Today I read the book of 1 Enoch from the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha vol. 1 as edited by James H. Charlesworth. The translation seemed to be well done, and I enjoyed the read. I would have to say that I consider this to be a sort of popular theology of the times (2nd to 1st century BC). As such, it should be viewed much as popular theology of the present day found in music, and television – one should weigh it carefully.

Still I found the book uplifting and insightful. It has helped me to see where some of the NT concepts came from which seem to be absent in the OT, as many of the NT writers likely drew upon this work. To be sure, some of what they were doing was corrective. Still, the book has a special place in the background of the NT, and as such I feel that reading it helps one to gain a better understanding of the NT. A word of caution though – I wouldn’t recommend this to a new believer – unless they were a new believer who was educated in how to weigh evidence.

You can read my full review here – which includes notes on the the theme of creation in 1 Enoch.

Photo by Tom Bradley

I’ve been buying coffee which is considered fair trade for some time now. Upon mentioning this to my father, he asked “What is fair trade anyway?”. I explained that it had something to do with making sure that the producers actually made decent wages instead of poverty type wages. But, I wasn’t satisfied with this answer, not really.

Upon visiting Whole Foods, I notices that they had stickers on products which said Whole Trade. This only added confusion to my overly stressed mind. After researching that and a few other labels, I feel like I can now answer my Dad’s question…

Fair Trade – TransFair USA – they encourage sustainable farming methods, encourage organic methods, and guarantee that more of your money goes to the farmers/producers. They give a financial incentive to organic farming.

Fair for Life – is pretty similar, but originates in Switzerland.

Rainforest Alliance – The Rainforest Alliance works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices, and consumer behavior. (from the site)

The reason I care about this issue (paying a fair wage) is because God seems to take it seriously. As a Christian who cares about God’s Creation, the environment, I take seriously the relationship between God-man- and land/earth. In the book of Zechariah (among others) it is evident that when God’s people treat others well, and live by his commands, that the land produces well (it is a land flowing with milk and honey). But that same land becomes desolate when the people are guilty of iniquity.

As a Christian who cares about God’s Creation, I take seriously the word of the Lord in Amos 8:4-7 (NIV):

⁴ Hear this, you who trample the needy
and do away with the poor of the land,

⁵ saying,
“When will the New Moon be over
that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath be ended
that we may market wheat?”—
skimping the measure,
boosting the price
and cheating with dishonest scales,

⁶ buying the poor with silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
selling even the sweepings with the wheat.

⁷ The LORD has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: “I will never forget anything they have done.

I read this story over at Reuters. Basically, it turns out that the current congressional plan (which likely won’t pass) would reduce farmland by 6% and convert it to forest land. Congress is also trying to pass legislation to make itself the only one who can legally create rules on CO2 and other pollutants.

The article points out that reducing farmland would increase food prices. While I like the idea of making sure we have clean air. I’m not sure how converting land that is used to grow crops into land that is used to grow trees really changes anything. Surely, soil characteristics would change, and machinery use would go down, but that land would still have plants on it – plants which either way convert CO2 to oxygen.

I think that there must be a better way forward for one who cares about God’s creation, and wants to protect the environment. I think that major culture changes would need to take place. For example, as long as we have big highways – which cost money to maintain – we will have people driving cars or companies employing 18 wheelers. But, if rail could be brought online – the opposite of what the Eisenhower administration wanted – then people would have a real alternative to personal automobiles.

Let’s pray for real changes in the way people think – and change to take place that doesn’t limit our freedoms. That is change that we can all believe in.

I’ve been working on a paper describing creation theology in Zechariah. To that end, I read an article by David Peterson “The World of Creation in the Book of the Twelve “. Obviously he goes with the idea that the minor prophets (all 12 of them) are intended to be read as one literary unit. He begins by discussing the similarities between descriptions of creation in the minor prophets and in Genesis 1-2, as well as Psalm 104. Then, he departs from that theme and makes an interesting statement about Zechariah 10:1.

Zech 10:1 NIV “Ask the LORD for rain in the springtime; it is the LORD who makes the storm clouds. He gives showers of rain to men, and plants of the field to everyone.”

The statement is:

“Such a command (plural) presupposes a God who not only created the natural order in the past but continues to work in the natural order in the present, that is, by making “storm clouds.” Moreover, such activity in the present enables the material of primordial creation to remain intact. For example, the “vegetation in the field” , which benefits from the showers, derives from the primal vegetation. The making of storm clouds now sustains God’s original work of creation.” 210

When writing my thesis (An Analysis of the Treatment of Ecology within Recent Old Testament Theologies”) I settled on the conclusion that most evangelical Old Testament theologies rightly conclude that (theologically) Creation is a completed action. This was expressly because those who chose to go the route of understanding creation as a continuing process (creatio continua – for you latin buffs) went the rought of open theism – a route I am not willing to take.

I look forward to further exploring this topic in my study of Zechariah!!

Over the last 4 days I’ve been reading a lot…

Daniel J. Harrington, S.J. – Invitation to the Apocrypha. It’s a good, easy to understand, introduction to the Old Testament apocryphal books.

David A. deSilva – Introducing the Apocrypha. This book reads just like a NT Introduction, but for the Apocryphal books. It addresses the introductory issues, the authorship and date, purpose, theological content, and importantly it’s influence on later writings/ideas.

Introducing Keynes – an easy to read, fun, graphical introduction to the economist. This book really helped me understand why the Obama administration has made the economic and policy decisions that it has – they are Keynesian decisions. The book describes the man, what his economic theory is, and what the critiques are.

It’s never too early to start planning your garden. As a Christian who values God’s creation, I have always wanted a garden. Now that I have a house of my own, I want to grow some vegetables on our very own little “promised land”. So, the process began today, January 24th, with some digging. I’m planning to make several 8X4 foot beds (probably 4). Today I was able to dig one in about an hour and a half. But the work was pretty tough, using a shovel and a garden fork.

I dug out the grass, and knocked all the dirt off of it, then threw it aside. I was able to dig down about 8-10 inches before hitting another layer of dirt. This is where I chose to use the garden fork. I made some holes with it in order to aerate the dirt, but was careful not to  turn it over. I didn’t want to “double dig”, and mix the soil elements. Luckily I did see several earthworms as I was digging -even though the ground is still pretty cold. However, I could tell that my dirt has a lot of clay in it, and will be needing a lot of compost added. I think I might have enough for this one bed, but not for the others. So, it looks like I will be purchasing some more nutrients soon.

I really enjoy being outside, so today was a treat! I enjoyed hearing the birds singing, and feeling the sunlight on my back. I even enjoyed getting a little dirty while working. Doing this work made me feel connected to the creation story in Genesis 2, and the charge to humanity to ‘tend the garden’ in Gen 2:15.

I’ll give more updates and photos of the garden’s progress as I go along.

My friend John showed me this yesterday. I thought it was just the sort of thing people here might be interested in, so happy viewing!!

As a Christian who cares for God’s Creation (environment) I would really enjoy living in a house that needed almost no resources to heat or cool it year round!!

Hugo Chavez has decided that the Hati earthquakes were the result of a USA Techtonic Weapons test (video). Yep that’s right, he is saying that the USA wanted the atrocity to happen. This brings up the subject of Techtonic weapons and whether or not they really exist. Evidently, Conspiracy Theorists have been trying to tell the public about them for some time. You can find a good descrption of the theory here. Basically, the theory says that during the Cold War, US and USSR military commanders had weapons in development which were meant to cause earthquakes. Basically this would be the ultimate in deniability. Just think how hard it would be to pin a natural disaster on a military.

I understand how the weapons would work in theory, but it certainly seems far-fetched. As of now, the idea of these weapons is consigned to the same discussion rings as UFO’s and Secret Societies. At the same time, Russia and China have both publicly claimed to influence the weather (make it rain). So, it is not outside the realm of possibility.

As a Christian who cares about God’s Creation (the environment), I don’t think that humans should attempt to influence the weather (as a weapon). Trying to avert natural disasters might be worthwhile, but I’m afraid the chances of helping are probably close to the same as the chances of making the natural disaster worse. So, in my opinion those opportunities should be avoided because it seems impossible to calculate all of the unintended affects that planet altering actions might have.