: Francis A. Schaeffer
: Pollution and the Death of Man
: Crossway
: 9781433576980
: 1
: CHF 12,50
:
: Christentum
: English
: 144
: kein Kopierschutz
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB
Francis A. Schaeffer's Timeless Assessment of a Modern Ecological Crisis  From the time of creation, God placed the earth in our care. Since then, humans have had a strained relationship with the ecosystem. We have often misused resources and polluted the water, air, and land. But if God's plan for redemption includes the earth, we must be good stewards of his creation now. With environmental threats increasing, how should Christians respond? This classic work by Francis A. Schaeffer looks at modern ecological crises through the lens of theology and Scripture. Renowned for his work in applied philosophy and theology, Schaeffer answers serious philosophical questions about creation and ecology. He concludes that we must return to a profoundly and radically biblical understanding of God's relationship to the earth, and of our divine mandate to exercise godly dominion over it. - A Christian Classic: Written by renowned philosopher Francis A. Schaeffer - Cultural Analysis from a Biblical Perspective: Looks at modern ecological threats through the lens of theology and Scripture - Educational: Includes appendices on 'The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis' by the late American historian Lynn White Jr. and 'Why Worry About Nature?' by the late sociologist Richard L. Means 

 Francis A. Schaeffer (1912-1984) authored more than twenty books, which have been translated into several languages and have sold millions globally. He and his wife, Edith, founded the L'Abri Fellowship international study and discipleship centers. Recognized internationally for his work in Christianity and culture, Schaeffer passed away in 1984 but his influence and legacy continue worldwide. 

Chapter One

“What Have They Done to Our Fair Sister?”

Some time ago when I was in Bermuda for a lecture, I was invited to visit the work of a young man well-known in the area of ecology. His name was David B. Wingate. He was especially known for his efforts to save the cahow bird from extinction. The cahow is a little larger than a pigeon and breeds only on a very few islands near Bermuda, just off the main island. Wingate struggled for many years to increase the number of these birds.

As we went around visiting the nests, we were talking together about the whole problem of ecology. He told me that he was losing ground in his battle, because the chicks were not hatching in the same proportion as before. If they had continued at the previous rate, he would have been well on his way to success. Instead, he found that fewer and fewer were hatching. What was the reason? To find out, he took an embryo chick from the egg and dissected it. Its tissues were found to be filled with DDT. Wingate was convinced that this accounted for the drop in the hatching rate.

The startling thing about this is that the cahow is a sea-feeding bird; it does not feed anywhere near land—only in the middle of the ocean. So it is obvious that it was not getting its DDT close to shore, but far out in the Atlantic. In other words, the use of DDT on land was polluting the whole area. It was coming down through the rivers, out into the ocean, and causing the death of sea-feeding birds.1

When Thor Heyerdahl made his famous voyage in theKon Tiki, he was able to use the ocean water quite freely; but he later said when he tried to cross the Atlantic in a papyrus boat, the ocean water was unusable because of the large amount of rubbish.

A man in California very vividly pointed out this serious problem. He erected a tombstone at the ocean-side, and on it he has carved this epitaph:

The ocean born—[he gives hypothetical date]

The oceans died—A.D. 1979

The Lord gave; man hath taken away

Cursed be the name of man.

The simple fact is that if man is not able to solve his ecological problems, then man’s resources are going to die. It is quite conceivable that man will be unable to fish the oceans as in the past, and that if the balance of the oceans is changed too much, man will even find himself without enough oxygen to breathe.

So the whole problem of ecology is dumped in this generation’s lap.Ecology means “the study of the balance of living things in