Mother Nature

[mkwhite]

I believe in a system of checks and balances in nature. Nature fights to maintain a balaced system here on earth, creating new threats to kill off over populated species, shaking up eco systems that have become stagnant with the occasional storm, etc. I have faith that this is true, though I'm not sure of the degree

Comments

[jadeejf]

I wouldn't be shocked if God worked that way. Seems it hits our oil-greedy society where it hurts, and maybe this is what we need to pay attention to global warming (which, oddly, I've not noticed mentioned on the nightly news).

[lagged_variable]

Unfortunately, the same exact thing can be (and has been) said by the Pat Robertsons of the world, where you replace "oil-greedy" with terms like "Sodomite", "indulgent" or "homosexual".

[mkwhite]

I've always thought that was a pretty flawed arguement because AIDS effects everyone, not just sodomites, indulgent people, or homosexuals. What Mr. Robertson and his clan fail to mention is that, while male homosexuals tend to be the most likely to get AIDS, female homosexuals are even less likely to catch it than heterosexuals. And people can contract AIDS without ever having sex or injecting drugs.

I do, believe, though, that AIDS (and many other diseases) evolved as a reaction to human overpopulation of the Earth. And I believe that TV evangelicals may say things that sound similar to things that are true, even when they are actually way off base.

[lagged_variable]

I believe that TV evangelicals may say things that sound similar to things that are true, even when they are actually way off base

Well, obviously... :)

But some have been saying it specifically about this storm specifically. I wasn't thinking about AIDS at all. Though regarding your belief system (and I'm not saying this to be an ass, though it may sound like it), how are you to say that AIDS, say, was not sent to reduce our oil consumption while the hurricane was not sent to purge us of sodomites and whatnot?

That is, do you believe that God is controlling what check goes where, or do you believe that the earth itself actually knows the appropriate response to send to the right location at the right time?

[alacrity]

I'm not sure I could give such high-level inteligence credit to what is effectively a fairly normal, expected, and relatively natural and quite probable (over a long enough time line) event. There's no reason to assign special meaning to it -- hurricanes happen, and they happen there, and they've been getting bigger. The pattern's been there.

Let me be the first to predict that this will happen again, but fewer people will care because the area won't be reinhabitable yet.

Consider the direct effects on oil production a(n) (un)fortunate irony. That's my take, anyway.

[mkwhite]

There are reasons for things, Damien. Just because there is a pattern to something, doesn't mean that pattern doesn't exist for a reason.

I don't know if my assumption is correct, but we can't just assume that things happen for no reason. Or, at least, I can't assume that things happen for no reason.

[alacrity]

You don't mean reasons. You mean Reasons?

Of course there are reasons. I just question attaching a human perspective to it. Nature may be self-corrective, but I have no doubt we could quite easily find ourselves at the unfortunate side of a "correction" and I question whether nature, or Nature, would notice. Ya know?

I'd just like to avoid that whole possibility.

[alacrity]

Ack. LJ used to prevent you from accidently posting anonymously when you weren't logged in...

The above was posted by me. Please reply to THIS comment, or I won't get an email. Oops.