We are stealing from the generations to come. The thief comes to steal and destroy.
We are the thieves from the generations to come.
The rich are getting richer. While the poor are becoming ever more poor.
In 2010 the 10 richest people in the world increased their money by 54%. There are over 2000 billionaires around the world.
The richest man in the world Jeff Bezos the head of Amazon increased in fortune during Covid from $113 Billion to $178 Billion. They are stealing from the Earth. They are stealing from the workers. Wealth is coming from the abuse of the planet.
There words of the prophet Jeremiah call out to us 2:7 “I brought you into a fertile land. To eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable. ”
In my lifetime alone we have wiped out almost two thirds of the populations of wild animals. The web of life is unravelling.
When we talk of eco devastation we must talk of the cry of the rural poor. “The rural poor depend on the natural resource base. This is where there pharmacy is. This is where their supermarket is. This is in fact their fuel station. Their power company. Their water company”. Says Kenyan botanist Dr Stella Sinyor.
Imagine if you had your whole water supply, food supply, wiped out to feed a mighty corporation.
In order to restore the web of life we need to re-examine our relationship with creation. Consumerism and colonialism are underpinned by the theology of dominion. That we are the rulers of creation and that God has given us the right to have dominion over the Earth. And, to sub-due it. To meet our need. And, even our greed as humans.
This morning we heard in Genesis 1:28 that we are to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. To rule over the fish of the sea and ever living creation”. What does that mean?
Are we really called to subdue and destroy the Earth?
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