tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6314123951617104057.post8150775142619214877..comments2024-03-24T18:37:46.365-04:00Comments on Oikonomia: Stewardship of “God’s Economy” – Reverent Discernment of His Word and WorldJohn Silviushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665785198658403584noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6314123951617104057.post-8846384947961518822012-05-22T15:55:51.514-04:002012-05-22T15:55:51.514-04:00Thanks, Tammy, for your reflections on our relatio...Thanks, Tammy, for your reflections on our relationship to the "created order" as we often call creation. Too bad we often forget its marvelous "order" and God's principles that direct us in how to live in accordance with His Word and in the "created order" itself. Creation takes a real beating as we often draw from it in damaging ways to satisfy what only a vibrant relationship with its Creator can do (Matt. 11:28-30; John 10:10).John Silviushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05665785198658403584noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6314123951617104057.post-36422117464152519422012-04-07T12:15:08.407-04:002012-04-07T12:15:08.407-04:00Thank you, John, for such an insightful post. Some...Thank you, John, for such an insightful post. Sometimes I think that the Christian ecologist is the person (maybe the only person) best equipped to provide the insights needed to illuminate many of our most pressing problems. The correctness of where every wild organism lives, how it is self-limiting, and how when "extra" is added only serves to upset the proper balance, ought to be the lesson we apply to all our business. How sad when "nuisance" bears arise because humans habituate them. In their ignorance and sentimentality people are willing to sacrifice the life of the animal for the sake of a photograph. Too much "fertilizer" in the environment brings us a "dead zone" in more ways than one. Instead of putting systems in place that provide for slow, honest, beneficial production, we opt for the quick fix that damages the health of the natural systems, including our own bodies, on which we depend.<br /><br />I must steel myself whenever I have to go into a large, name-withheld, box store. Just the other day I was buying seed packets, and had to wait in one of the lines for people with more than 20 items. People were pushing huge, heaping carts loaded with highly-processed, pesticide-laden, high fructose corn syrup laced food-like concoctions. A person in front of me used an EBT card to pay the total that topped $300. It is not "balancing the books," as you say, to live this way, nor is it honest, nor is it healthful. I am afraid that so many are shepherd-less sheep, in this regard. They have been sold a poor bill of goods that destroys both their bodies and their souls in the name of "compassion". What we all love about wildness is that it manages to survive and thrive in harshness, and is beautiful and noble through it. It is absurd to think that we, fellow created beings, would thrive under a different economy. <br /><br />I had never considered the life of lowly Draba before, but it is amazing to see how it survives in such harsh conditions. Aldo Leopold says of Draba, "He who hopes of spring with upturned eye never sees so small and tiny as Draba...He who searches for spring on his knees in the mud finds it an abundance." May we also exhibit the same humility of this tiny creation, and learn its lessons.tammyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10550149844169879048noreply@blogger.com