In 1907 when this writer’s grandparents helped build this little white church, they sang Amazing Grace and believed that one is saved by faith alone. One’s life deeds held no part in these Lutherans’ salvation. This grandson was born (1944) into a generation endlessly accumulating careless deeds. It has seen the discovery and manufacture of the plutonium (1945), the filling of ocean gyres the size of France with poison-absorbing, floating, microscopic plastic balls (1st noticed in 1962), climate change (we 3 old guys building the History Farm each worked in Barrow, Alaska in the 60’s when 2 out of 3 years the Arctic Ocean icepack did not allow ship delivery), the loss of insects and birds (we have not cleaned splattered windshields in years), transistors (1947) that led to today’s IT socially connected World, CRISPR (1987) technology sold in UK hobby shops, killer viruses like Covid (2020) and fungi like Candida auris (2009), 6Gs proliferation, when 3G has been found to heat insect chitin exoskeletons, Nazi and other holocausts, and the drenching of our private, Federal, and Provincial/State (DNR) lands with chemical defoliants every 50 years. Genesis 2:15 (in 2:20, a person’s name is mentioned) sets the stage with the expectation humans “will use and care for the Earth.”  We can’t blame our ancestors or their ancestors’ ancestors who could not envision human deeds destroying the Earth.  It is our generation that was careless, and each succeeding generation now knowingly careless.  Can the knowing really have a party, torch their planet, and expect to live for eternity?  (Baby shoe found under staircase while saving the Danish Hauberg from destruction; once a sign of good fortune for many cultures all of whom looked out for the well-being of the future generation.)

https://billygraham.org/story/billy-grahams-my-answer-global-warming-and-the-environment/
https://www.eauk.org/church/resources/theological-articles/why-should-christians-care-for-the-planet.cfm
https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/do-religion-and-fighting-climate-change-collide-pew-survey-reveals-its-not-all-about-politics-11668732189?siteid=yhoof2
https://faithlead.org/blog/decline/
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%202&version=NIV
https://www.plc215.org/the-green-creed/

Most of the World’s careless deeds that now affect us (and future) generations were created after what year?

before 1939
during WW II
after 1945

Comments, content, questions appreciated; email bb@plc215.org

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