By Rev. Robert Plaisted

Once upon a time, long long ago, in a garden far away, there was God and there were humans. God created the garden and told the humans, “Tend this garden; take care of it, and it will provide everything you need to live. But I warn you! If you abuse my great gift, the garden will turn against you over time. Therefore, treat it as a friend and love it as I love you. Never plunder or pollute it simply because you can, lest it cast you out to fight for your lives in a harsh and angry wilderness.”

Yes, Christian “conservatives.” I know that’s not the way the Garden of Eden story was taught in 1955 Sunday school classes, but we don’t live in 1955 anymore. The foundational story of Judeo-Christian civilization wasn’t just written for our ancestors. It also was written for us, and we live in a world very different from the 1950s, and vastly different from the world in the 5th century B.C. So, I’ll put on my theologian’s hat and teach a contemporary Bible lesson.

The ancient world of Job stated that God commanded the ocean, saying, “This far you shall come, and no farther! Here your proud waves must stop” (Job 38:11). That made good sense 2,500 years ago. Their world had been stable for roughly 9,000 years. No one assumed anything would change much in the future. But in our world, waves don’t stop anymore. Storm Dennis just sent 80 to 100-foot waves crashing far inland, flooding much of the British Isles in ways that simply didn’t happen in the time of the ancient Britons.

Likewise, in the ancient world of Noah, God gave this promise, “Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth” (Genesis 9:11). But in our world, floods devastate big chunks of the earth all the time, and much worse awaits us in the future. My purpose is not to discredit the Bible; it is to credit science. Yesterday’s truth isn’t necessarily tomorrow’s truth. What appear to be eternal truths in a stable world, often are shown to be nothing but empty promises when the world changes. Our world is changing faster than it has in many millennia. That’s why things are so chaotic. That’s why human civilization is struggling to avoid collapse. The foundational assumptions on which we built modern society are being proven false.

We can respond to our rapidly changing world by raging and lashing out against others, or we can see the world as it is and seek to find a way to survive, live, and flourish. Snarling, bullying, discriminating against people who frighten us — all of that stuff amounts to nothing more than greasing our skids as we slide toward hell. We can accept today’s world and cooperate in finding a way to live in it, or we can fight against it until it destroys us.

Shortly before his death, Prof. Stephen Hawking wrote, “We face awesome environmental challenges: climate change, food production, overpopulation, the decimation of other species, epidemic disease, acidification of the oceans. Together, they are a reminder that we are at the most dangerous moment in the development of humanity. We now have the technology to destroy the planet on which we live, but have not yet developed the ability to escape it…Right now we only have one planet, and we need to work together to protect it." To that I say, Amen!