Thursday, July 16, 2009
Garden of Eden - Redux
One of themes that keeps coming to mind as we spend time around water in the Pacific Northwest is an interpretation of the Genesis 3 story of the Garden of Eden about the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The interpretation begins with the idea of wondering, why would God not want humans to know the difference between good and evil? As a matter of fact, this question has been pondered by interpreters and many different answers have been given. Anyway, this particular interpretation suggests that the problem is that without the view of eternity, the other tree in the garden of everlasting life, the knowledge of good and evil is not useful. That is, we are unable to see the consequences of our actions beyond a very short sphere and thus don't know what those consequences could be days later, much less decades later. For instance, while we were watching orca, killer whales, the other day, our guide mentioned that seven had died from starvation as they only eat king salmon. He, and another naturalist, then went on to say how all the rivers of Washington, but two, had human impacts from farming to dams to drinking water. What caught my mind was the enigma of the garden again. Apparent goods (farming, flood protection, clean drinking water) were now impacting the environment in such a way that salmon were unable to reproduce which is bad not only for orcas, but for humans who love to eat salmon and those who fish for it. Most of the action on the rivers is now decades old and they are just beginning to see the long-term effects on the local environment. In response to this connundrum, one of the interesting factoids that I read in editorial out here is that Washington is one of the states leading the way in tearing down dams and restoring rivers to their natural state. As we face some interesting issues around the St. Johns' River in the years to come, what has happened in Washington at least worth pondering, because no matter how hard we try we don't have an ultimate knowlege of good and evil.
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I thought I'd add one of the first posts. I've enjoyed following the Waters of Rest blog, as I am on a journey as well! I'm through 20,000 miles with my last 10,000 miles when I leave from home for Sydney on Sunday.
ReplyDeleteAs I've flown over the vast expanses of seemingly endless ocean with the many layers of misty and icy clouds, it often remindes me of God covering the earth in his presence and forming the earth by his will. From 30,000 feet, to see the thousands of miles of shoreline formed and shaped in endless turns, clifts and beaches, you can feel the ocean forming the character of the land. The sunrises and sunsets over the clouds from 5 miles high have perfectly pure colors from the reflections of the water crystals. God feels near and everywhere. But, at the same time I always think of the millions of people living in the many lands, speaking different languages, living different cultures, worshiping different gods, or following different religions of my God. Indeed, each has both a different and an incomplete knowledge of good and evil. An just as Adam and Eve were removed from the garden and separated from the water that flowed from Eden, all of these peoples are separated as much by the water of earth as by ideals, ideas and the gods of the world.