I can’t get over the recent fireworks from the climate controversy. Recently, one of the people responsible for claiming a sea level rise withdrew the claim. There have been several recent retractions, like the assertion about receding glaciers in the Himalayas. I also enjoy seeing the way different news agencies treat the stories. CNN seems to still be drinking the global warming kool-aid, while Fox News is more emboldened than ever in their criticism of catastrophic climate change.

These developments continue to break, and one can only delay judgment until more sound science comes forward. Even the people in charge of the IPCC have been under fire lately for problematic methods…

From time to time, natural disasters happen close enough together to make people ask if the world is crumbling. I find it interesting that after today’s 8.8 quake in Chile, MSNBC has a story called Big Quake Question: Are They Getting Worse. The story asks if the recent Haiti, Japan and Chile earthquakes signal that the earth is entering a phase of upheaval. A similar question for our purposes is, Did God send the disasters? In a word, No. Though, Pat Robertson may soon voice an opinion otherwise.

I firmly believe that Genesis 3 reports that the earth is somewhat in a state of chaos. After God changed the relationships between humanity and the earth, what some would call post-fall, there is a vastly different reality than when Genesis one reports the earth is “good” in God’s sight. In my mind, this is where the idea of Creation as a continuing process comes into play. God is constantly in a state of routing the chaos present in the earth. God can use natural disasters to bring judgment, certainly. But more frequently, these times serve as a reminder that were it not for a good, loving God, these instances would be the norm and not the exception.

Let me know what you think…

Bill Nye and Joe Bastardi recently debated climate change science. I appreciated the demeanor of Bill Nye in the video clip: I think it is important for us to recognize that not everyone agrees about the science behind climate change theory or man-made global warming. But, there is a way forward that I think we can all agree on.

First I want to mention that a new “garbage patch” has been discovered, this time in the Atlantic Ocean, and it is similar to the Pacific garbage patch. Oddly enough it looks like it’s in the Bermuda Triangle, but that’s another story. I don’t think anyone would say that giant patches of plastic floating in the ocean are good things. That is probably something on which we can arrive at something close to a consensus about.

Then, if we want to prevent things like this from happening, we as a civilization have to be willing to make some changes in the way we live and dispose of waste. Waste disposal definitely could be improved, but so could the philosophy of living. Do we really need to produce lots of waste to enjoy the American way of life?

Not, if the Bloom Fuel cell catches on. This thing could be sort of a game changer. It has the promise of reducing emissions and providing a wealth of energy. It came about as a result of private investment and entrepreneurship. In other words, someone had a good idea and found a market for it. I think that we can move forward in caring the problem of polluting the earth, and/or climate change issues, by agreeing to look for affordable ways to replace energy needs with something that will create less waste. Nobody likes a mess. Why should we create a bigger mess than we have to?

This is a fun tag cloud generated based on my blog at wordle.com

Today I went to Marshall Grain Co. with my father-in-law. It was my first trip there, and I thought I’d share my thoughts since many of you who read and listen live in the Dallas area.

The store was well organized, and had helpful employees. We knew what we wanted, but needed help locating it, and were quickly helped. We were also given a guide to organic maintenance for my lawn/yard. The guide contained a schedule for when to use certain types of fertilizer, etc. I bought some pre-emergent, in the form of corn gluten meal. And, I bought some fertilizer made from chicken manure. The experience was fun, and educational (since I was given the fertilizing guide).

Anyway, I’m excited about organically maintaining my yard. Enriching the soil, and caring for the plants and my tree (hopefully I’ll get another soon). It makes me feel like I’m doing the job that God gave us in Gen 2:15. Let me qualify this by saying that I don’t think that it’s a sin if you don’t organically maintain your yard. It’s nothing like that. I just feel that I need to do my best at everything God calls me to do. Since I know what I do about organic methods and chemical methods to enrich soil and plant life, I have chosen the method that I feel best fulfills the goal.

I recently read an article which was mentioned by a ‘facebook friend’ (i.e. someone I only know of through the internet, but seems to share the same values). The article claims that Wal-Mart has made great strides in carrying fresh, organic produce (and other products). In fact in the article, the author does a taste test with some food critics in Austin, TX using organics from Wal-Mart and organics from Whole Foods (upon visiting I was surprised that they had mostly the same brands that my Wal-Mart and Albertsons carry, but the same items were more expensive). In the article, the critics unknowingly favored some of the Wal-Mart items.

This story got me thinking about how many people associate Wal-Mart with evil. Some economists do, as do some ethicists. My brother in law has been the anti-Wal-Mart voice that I hear most consistently (which is a good thing because it keeps me thinking about who I do business with).

Now, I shop at Wal-Mart, mostly because they are/were really the only retailer in the county when I moved here. Their produce was awful until they opened a new store on the other end of town that caters to a more sub-urban crowd. Until the new one opened we would go out of our way to shop at Albertson’s because the produce was that much better. But, after the new one was opened we usually shop there. I was actually surprised at how ec0-friendly it seems on the inside… It is lit by daylight during the day, and only uses Fluorescent lights at night. So, it feels nice in the store. I checked out Wal-Mart’s sustainability statement and was pleasantly surprised.

Her is an excerpt:

• To be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy;
• To create zero waste;
• To sell products that sustain people and the environment.

So, the Evil Empire of Wal-Mart seems to have at least tempered that evil. Of course, they still tend to hire part-time employees instead of full-timers to cut down on insurance. I read here, and heard on the radio, that Wal-Mart wanted government health insurance as a way to give themselves a competitive advantage. So, when Wal-Mart starts to go green, and sell more local organic products, it makes me ask, “What’s in it for Wal-Mart?”. My guess is that management identified the growing trend toward organic food and products as a chink in their corporate armor. In other words, they were afraid they might lose business to other people. One thing is for sure, Wal-Mart will do anything to make money.

Will Wal-Mart’s decision to carry organics and locally grown food help make America healthier? Nope. Americans at large will still probably choose that frozen pre-packaged pizza (my guilty pleasure) for $4 instead of buying 6 organic apples for $4.

photo by Miki Bashan

I’ve been diligently working on my paper to describe the theology of Creation presented in Zechariah. Since I have not posted what I’ve been reading in a while, I thought I would make a brief mention of that. In the last 2 weeks I’ve read at least 30 articles for my paper, a couple were in foreign languages (German of course, and Spanish oddly enough). I have re-read the creation section of about 12 Old Testament Theologies of varying perspectives, and about 10 backgrounds of the Early Persian Period. Keeping up with my other seminar, I’ve almost completed the first volume of the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (pretty long) – as well as a handful of articles in the Encyclopedia of Dead Sea Scrolls.

Back to Zechariah…

It seems that the subject is quite a difficult one to get a grasp on. My wife asked me ‘what I had so far’ the other day and it forced me to outline an argument in my head. I think I have to begin with a discussion of what creation theology is, and how it includes the idea of creation as a continuing process (creatio continua). Then, I’ll move to why I want to discuss the theology of the entire book of Zechariah – many scholars divide it into chapters 1-8 from one author/editor and 9-14 from another author/editor (if not more divisions) – so I have to describe why I’m presenting a creation theology from the unified document.

Then, I’ll dive into the real question with a presentation of methodology. I will likely begin with a description of the background understanding of Early Persian Jewish creation ideas in light of Persian Zorastrianism and the larger idea of living under the ‘great king’s empire’. Then, I’ll move to a structural discussion of the book and demonstrate that the book’s ideology is rooted in a particular theology of creation – that is apocalyptic ideals of 9-14 are rooted in the same idea of God as creator as is the first 8 chapters. Then, I’ll move on to exploring the language of creation in detail. This part will be the most lengthy… I’ll have to describe the explicit statements about God as creator, and then delineate what the implicit statements (figures of speech rooted in a creation motif) say about the Creator in Zechariah’s view. This part’s description will involve a lot of hebrew analysis and inter-textual linkage. Then I will need to finish up with a synthesis of the presentation and how it describes God as Creator in certain philosophical categories, which I did somewhat in my master’s thesis.

I probably need a little more info on the Early Persian period, so for you OT scholars and archeology types out there (…Mike…), please help a brother out!!

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Continuing Creation, not sure of what I thought. I was given some excellent feedback, and continued in my research. Then, I ran across this paragraph in Edmond Jacob’s Old Testament Theology…

Creation, being a commencement, has a sequel. No doubt God completes the creation at the beginning, he makes everything, he gives them independence and fixes laws for them which should automatically ensure their maintenance in virtue of a decree proclaimed once for all. But other texts, generally more ancient, draw much less distinction between the creation and the conservation of the world and make it possible for us to speak of a creation continua (Continuing Creation). “Between the creation and what follows it,” says Karl Barth, “there is no metabasis eis allo genos. The former does not end when the history of the covenant begins and continues. What we think of as the providence of God, namely the conservation and governance of men and the world, is just as much creation, creation continua; but the other statement is quite as true: history itself commences with the creation, creation has the character of history, it is an event which occupies time. (From page 139)

While it is true that God creates with a sense of finality (in the beginning). God also re-creates (in Isaiah) when the Israelites come back into the land. Then latter Isaiah, Zechariah, and Haggai to name a few, take up the idea of re-creation in “the day of the Lord”. So, creation plays a large role in understanding the apocalyptic in 2^nd temple Judaism. The Sibylene articles, 1 Enoch, and others attest to this during the inter-testamental period.

As a Christian who cares about God’s creation, the environment, I look forward to learning more about these ideas!!