Here in Texas we had a pretty bad hailstorm last night. In fact the weather service was indicating a possible tornado right near my house, so we took cover while the hail and wind were incredibly loud. After the noise died down I took this picture. It isn’t snow –its hail accumulation. It got me thinking about this scripture:

Hosea 4:1 Listen to the word of the LORD, O sons of Israel, For the LORD has a case against the inhabitants of the land, Because there is no faithfulness or kindness Or knowledge of God in the land. 2 There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing and adultery. They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed. 3 Therefore the land mourns, And everyone who lives in it languishes Along with the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky, And also the fish of the sea disappear.

It is interesting that the minor prophets as a whole (though this one section is all that is cited here) seem to base ecological crisis upon humanity’s broken relationship to God. Does that mean then that hurricanes, famines, hailstorms, etc. are the result of a group of people’s collective disobedience to God’s laws? I don’t know. To be sure, this argument fits well within the traditional “Mankind is evil, so evil is in the world, therefore natural disasters happen because of evil” type of argument. This is a scathing indictment against humanity if this is really the meaning from the minor prophets.

In this sense, the current ecological crisis would be (at least partially) caused by humanities lack of obedience to God. So, in Joel when God talks about his ability to restore everything to a better state than before the disobedience occurred –if only the people will repent and return to God. In this way, is it possible that obedience to God, in connection with a ceasing of the exploitation of the earth, will present the possibility that God will restore earth to its former pristine state?

These are questions for sure, and not statements. I would like to know how you the reader respond to these questions.