Basic HTML Version
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lhiswav
inthe
beuinning
Who made the world the way
it is
-
m an or God? Why
hunger, diseas e, lamine, the
energy crisis? What has hap–
pened to our world? What has
gone wrong?
by
Paul S. Royer
''1
N THE
beginning God created
the heaven and the earth."
He made the dry land, and,
later, the magnificent oaks, the
cedars, and the grass - and it was
all very good we are told.
Other days of creation followed
and, finally, God formed man from
the dust of the earth and breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life.
Then he made a woman. And God
blessed the first couple and said,
"Be fruitful. aod multiply, and re–
plenish the earth, and subdue it"
(Genesis 1:28) . Thus God gave
mankind dominion over every living
thing.
He made for man a garden in
Eden. That garden was paradise lit–
erally.
It
was a perfect creation, and
there was no pollution and no en–
ergy crisis. God saw everything that
he had made, and behold, it was
very good.
24
Strange things have happened
since the beginning. Good has been
replaced by evil, peace by war, give
by take, love by hate and abun–
dance by scarcity. Our present
world is riddled with pollution, pov–
erty, crime, famine, death and now,
the energy crisis. It's not a happy
world.
Can God look on the earth today
and say, "Behold - my creation is
very good"? What went wrong?
Why do we have so many problems
climaxing now in the energy crisis?
lt
Happened in the
Beginning
It all started in the garden, after
God finished making a perfect so–
ciety.
In
the beginoing Adam aod Eve
lived
in
the garden of Eden. They
talked about God's perfect creation
and the way he wanted them to live.
Then one day Eve decided it would
be intriguing to try out a different
way of life, a life-style in which she
would make up her own mind about
what would be good and what
would be evil.
It
wasn't many years afterward
that Adam and Eve found that their
eldest son Caín had killed his
brother Abel. But the world didn' t
come to an end just because one
man was murdered.
Severa! generations later, a man
named Nimrod appeared on the
world scene. He disagreed with God
and God's government. God's way
is harsh and stern, he reasoned. So
Nimrod talked to the people. He
promised those who joined his gov–
ernment greater prosperity, more
luxury, more leisure, greater happi–
ness - and world dominion.
Over 4,000 years have elapsed
since Nimrod's governrnent in the
Middle East. It's now the 20th cen–
tury. In 4,000 years, we have "pro–
gressed" from a one-world society to
a three-world society.
4 ,000 Years
of
" Progress" ?
Our three worlds may be detined
as the Free World, the Communist
World, and the Third World. Unfor–
tunately, all three worlds are filled
with immense trials aod troubles.
One of the more immediate prob–
lems, the energy crisis, serves to il–
lustrate a point. Mao, in all his
wisdom and technology, has
brought the world, not to perfection,
but to near disaster.
Our free world is the one most
affected by the energy crisis. Energy
is its lifeblood. The industrialized
free world is a Disneylaod megalop–
olis of technology created through
the lavish use of energy. Man in his
quest for prosperity through tech–
nology and the extravagant use of
energy has upset the balance of na–
ture all around the world. Man's un–
controlled technology has given rise
to great cities, millions of cars, refi–
neries, factories, and a world of
plastics and chemicals all accumu–
lating waste in the wrong places.
The more we prosper, the more the
earth dies.
God created the earth and gave
mao dominion over it. What God
had in mind was custodianship over
nature's forces, not conversion into
a global ghetto buried under pollu–
tion.
The United States
is
one of the
most technologically advanced na–
tions
in
the free world. I t is the rich–
est and consumes the greatest
amount of energy, 11.1 metric tons
per person, as opposed to a world
average of 1.9 metric tons. Yet sorne
of its people cannot live with each
other. Its people suffer from high
rates of divorce and suicide, from
the highest crime rate in the world
- and from boredom.
The automobile is the most ob–
vious symbol of the American life–
style. In a few short decades, it has
become an object of affection.
Americans can' t live without it. Jt
has become a god.
This god has drastically altered
man's way of life. The auto is re–
sponsible for 80 to 90 percent of all
air pollutants in major cities
tbroughout the free world. In many
industrially advanced countries, the
PLAIN TRUTH Aprll 1974