Plantinga Chapter 2

This chapter is a good section of the book to read because it awakens a person to the greatness of the beauty of this Earth. God created every tiny detail, and I think we tend to forget that, and that is why for some it is so easy to forget that we are called to be stewards of this Earth.  Something that was said in class yesterday really struck me, the fact that the planet can survive without us, but we cannot survive without the planet. This made me really think. We take so many things away from this Earth, we in fact are destroying it in many ways. Species have become endangered or ceased to exist because of some of the things that we have done. It is just really frustrating that some people take the approach well it was given to us to use so let's use it because when it gets too bad God will come and redeem us anyway. The fact that people actually believe this seems so strange doesn't it? Yes, God gave us the Earth to use for the things we NEED, NOT for foolish indulgence. I think that if I was God and I saw his own images destroying the perfect things he had created, I would not be in any hurry to save them from the havoc they created for themselves. I just feel that we overlook how complex even the most simple things are. Like pollination for example, God created specific creatures ( that we often see as a pest) to go from plant to plant and keep them alive. My favorite I think was actually in this chapter, but isn't it a miracle that when we breath out it is the exact thing a tree needs to stay alive, and then that tree produces oxygen that will keep us alive. We see that as something so simple when it really is the marvelous creation of God. We were put on this Earth to empower not overpower, and  I think we tend to lose sight of that.
     Another quote from the book that was important to me was "...that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists." How powerful, just to think our parents loved us once they knew that we had been conceived, but God loved us before we were even a thought in our mother's mind. We were loved long before it was even our time to become part of this world, and after the world has long forgotten us God will still love us and we will be singing his eternal praises.
    Another wonderful thing that God calls us to do is be silent. To meditate on his wondrous creation. When this got brought up in class I immediately thought of this small hayfield by my house. I had gone out to it just after the hay had been cut (because it smells wonderful!) and seeds from the cottonwood trees were being blown in the wind and there was not a cloud in the sky. It is the most beautiful thing to see, and so very wonderful. Also, when we meditate on the beauty of this Earth., I seem to get this overwhelming feeling of awe. That I am privileged enough to be a part of these wonderful things, that God thought to create me! I am his own image, and I am called to be like him. I like what was also said in class yesterday, if we would treat our neighbor as precious as our own child, how different our world would be. We need to know that the awe we feel in being God's creation is the same in everyone else. Everyone is the image of God, and they should be an eternal splendor in our lives. We need to treat everyone as a precious life because they are. They too were loved before they even existed, and maybe God put them on this Earth to change our lives. So we need to treat them as Holy because of course, they are. :)