This
is the 1st of 3 Discourses on Stewardship. Part 1 is a brief attempt to Inform the
Public. Part 2 will discuss The
Spiritual Aspects of Stewardship, and Part 3 will provide some action steps we
can take to be better Earth Stewards.
Part 1: Here on Planet Earth, Our
Best Defense is Being Informed!
At the time of this writing,
many/most have come to realize that separation between Church and State is a
one-sided farce. It is one-sided because
Churches are not permitted to engage in any political activity, yet the
Government, via the IRS, sets the standards which dictate to churches what they
can and can not do. If the IRS does not
think a church is a church, it is not.
So, what actually constitutes a
church? It is not a building; it is not
a Pastor, Minister, Rabbi, etc. The
answer to this question lies in the wording.
According to the IRS, a church is basically a congregation (group of
people) who worship God together, possess a shared ideology, administer
Sacraments, and share some type of Sacred Text.
Any group of people that does not meet the IRS standards may apply for
an exception. To ensure control the IRS
periodically changes its requirements.
Having said that, our same
government, under the guise of multiple agencies/departments, support the
current exploitation, mismanagement, carelessness and greed perpetrated against
us and our world. The results have been and
continue to be devastating.
The greedy overuse of our earth’s
natural resources leaves little for future generations. The list of endangered/extinct plants
continues to grow; monoculture further puts our plants (and our food and
medicine supply) at risk.
“As many as 100,000 of the estimated total
300,000 species may be gone or on the way to extinction by the middle of the
[21st] century.” Dr. Peter H. Raven, XVI International
Botanical Congress.
Monoculture increases a crops
susceptibility to a single disease or pest.
Currently more than half of the global energy intake comes
from only three major crops: rice, wheat, and maize. The loss of diversity in our food crops already
“…
has been substantial. The chief
contemporary cause of the loss of genetic diversity has been the spread of
modern, commercial agriculture. The largely unintended consequence of the
introduction of new varieties of crops has been the replacement—and loss—of
traditional, highly variable farmer varieties.” Food
and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
The most famous example of
this is the 1840’s Great Potato Famine; the potato crops in Ireland were
wiped out by potato blight (a fungus), which led to the death of 750,000
people.
In 1949, there were almost
10,000 varieties of wheat, which were utilized on a regular basis, in China; today
there are less than 1,000. In the United States, in just 100
years, almost 6,000 varieties of apple trees, 95 percent of the varieties
of cabbage, and 81 percent of the varieties of tomatoes seem to
have up and disappeared.
Our present worldwide
ecological crisis is the greatest man-made disaster this planet has ever faced. Our drinking water is unsafe; our soils are
barren; the food we eat and the air we breathe are slowly killing us.
To mention just a few of the
problems:
- · Deforestation is affecting the absorption of carbon dioxide by the earth.
- · Pollution of our Air, Land, and Water. Pollution (along with overfishing) is greatly decreasing our fish populations. Many textile manufacturers use dyes, softeners, and other chemicals which pose health consequences.
- · Toxic pesticides, herbicides, and growth regulators are not safe for humans; they can end up in the air, and in our food and water supply, and have been linked to asthma and cancer. At the turn of the century, 7 of the top 15 pesticides sprayed on cotton were identified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as "possible," "likely," "probable," or "known" human carcinogens.
- · Genetically Modified Food (GMO’s) has been linked to the development of cancerous tumors, infertility and birth defects. GMO Seeds have been linked to the destruction of the world's bee population; bees not only pollinate crops, they perform other vital ecological roles, as well.
We,
as a species are starting to “AWAKEN.” Yesterday,
May 25, activists around the world
united to March Against Monsanto. According to Tami Canal, protests were held in 436
cities in 52 countries ... "If I had gotten 3,000 people to join me, I
would have considered that a success," she said Saturday. Instead, she
said two million responded to her message ... She called the turnout "incredible," and credited social
media for being a vehicle for furthering opportunities for activism. Despite
the size of the gatherings, Canal said she was grateful that the marches were
uniformly peaceful and no arrests have been reported.
Photo:
Occupy Monsanto
Our
global consciousness is rising. More and
more people are coming together peacefully, as One. Here
on Planet Earth, Our Best Defense is Being Informed. So what does all of this have to do with churches? To find out, please join us next week for Part 2: The Spiritual Aspects of Stewardship.
