June 7, 2010 issue
Evil from the deep
Humans long have feared that evil lurks in the ocean. And so, in John’s vision of the New Jerusalem, “there was no longer any sea” (Rev. 21:1). The sea’s disappearance symbolizes the defeat of evil, according to Mennonite Publishing Network’s Gather ’Round Sunday school curriculum for May 23.
Unlike the sea monsters of ancient imagination, a modern evil now dwells in the depths. Since April 20 a hellish black cloud has gushed from BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil well, fouling the Gulf of Mexico and smearing Louisiana’s marshy coast.
This evil holds no mystery. No act of God or whim of nature, it is ours alone, the product of technology we created but cannot control. Now it is exacting a price, just one installment of the cost of a lifestyle built on burning fossil fuel. It confronts us with the consequences of our oil addiction.
A little over a month after the explosion that unleashed a torrent of oil, awareness of the disaster’s magnitude grew as toxic sludge began to wash ashore. Yet much remained unknown: How many millions of gallons of oil had spewed up from the sea? How severely would the spill damage the fragile wetland ecosystem and its wildlife? Would it cripple the Gulf Coast fishing industry?
The biggest question is whether this environmental crisis will prod the United States to aggressively seek better ways to meet its energy needs. Our oil-dependent way of life — with its attendant pollution, economic instability and geopolitical complications — is not sustainable. Periodic crises remind us of this. The 1991 Persian Gulf War and the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have shown how the need for oil drives U.S. foreign policy. The oil price spike of 2008 spurred a short-lived demand for fuel-efficient cars.
But still we drill: With 5 percent of the world’s population, the United States consumes 25 percent of the world’s oil. Americans get 37 percent of our energy from oil and only 7 percent from renewable sources. Global oil demand is expected to grow by 24 percent between now and 2030. Development of clean-energy sources needs to become a national priority.
Individuals can do their part by turning from habits of consumption to conservation. Driving less limits oil use and reduces carbon emissions. Mennonite Central Committee has set a good example by resolving to cut its carbon emissions by 20 percent over the next 10 years.
Oil addiction leads to a dead end. It drains a dwindling resource and contributes to spoiling what God made good. It signals our failure as creation’s caretakers.
According to Rom. 1:20-21, God’s power is plain to see in the created world, but people have failed to show gratitude. Instead, “their thinking became futile, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Futile indeed is the hope that our world can run on oil indefinitely. The darkened waters hold a warning.
Comments
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Until now, I thought crude oil and natural gas wherever it exists, the coal underground, the salt mines, limestone quarries and material for nuclear energy were a part of God’s creation and blessing for humans which he called good. Editor Schrag calls the Gulf oil problem as Evil From The Deep and makes several references to this evil. That suggests God may have made a huge mistake by putting crude oil pools under deep water where it is more difficult to obtain. If it is evil from the deep, would he now attribute oil and also coal underground as originating with the curse as stated in Genesis 3:14-19 and not a blessing in the Genesis creation. I am unable to see Rev. 21:1 and Romans 1:20-21 as having anything to say to this problem.
If off shore drilling is so dangerous, would Editor Schrag go on record to prohibit all off shore drilling operations around the world for all nations? Accidents do happen and we need to learn from them. We need to minimize our dependence on foreign oil by continuing to drill for oil and natural gas, mine coal and expand nuclear electric generating plants. God put oil and coal on this earth for our use and not for evil and we should not criticize his judgement as to where he puts it.
I wonder if this editorial could be considered by the religious left as a violation of church and state.
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If a careful reading of scriptures, in His Creation God's design was to create man to be stewards over the earth and its resources. However, evil was introduced, in the garden. And rather than resisting, yielded to the pleasantness of its desire creating expulsion from the garden. From then on man has engaged in the trial and error methodology, and has not learned the art of stewardship as designed by God. Editor Shrag in his editoral arrognance misconstrued evil as destructive,rightly so, but the error is not in the oil itself, but lies in the hearts of men. BP failed to follow through in emplementing allot of safety procedures that were not in place when the well blew, leaving the mess that it is. The tragedy is that the damage done impacts a range of environmental issues that cannot be easily correctable in a given period of time. By the option of choice we, as humans, can do either good or evil, if we choose good, we are capable of error,if we choose evil, death.
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Delbert, I am not sure I understand. Surely the editorial lists this spill as a result of callous human error and greed? Is bandying about with the environment and destroying God's creation in such a cavalier fashion not sin?
Sure accidents happen, but there are numerous safety measures against such catastrophes, only one of which was installed in shoddy fashion on the well. There were no redundancies to back it up in case of failure. We are all paying a price many times more expensive than BP would have had they designed the well with greater safety in mind. In what way does this sort of brazen disregard for consequences and lack of foresight not sinful?
True, the oil is not the sin per se, but neither is gold. However, they both serve as catalysts to greed, disregard for the common good, for the environment, even human life. One could say the same for any number of things, but the issue is the disaster in the Gulf.
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I like all the responses by Dale Delbert and JPR. It is intersting to see how different persons reading the same text draw different meanings. I see all three and add my own that I saw as a real purpose also for this editorial. Evil from the deep resembles to me man's inept way of caring for the earth. I see Paul Schrag's call to conservation, intelligent use of resources and unique ways of using these resources so they do not bring "sins" results.
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Dale, I would suggest that you use a concordance and wee how "evil" is used in the Bible. What did God mean when in Lev. 26:6 when he said "evil beasts". Yes, I know the NIV says "savage beasts." Are savage beasts good as created by God? I have not gone through other references, but there are more verses in the Bible than the pet verses you quote.
I know you are trying to be true to the Bible, but I suggest you stick to the Bible rather than holding your personal opinions above the content and intent of much of the Bible.
It is time we catch editor Schrag (and others) doing something good rather than trying to find fault with his/their writing(s). I commend him for the general good uplifting tone of his editorial
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If God did put oil in the ground as a blessing for us to use, I wonder when God is going to replenish the supply.
It seems that, blessing or not, we are rapidly facing the time when we can't mine enough oil to satisfy our needs. Oil is essentially energy that was stored over the course of millions of years. We're blowing through that energy over a course of decades. Ever give someone a gift and watch them totally abuse it? For both moral and practical reasons we need to reduce our energy use drastically.
It may feel great to live at super-human levels now in the age of oil, but I doubt that our great-grandchildren will appreciate the blessing.
This oil spill should compel us all to start changing our ways.
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Granted, we should be rationally and intelligentlly stewards of our resources. Granted with our present technology, we have become "spoiled" in the pursuit of wealth, and to use our natural resources toward the improvement of living standards, and yet the "flaw" that lies within raises its head in whatever "form" i.e. recent oil spill, merely reaffirms the Lie, that the serpent told Eve in the garden that, that she will be "as god" leaving us to the imaginations of the heart. Evil by definition is a denial of life, to destroy it to destroy life. The uniqueness of the Christian gospel, provides a remedy, i.e. Christ's atonement, otherwise, a discussion of "evil" opens a pandora's box. I deliberately did not use the word "sin", because of its inadequecy of defining evil in the context of our discussion.
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So what we have then is a discussion of semantics. Evil vs. sin. I would humbly submit that the importance we place on convenience and "living standards," as opposed to care of the earth and its resources, the maintenance of which is necessary to sustain life of any kind, could be considered "evil." Does what we know as "evil" not originate in the thought that we are somehow better than anyone else? Does human arrogance not originate in our obsession with conquering and subduing, as opposed to actually acting as stewards over what God has given us responsibility for?
I am still not certain what the point of contention is between Eyster and what he describes as Schrag's "editorial arrogance."
I understand the nature of God's forgiveness through Christ as understood in Christianity. However, Christ is not going to clean up the marshes, the pelicans, the beaches, and the areas that this man-made arrogance is rapidly inundating and destroying. Nor do I believe that Christ would not hold those responsible accountable. So I am not certain what the discussion of the nature of divine forgiveness has to do with this.
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Why must arguments against greed always reference Americans?
Why do references to tragedic events as being stimulated by evil/greed never consider or mention the horrible loss of individuals whose only task was to work to provide us the resources we use (not only the United States, by the way)?
Why does the church always equate wealth with evil - and then ask for more funds?
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David, is it "always"?
Maybe it is true.
We live in the USA. What is your option? What are you referring to?
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Mr. Engel- 1) Not sure that it is always. But given that this largely an American/Canadian discussion in an American publication, we can control our own behavior infinitely better than we can that of others. Besides, does Jesus not say we are to eliminate the plank in our own eye before the spec in someone else's? (Mattew 7, Luke 6) Christ has much critical to say to those in positions of wealth and power, does he not? (Matthew 19 comes to mind, but there are others.)
2) In this present oil disaster, the first concern was showed to the eleven workers who died in the explosion. The same was the case for the 29 miners in the Upper Big Branch coal mine explosion. The workers and their safety are of primary concern. Whoever tells you differently (I have a good idea of who) is woefully ignorant or willfully lying.
The questions are: Why did BP value their lives so little that BP did not have all the safety mechanisms in place that BP could and obviously should have? Why is BP not living up to its promise of fair compensation to all the men and women whose jobs have been adversely affected by this spill? Why is BP trying to keep the media away from its cleanup operations, or even to prevent the media from covering the damages to wildlife and plant life?
3) The church does not equate having resources as evil, or even wealth. It is important to make sure that all can eat and survive, but if there are wealthy among us, then that is not a bad thing. Where would any charity effort be without the support of wealthy donors?
However. If one is willing to endanger or otherwise exploit other people or the environment in pursuit of wealth, then one does not follow the golden rule and one is placing the acquisition of wealth at a higher priority than serving God and the common good. Jesus is pretty clear (and astute, I might add) in his warnings about trying to serve two masters. (Matthew 6:24, Luke 16:13)
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We are told there is much crude available in certain oil rich areas in Alaska. It is my understanding these and other areas are off limits to drilling because of environmental concerns. So, we then drill for oil deep in the Gulf of Mexico. Disaster occurs and we see the difficulty in addressing the problem. Political wisdom leaves so much to be desired. If man could have half his wishes he would double his troubles. This is more evdence that common sense is in such short supply.
I belive the residents in the Gulf coast states would readily support drilling on land rather than the Gulf
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Dale, I do not understand why this was allowed, either.
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