In their "Nature Is Speaking" video series, Conservation International enlists the voice talent of actress Julia Roberts speaking as "Nature." The nearly two-minute video goes like this: "Some call me nature. Others call me "Mother Nature." I've been here for over 4.5 billion years. 22,500 times longer than you. I don't really need people. But people need me. Yes, your future depends on me. When I thrive, you thrive. When I falter, you falter. Or worse. But, I've been here for eons. I have fed species greater than you. And I have starved species greater than you. My oceans. My soil. My flowing streams. My forests. They all can take you. Or leave you. How you choose to live each day, whether you regard or disregard me, doesn't really matter to me. One way. Or the other. Your actions will determine your fate. Not mine. I am nature. I will go on. I am prepared to evolve. Are you?" The video ends with, "Nature doesn't need people. People need nature" flashing on the screen. This video is well-produced and the scenery captured is breathtaking. The professional presentation gives one the feeling that they are watching the trailer for an upcoming blockbuster movie. No doubt there have been and will be people who are persuaded by this video, especially since the voice over is done by one of Hollywood's leading actresses. In fact, Conservation International has at least ten more videos in this series that are narrated by popular individuals including Robert Redford, Reese Witherspoon, Harrison Ford, and Lupita Nyong'o. The other videos in the series have these individuals portraying themselves as Sky, Ice, Mountain, Home, The Ocean, Flower, Coral Reef, The Redwood, The Soil and Water. While it is an obvious attempt to put nature on a pedestal and to put mankind in subjection to nature, honestly, it is a blatant attempt to remove God from the equation and elevate nature to the level of a god. Nature, to some degree, has always been deified by people or entire cultures and mankind has been treated as if we are some sort of scourge that needs to "watch our step" so as not to upset "Mother Nature" and face "her" wrath. It has gotten to the point where if a person doesn't put nature first in their lives by going along with commonly held beliefs about things like environmentalism, recycling, animal rights, global warming/climate change, deforestation and so on, you run the risk of being treated like some sort of heretic. But, regardless of how you feel about these topics, the video itself says some things that, from a biblical standpoint, are just plain wrong.
Has nature been around for 4.5 billion years? According to organizations like Answers in Genesis, "Using the Bible’s chronologies and historical data, the age of the earth is calculated to be around 6,000 years; 2,000 years from Adam to Abraham, 2,000 years from Abraham to Christ, and 2,000 years from Christ to today. Numerous lines of evidence confirm this date for the age of the universe." Has nature been around 22.500 times longer than mankind? While nature, i.e. the earth, has been around longer than mankind, it has only been around five days longer than people. God created the heavens and the earth on the first day of creation. He created mankind on the sixth day of creation. It's the equivalent of the earth being created on Sunday and people being created the following Friday. When the video states that we need nature more than it needs us, my first question is to ask, "Then why do we need to worry about taking care of nature with all this environmental activism?" But, I digress. Do we need nature more than it needs us? Yes, and no. Yes, because we need the resources nature provides in order to produce the materials we use daily to live. But, no, in the sense that God gave Adam and Eve the Garden of Eden to "tend and watch over it (Genesis 2:15)." Nature needs us to. Even more important is the fact that when God created Adam and Eve, He told them, "Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground (Genesis 1:28).” God gave nature to man, not the other way around. Does our future depend on nature? No. God says, "Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure (Isaiah 46:9-10).’" It is true when nature thrives we can enjoy an abundance and when nature falters, disaster can destroy lives in a heartbeat. However, this isn't because nature is some sort of sentient being giving out blessings and cursings. It is because of sin; "For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time (Romans 8:22)." An eon, in scientific terms, is considered to be about one billion years. We have already established that from a biblical standpoint, nature has been around about 750,000 times less than the 4.5 billion years the evolutionist believes. Has "Mother Nature" fed and starved species greater than man? First of all, there is no species greater than man. Not only did God give the earth and the creatures to man to have dominion over, as we established, but it was Jesus who said, "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they (Matthew 6:26)?" God knows we need food to eat, but we also have sinful people living in the world. As one person puts it, "God is not responsible for the foolishness of man. Neither is He responsible for greed, selfishness, hatred, pride, laziness, hoarding, cruelty, spite, callousness, or any other sin that contributes to world hunger." We have already established that God created nature; the oceans, streams, soil, and forests. Nature will not "go on" like the video states because the Bible says, "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare (2 Peter 3:10)." Ultimately, the only action that will determine your fate is not what you do with "Mother Nature," but what you do with Jesus Christ; God in the flesh. There is only one way to the Father, that is Jesus Christ! Jesus asked His disciples, "Who do you say I am (Matthew 16:15)?" Well?
"Nature is but a name for an effect, whose cause is God." William Cowper, Christian Poet
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