume that they can supervise nature by knowing how it functions. And yet, we know more about nature now than ever before, but any serious scientist will admit that this has only increased our awareness of what we don’t know. New discoveries lead us to new depths of knowledge and more things to explore. Even with the help of computers, the intricacies of interrelationships are incomprehensible because of the sheer number of combinations. To give a simple example, though LED lights consume less energy than traditional incandescent lights, the production and recycling costs dim the initial optimism of this scientific “breakthrough.”^[24] Decisions cannot be based solely on the immediate benefit for the final producer. We have to take into account the whole process and its impact on the earth.