Today being the high secular feast called Earth Day, let’s give a standing 0 for God. O LORD AND RULER
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.And God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.And God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters."
And God made the firmament and separated the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. And God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so.
God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, "Let the earth put forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, upon the earth." And it was so.The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
God as creator and artist is pretty good. I mean when you literally have nothing to work with, he has done a pretty good job. Plus if your a collector and admirer you can just never collect all of his stuff.
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My daughter’s (public) school had an Earth Day poster display. After I explained my concerns about the goofier aspects of environmentalism vs. the Christian approach to stewardship of creation, we brainstormed and came up with a poster idea. She ended up drawing St. Francis and Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha (patrons of the environment) with the slogan “Respect Creation.” We shall see if it actually gets hung up in the cafeteria with the rest…
There is more to say. Why is God a good artist? Because:
“a thing is more perfect as it is more perfectly one.”
— Kreyche, First Philosophy 175
Then there is the superlative trademark of the system, evident to all computer scientists:
“Then God saw all the things that he had made, and they were very good.”
— Genesis 1:31 (DR)
Hence, would-be subcreators should note: each of the parts are good – AND the system is very good.
Another point to add here: S. L. Jaki shows in his Science and Creation that it was precisely the Church’s condemnation in 1277 of the pagan view of the universe as “only-begotten” which gave rise to modern science. Or, as GKC puts it:
The main point of Christianity was this: that Nature is not our mother: Nature is our sister. We can be proud of her beauty, since we have the same father; but she has no authority over us; we have to admire, but not to imitate.
— GKC, Orthodoxy CW1:317
Paradoxically,
Dr. Thursday
lol, once again gkc is right. Nature IS like my sister- sure she’s all calm and sweet and chipmunks and sunsets, but you never know when she’s gonna turn into tornadoes and earthquakes and blood-sucking bats and poisonous snakes.
just kidding, luv u sis!
“Earth Day”, like the environmental “movement” itself, can be compared to a watermelon: green on the outside, but the heart and soul is socialist pink. It’s not a coincidence that the Green Party is home to many former members of the Communist Party.
That’s not to say, however, that one shouldn’t be an environmentalist, or that one shouldn’t be a faithful steward of the Creator’s creation.
Great idea, Margaret! The “celebration” borders on new ageism in this neck of the woods.
On the one hand, I have nothing but contempt for the neo-pagan/liberal catholic worship of the Earth. To that extent, my favorite meal on Earth Day is Veal Marsala.
On the other hand, I think it reasonable for Orthodox and Catholics alike to have veneration for God’s creation. Apropos of that, the Orthodox have a lovely service for the Environment. An excellent translation of it into English may be found at this website:
http://www.anastasis.org.uk/environm.htm