A Place I Once Called Home
- 30 Articles
From the Heart...
It sometimes beats my imagination that we are created in the image and likeness of God, yet we as individuals are no way like HIM. God created us in His uniqueness and likeness, yet we are carried away by the things which are created by mere men like us. We are left without the main purpose and were created to have Dominion over all created things (Gen 1:26-30). He said I have made you a joint heir with Me, a co-creator. That means God has given us the ability and the ideas to make our dwelling place worth living, beautiful, calm, quiet and healthy. However, we don’t seem to live in line with these purposes.
We have rather taking it upon ourselves to create things that are harmful to us and our environment more than ever before. Man has so much developed himself technologically and scientifically that the place he once called home is now a threat to all and all that is within. It is amazing to know that God has urged us to keep safe that which He has kept in our care so that they will not be misused or destroyed yet we have altered His plans with profane knowledge based upon science (1st Tim 6:20-21).
Since the origin of man, the quest of a better earth and a developed society has it’s mentality and this has given rise to the introduction of science and technology (from the stone age to the ice age and now to the computer and jet age where everything is moving on a fast lane). Food and agricultural products have been manufactured in the laboratory, the earth has been manipulated and engineered to mitigate climate change/global warming.
The earth is now a place where humans are more dependent in the use of fossil fuels as a major source of energy rather than dependent on alternate and natural sources of energy. This in turn is increasing the food processing and mining industries which pollutes the environment more than the food and energy they tend to derive from it. Is this the place we once called home, is this original plan for us? I keep wondering in despair. This is a place where science and technology has caused more harm than good.
In recent times the issues of climate change / global warming is taking the center stage of global environmental issues which has given rise to man-made disasters such as flooding due to sea level rise and the melting of the ice cap, which is also increasing the volumes of oceans and seas around the globe. Regions located along coastal areas have been threatened with extinction if nothing is done about these issues. Some of them have been left desolate like the Sodom and Gomorrah. Life on planet earth is gradually becoming unbearable as the level of damages done to the environment keeps increasing daily, weekly and yearly. No possible solution is on sight.
We are now living in a world where the rich keeps getting richer by exploiting the poor, and the poor keeps getting poorer due to meager salaries. It is “a case of working like an elephant and eating like ants.” It's a case of feeding from hand to mouth without hope of where the next meal will come from.
In the face of these issues, world leaders are not doing anything to alleviate the suffering of the dying masses. Developed countries around the world like the U.S., France and others keep infringing on the rights and lands of developing countries where some individuals live on less than a dollar a day, grabbing their farm lands for plantation and mining purposes. Therefore, the poor masses are left stranded and starving due to lack of food and livelihood. Multinational corporations from developed countries disguise themselves as investors, but in the true sense they are profit-oriented organizations, milking and draining developed countries in Africa dry of their naturally endowed resources and enslaving and depriving inhabitants of these regions of their resources and wealth. Is this the place we once called home?
I remember growing up in a clean, healthy, beautiful environment. No one dumped waste just anywhere or else you would have been dealt with by sanitation task force agents, known then as War Against Indiscipline and Corruption (WAIC). We had environmental sanitation officers and health workers, known to me then as “iko-iko,” parading from house to house inspecting the environment. What we have today is an environment where sewage water is disposed of off into public drains and streams. A state where gutters are now waste bin dumps, a state and nation where every where is now waste dumps.
This is not the place I used to call home because it was not made to be so from the initial plan but we have made it that way. We have no choice now but to live with it, and its impacts on our lives. For us to live in harmony and peace with mother earth, we need a change of heart and attitude. We need to restore the dignity of mother earth and to return to the initial plan and purpose of God for Man by living right and living an environmentally and sustainable life style (Green Living) free of greed and filled with satisfaction and dignity.