Food, water and shelter. That's it. That is all that is necessary to sustain the human race. Food, water and shelter.
Food comes to us by a plants growing or an animals slaughter. Plants continue to grow and there are plenty of animals to be had, so there is no problem there.
Water comes from the sky and from under the ground. There is plenty of it. We use an estimated average of 39,090 gallons (177,859.5 liters) of water to make car. It takes 1.85 gallons (8.4175 liters) of water to manufacture the plastic for one individual water bottle, many of which are used to bring less than a liter of water to a single person then are thrown away. American's consume an estimated 29.8 billion water bottles each year. Yes, 29,800,000,000 water bottles which to manufacture all of those uses 55.13 billion gallons of water, 55,130,000,000 gallons, that's 250,841,500,00 liters of water each year just to make the plastic for these bottles.
If we can use that much water on cars and plastic, that tells me there is more then enough water in the world.
Shelter is something that we find or create. We are capable of living in caves or under tents. Perhaps some peoples need better shelter because of the region they inhabit, but shelter certainly should not be a problem. Everyone can adapt to their region and build shelters that are suitable.
Now with this thinking brought to an extreme it is likely that issues such as disease and natural disaster would take more lives and shorten the average life span. But my point is that we have complicated everything so far and brought so much unnecessary cleanliness and status to our world that there are some who are forced to go without. We live in a world where suffering is ignored as long as it pays for our comfort. We live in a world where we shower every day so that rather then smelling like ourselves we smell like a product we created.
We originated as hunters and gatherers, in a time when the world was simple and God was trusted to provide. Now we have seized the illusion of power and think we no longer rely on any "god" but that we are our own god. We live in such comfort that controls us. The men and women in our culture have become obsessed with themselves and their self image.
God created us so that all we needed to survive was food, water and shelter, and we created the lie that we need whatever the media tells us.
When did life become so complicated?
-Ben
Interesting - but I'm pretty sure I was created for heaven, or at least Eden. Since, the world is fallen, it's not a pleasant place to live without a lot of toil. Of course, I can survive with simple food, water and shelter. But, I will always long for more. And, even the basics are not that simple in our fallen world.
ReplyDeleteBut isn't Heaven the "new earth" or perhaps interpreted as what the earth should be? A place of shalom, a place where everything is in its proper place?
ReplyDeleteAnd then you can also consider the idea of beginning to live eternally now. Bringing Heaven to earth. Bringing God to earth. Look at John the baptist... He lived in the wilderness, ate locusts and honey, and wore clothes made of camel fur... that is all the physical provisions we need in our current situation