In our society we tend to be very ambivalent about our attitude to earth. Of the four traditional Aristotelian elements of the natural world (earth, air, fire, water) it is only earth that is viewed with suspicion. Air with its oxygen is considered to be a source of life, and its transparency, at least in its unpolluted form, suggests purity. In its dynamic form as wind, air has traditionally been associated with the Spirit of God. Despite the destruction it brings in its extreme form in the Australian bush, fire is a source of warmth and comfort, and is regarded as a cleansing or purifying agent. Elijah, we are told in II Kings chapter 2, was taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire drawn by horses of fire. And in the New Testament tongues of fire were seen to sit on the heads of the assembled apostles on the Day of Pentecost. Water is perhaps the best known cleansing agent and is exploited as such in most religions. In Christianity we see this function most clearly expressed in the rite of baptism instituted by John the Baptist. It is also seen in the healing of Naaman the Syrian and in violent form through the Great Flood, in which sinful humanity was swept away. So, with air, fire, and water we are relatively comfortable. But earth? That is where our doubts begin.
“Earth” has close synonyms in “dirt” and “soil”, and it is significant that we frequently use all three words in a pejorative sense. We do not like things that are dirty or soiled, while things that are “earthy” are generally looked down upon. Certainly “earthy” humour is considered inappropriate in polite society. The dark recesses of the earth are the traditional haunt of the Devil, while aspirations towards spiritual things are often seen to involve cutting one's ties to the earth. The spiritual phenomenon of levitation makes one lose contact with the earth, presumably to aspire to higher things. In our theological geography heaven is always above, far away from the polluting influence of earth. In our religious thinking we tend to be extremely suspicious of the spiritual status of the earth of which we are made and to which our bodies will return.
Indigenous peoples generally have quite a different approach to the earth on which they live. They regard it with deep respect and it is closely connected with their spiritual and religious beliefs. A Maori Christian, Rob Cooper, tells us that, when asked by someone what was the source of his spirituality, he instinctively responded that his spirituality came “through the soles of his feet”. What this implies is that his spirituality comes from his interaction with the earth that gave him life. This, of course, is also the perspective of Australia's indigenous peoples. They regard the earth as their mother and their spiritual life is intimately bound up with the land or earth on which they walk. One Aboriginal writer states: “We look after the land as we look after a mother. And the land looks after us like a mother.” (Wali Fejo) For the Aboriginal the earth is the means of communication with ancestors and it is through the earth that spiritual connections are made.
In many ways the attitude of indigenous peoples to earth is closer to biblical approaches than our attitude is. One recent Australian theologian has said: “Just as land is a central element in the religion of the Australian Aborigine, so there is a similar centrality in the religion of the ancient Hebrews.” (Lilburne) Let us examine some of the references to earth in the Bible and seek to find a biblical perspective on the matter.
It is no accident that, in the Genesis story, the name of the first human, Adam, is closely related to the Hebrew word for earth, adamah . Humans were formed by God out of earth and are destined to return to it. In Genesis 2:7 we read: “ Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ”. And then a little later, in chapter 3:19, “ By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken, you are dust, and to dust you shall return. ” Adam and Eve are earthlings in a very literal sense: they are creatures of earth into whom God has chosen to breathe the breath of life. By decrying the earth of which we are made or remaining indifferent to it we are denigrating our own physical being and the worth of a creature of God.
The close connection between humankind and the earth is further highlighted towards the end of the creation story when Adam and Eve are excluded from the Garden of Eden. Because of his sinful attitudes, Adam is told: “ cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life ”. Whatever be the origin of this text, it clearly states that humans and the earth are closely connected. The attitude of the one is linked to the health or sickness of the other. I believe that at the very least we can detect here an ecological warning: if humans transgress God's will, there will be an adverse reaction from nature, and humankind will suffer. Many people see this principle in action at the present time as we face environmental crises because of our sometimes ignorant abuse of nature. God's curse on the ground in the Genesis story may, in our technologically driven age, be interpreted as nature striking back and withholding her bounty. Our indigenous people understand this and we are now becoming aware of it as well.
The productive capacity of earth is recognised in other respects in the Genesis story. God is the overall creator, but it is significant that God is seen to work through earth. Rather than creating plants and animals independently, God is presented as using the earth to achieve the divine will. “ 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. ” (1:11) Later in the first chapter the creation of living creatures is expressed in the same way: “ And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds. ”(1:24) From the perspective of the writer of Genesis, God does not create directly. God creates by using the good earth that is so productive and appropriate to God's purposes. God almost has the role of spectator, marvelling at the beauty and productivity that has been evoked. The earth is responsive, far from the passive object that we have long supposed it to be. We may well ask: Against such a background how did we get to the stage of denigrating the earth, regarding it with suspicion and frequently despising it, or at the very best considering it with indifference? How did it come to be regarded as an unspiritual realm?
In various parts of the Bible there is a clearly expressed belief that nature in general and the earth in particular are full of the Spirit of God. Moreover, this spirit continues to sustain the natural order. Isaiah (6:3) proclaims that “ the whole earth is full of God's glory ” and the composer of Psalm 104 states: “ When you send forth your spirit [living things] are created; and you renew the face of the ground ”.(104:30) We find in this latter verse a close relationship, as in the Genesis creation story, between God's creative spirit and the renewal of the earth. This is a relationship that we appear to have lost from sight in recent times.
A reference of a related but ostensibly different order is to be found in the New Testament in the Gospel of John. In chapter 9 Jesus is described as walking along with his disciples and encountering a congenitally blind man. He makes the statement: “ As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world ”. The text goes on: “ When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man's eyes” (9:6). The man follows Jesus' direction to go the Pool of Siloam to wash and as a result recovers his sight. In this incident I believe it to be significant that Jesus chooses to mix his saliva with earth and thus to bring about the healing process. Earth is seen to have not just creative but healing and restorative powers. It merits our respect. For Jesus there was nothing unspiritual about earth or saliva. His healing with these two elements follows immediately his eminently “spiritual” statement that he is the light of the world. We often make a clearer distinction between the spiritual and the physical than Jesus was apparently prepared to make.
This biblical background of respect for earth should prompt us to give greater thought to the way in which we treat the earth on the planet that significantly has “Earth” as its name. It may be true that God has given us the earth and what it produces to use, but it is becoming startlingly clear to us in our time that everything on this planet must be sustained and not just exploited. Our technology has enabled us to exploit the earth's resources and to maximise its short term productivity. However, in the process we are discovering that the earth's fertility is being depleted and consequently the desired productivity is being placed in jeopardy. God's good earth is becoming degraded as we take and fail to give back. Our response is to pour in ever greater quantities of fertilisers to make up for the shortfall, but it is clear that such a process cannot long be sustained. Indeed, some nutritional experts believe that our soils are becoming so depleted that vitamin and mineral supplements are now almost mandatory for adequate health. In New South Wales wheat protein levels have been declining for many years, almost certainly because of falling soil fertility.
From time to time on the eastern coast of Australia we suffer from horrendous sandstorms as millions of tonnes of our topsoil is blown from the west into the Pacific Ocean. This is the result of poor land care, deforestation and excessive clearing of our fragile land. In the Murray-Darling Basin and in many parts of Western Australia salination of previously productive land is becoming something of a nightmare as thousands upon thousands of hectares become little better than wasteland. Land-clearing and excessive irrigation are to blame for this serious problem, which continues to worsen despite some governmental efforts at intervention.
Closer to home, we became particularly aware prior to the Olympics of the way we had, over many decades, poisoned the ground around Homebush Bay. In the name of progress we allowed dioxin to poison God's good earth and to escape into our waterways. Currently our government is seeking other parts of our country to poison with radioactive material, all in the name of progress. This follows on the poisoning of thousands of acres of land around Maralinga with nuclear testing a half a century ago.
Such a situation is an increasingly pressing problem for everybody in our country, since it affects us, and even more our children and grandchildren. But it should be a particular concern for those of us who call ourselves Christian. It is not just our earth that is being degraded; we believe that it is God's earth that is affected and that it is God's creation that is being despoiled. This gives the problem a spiritual dimension that we should bear in mind as we strive with others in our community to address the issues.
So, what can we as individuals do? First we can make an effort to understand and keep abreast of the issues, especially those that affect us. We can make our voice heard politically and make it clear that we are concerned about the loss and degradation of our soils. Radiocarbon dating by the CSIRO suggests that the formation of just 1mm of soil from alluvium in Australia takes 20-30 years. Soil is formed so slowly that it is considered to be a non-renewable resource. Consequently, any soil loss is extremely serious. This is a message that our politicians must heed.
In our private circumstances we can ensure that the vegetable waste that we produce is fed back into the ecological cycle through our use of worm farms and composting. By ensuring that our own gardens have soils that are as rich as possible we can provide an example that may spread through the community in a salutary way. We can show that we are anxious to give back to the earth, rather than just take from it. In the longer term it is almost certain that we shall have to make changes to our prodigal lifestyle, but at this stage we must at the very least in our own way treat God's good earth in as responsible a way as we can. A recent New South Wales State of the Environment Report stated: “Soil is often seen only as an inert medium, a support for human activities. However, soil is a dynamic, living system composed of organic and mineral constituents, a network of voids, pores, liquids and gases. Soils also contain populations of biota ranging from bacteria and fungi to worms and rodents.” We need to recognise the value of this gift from God and to treat it with the respect that it merits. In doing so we shall be respecting the rights of future generations and following the injunctions of the Bible.
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