REVENGE and VENGEANCE.
Both words are in use, and they signal somewhat the same intent: James Lovelock uses REVENGE in the title of: “The Revenge of Gaia”, indicating that Gaia, Earth, fights back. God mentions Vengeance, telling us not to retaliate when offended, but leave punishment to him who knows the heart and understands the people’s purpose when he said: “Vengeance is mine” (Hebrew 10: 30).
Revenge sounds so very human. Vengeance? I offer a new thought.
Lovelock – a famous scientist – sees the earth – Gaia – as alive and conscious, is keenly convinced that she is battling the wrongs humanity is committing against her by taking her own counter measures, such as Climate Change, rising seas, melting tundra. In other words: The earth has a built-in defense mechanism which automatically trickers Revenge.
The Bible tells me that we must refrain from either revenge or vengeance. Jesus gave the 70×7 rule: always forgive: no retaliation, no vendettas. Yet it happens, because Lovelock is right: both our bodies and the earth have built-in counter measures: when we sin against ourselves and against creation, the Lord’s vengeance is already at work. We well know that when we neglect our bodies – smoking is a common example and so is lack of exercise or eating the wrong foods – God’s vengeance kicks in. Also, in our environmental sins God has given us a free hand. That’s how I explain Deuteronomy 31: 17, where God has pledged: “I shall hide my face to see what their end will be”. To me that means that God is allowing us to muddle through without his guidance, and so learn from our mistakes. After all, our present life is a proving ground for eternity on earth, where no wrong action will ever take place.
Back to Lovelock.
Yes, Lovelock, this learned man – now 101 years old – asserts that our world is a living organism with its own consciousness and defense mechanisms. His GAIA designation means our EARTH, referring to the Greek goddess thought to be in charge of the world. In his 160 pages book he relates how we have waged war on the environment and the earth is fighting back. Lovelock writes, “Unless we see the earth as a planet that behaves as if it were alive, at least to the extent of regulating its climate and chemistry, we will lack the will to change our way of life and to understand that we have made it our greatest enemy.”
That is very ‘Christian’ talk.
Interestingly, he outlines for the inhabitants of the coming new earth (Lovelock himself is an atheist) their task, when he writes: “The universe is a much more intricate place than we can imagine. I often think our conscious minds will never encompass more than a tiny fraction of it all and that our comprehension of the earth is no better than an eel’s comprehension of the ocean in which it swims.”
Here we see an outline for our task in the New Earth: eternity will not be long enough to unveil all of Creation’s secrets!
James Lovelock subtitled his THE REVENGE OF GAIA, as Earth’s Climate in Crisis and the Fate of Humanity. He correctly states that we are trapped in a vicious circle of positive feedbacks: melting ice in the ARCTIC and melting tundra on land, releases methane that speeds up global heat. The real problem is that we are dangerously ignorant of our own ignorance. As an example, Dr. Lovelock quotes Mother Theresa who, in 1988 said, “Why should we care about the Earth when our duty is to the poor and sick among us. God will take care of the earth.” We now realize that not taking care of the earth harms the poor the most.
Enough.
Dr. Lovelock concludes, “The evidence around the world brings news of an eminent shift in our climate towards one that could easily be described as Hell: so hot, so deadly that only a handful of the teeming billions will survive.”
ARCTIC NEWS last month reported that “No one wishes to believe in the projections made in the recent book ‘The Uninhabitable Earth’, except that these projections, made by David Wallace-Wells, are disturbingly consistent with the current shift in state of the climate toward +4 degrees and even +6 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels”. That literally means Hell on Earth.
The riot at the Capitol in the center of Washington on January 6 was seen as the ultimate crime against US democracy. That we constantly desecrate God and creation, is seen as normal.
So, what about the WRATH OF GOD, HIS VENGEANCE?
Once reading Isaiah 62 I came across a curious passage: “And your land will be married”. The footnote there suggests that the relationship between the land and us, humanity, will be restored. It indicates that the Bible sees ‘the land’ as a living entity: “the land to be married”, indicates an unbreakable unity with humanity. The bride is not the church: the bride is ‘the land’, creation, the Apple of God’s Eye. Actually, the Psalms repeatedly refer to all earthly elements having a living relationship with her maker, occurrences too numerous to mention. The problem is that a vast majority of church-goers still see heaven as their destination, and so totally fail to see their task on earth.
A real life example.
A few years ago, the Synod – the General Assembly – of the Christian Reformed Church (where I have my roots, and was an elder) had its annual meeting at the Campus of Redeemer University, and I attended many of the weeklong gatherings. At one time I joined a small discussion group, including the then general secretary of the denomination, 2 deputies from Colorado, and 2 US youth delegates. Here I was able to question the highest authority of that church. I pointed out that its confessions include the Belgic one, which undeniably points out that we know God first, by looking at creation and second, by the Scriptures. I asked, “If creation is so important for the church, why is the church exclusively concerned with the Bible, calling it Holy: isn’t Creation Holy as well?” My remarks were met with stony silence.
One of their own, Prof. Dr. Lewis Smedes, wrote in his autobiography: “God minus the universe equals nothing. If there were no universe, there would be no God.” That echoes Bonhoeffer’s words, “God is nothing without the world and the world is nothing without God”.
Gnosticism
This conversation, and other observations, have led me to conclude that the church, in its exclusive reliance on the Scriptures, has surrendered to Gnosticism. Gnosticism? In the introduction to the three letters of John it is described as “One of the most dangerous heresies”. Its central teaching is that Spirit – preaching, prayer, heaven – is entirely good, and matter – creation, trees, soil – is entirely evil.
This sort of dualism, is entirely based on pagan Greek philosophy. Dr. Harold Bloom, noted Hebrew translator, in THE AMERICAN RELIGION, with as subtitle, The Emergence of the Post-Christian Nation, bluntly stated that the American Religion has ceased to be Christian, citing Gnosticism as its true confession. A great number of those violently invading the Capitol were shouting that Trump was an agent of God and his son, Jesus Christ. Just as the shouting mass killed the crucified Jesus, now the contemporary church is killing God’s Creation. Yes, Deuteronomy 31: 17 prophesied it already in the beginning: when God ceded power over creation earth’s ultimate doom was guaranteed. We tend to forget 1 John 5: 19, “the whole world is under the control of the evil one”, all too evident today.
Vengeance? I offer a new thought.
Revelation, the last Bible book, reveals that God’s Son has prepared a new earth where everything is perfect, where God’s children will live forever. Could this be a new, parallel earth? Could the current earth remain where those who have willfully harmed it will live, totally deprived of God and his grace, the HELL Lovelock mentioned?
I know this idea clashes perhaps with 2 Peter 3: 10-13, but then, what form will God’s Vengeance take?