to any,
I have been wondering about the importance of care of the earth. I run into it a lot in books and stuff, and it can get kind of wackey. Anyways, does the Bible address this issue? And I am talking about more of the way we farm and the growing and use of plants/animals. Should it even concern us? Does organic verses inorganic matter besides health reasons? I know it just makes more sense to garden/farm more of the way God made the earth to work, and it is better for the earth and people, but does it matter to be more sustainable for moral reasons or to God at all?
jwbp
care of the earth
Re: care of the earth
jwbp,
I was born on what is known as a "subsistance farm" in the Missouri Ozarks. That meant living off the land, growing much of your own food, selling cream or eggs for money to buy whatever you could not get from the land. The garden was planted next to the corral so it was easy to throw the manure over onto the garden for fertilizer. And you hoped it would rain to water it, and the corn crop. No electricity, no indoor plumbing, and water carried by bucket from the spring. It is easy to romanticize that kind of life today. And it was arguably easy on the land. But people did not live very long in those days. My parents left for California when I was small, and though we were poor, we were rich in the eyes of my cousins in Missouri.
It is very easy today in our comfort to speak of "sustainable" living, but without modern farming there would be much suffering and death among the terribly poor and marginal in the greater part of this world. So the question for me is a matter of love. What would be the loving thing to do?
There is a lot of hype about pesticides and cancer, etc, and then people will partake in all sorts of risky recreational activities and behaviors. Doesn't make sense to me.
I was born on what is known as a "subsistance farm" in the Missouri Ozarks. That meant living off the land, growing much of your own food, selling cream or eggs for money to buy whatever you could not get from the land. The garden was planted next to the corral so it was easy to throw the manure over onto the garden for fertilizer. And you hoped it would rain to water it, and the corn crop. No electricity, no indoor plumbing, and water carried by bucket from the spring. It is easy to romanticize that kind of life today. And it was arguably easy on the land. But people did not live very long in those days. My parents left for California when I was small, and though we were poor, we were rich in the eyes of my cousins in Missouri.
It is very easy today in our comfort to speak of "sustainable" living, but without modern farming there would be much suffering and death among the terribly poor and marginal in the greater part of this world. So the question for me is a matter of love. What would be the loving thing to do?
There is a lot of hype about pesticides and cancer, etc, and then people will partake in all sorts of risky recreational activities and behaviors. Doesn't make sense to me.
Re: care of the earth
scripture has instruction about resting of crops grown on a plot of land.
Lev 25:1 And Jehovah spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying,
Lev 25:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto Jehovah.
Lev 25:3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruits thereof;
Lev 25:4 but in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath unto Jehovah: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
Lev 25:5 That which groweth of itself of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, and the grapes of thy undressed vine thou shalt not gather: it shall be a year of solemn rest for the land
Also there was instruction not to chop down all the trees around a city
Deu 20:19 When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by wielding an axe against them; for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down; for is the tree of the field man, that it should be besieged of thee?
Is this for regard of the tree or for the benefit of those who would enjoy the fruit after the battle?
Lev 25:1 And Jehovah spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying,
Lev 25:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto Jehovah.
Lev 25:3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruits thereof;
Lev 25:4 but in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath unto Jehovah: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
Lev 25:5 That which groweth of itself of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, and the grapes of thy undressed vine thou shalt not gather: it shall be a year of solemn rest for the land
Also there was instruction not to chop down all the trees around a city
Deu 20:19 When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by wielding an axe against them; for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down; for is the tree of the field man, that it should be besieged of thee?
Is this for regard of the tree or for the benefit of those who would enjoy the fruit after the battle?
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Re: care of the earth
Homer,
Thanks for the reply. It is kind of weird to think people would put their lives on the line for sports or for fun and not care about their health and food--though I can't speak too much here because I'm not the best eater. But I'm not sure I agree completely about your post that there would be much suffering and death without modern farming. Though, I haven't thought of it that way. I'm not against pesticides completely, though I'd rather not have them, but it's no problem for me for someone to use them or even myself in some circumstances. Anyways, thanks.
Mikew,
Thanks for the reply. Very interesting about not cutting the trees down after a battle--and very smart. And good qeustion as well.
jwbp
Thanks for the reply. It is kind of weird to think people would put their lives on the line for sports or for fun and not care about their health and food--though I can't speak too much here because I'm not the best eater. But I'm not sure I agree completely about your post that there would be much suffering and death without modern farming. Though, I haven't thought of it that way. I'm not against pesticides completely, though I'd rather not have them, but it's no problem for me for someone to use them or even myself in some circumstances. Anyways, thanks.
Mikew,
Thanks for the reply. Very interesting about not cutting the trees down after a battle--and very smart. And good qeustion as well.
jwbp