There are so many agricultural parables in the Bible and for good reason--the people of the Ancient Near East were primarily an agrarian people. Their lives depended on rain, sowing, harvests, etc.When Jesus taught about the Kingdom, he did in a way that spoke the language of the people in a way they could relate to. Most importantly, they recognized their dependence on the Creator and his work in due season. As the Lord spoke to Job:
"Where were you when I founded the earth? Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning and shows the dawn its place? Has the rain a father or who has begotten the drops of dew? (38:4, 12, 28)
With the advent of synthetic fertilizers, modern agriculture has attempted to grow more food faster, resistant to harmful insects and pests, and many times to achieve a specific outcome (firmer skins more suitable for shipping; more tolerant to drought, etc). It is hard to avoid, however, the unintended consequences of this. An example would be that harmful insects have become resistant to pesticides to the extent that stronger and more toxic ones are needed to achieve the same outcome. Because they are so strong, they tend to kill off beneficial insects as well as harmful ones. Enter the age of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), in which scientists are literally changing the DNA of plants and embedding this kinds of herbicides and insecticides in the literal DNA of plant material.
The other day I was thinking about growing food and the need for fertilization. Growing food is a real test in patience. Seedings grow from seed, and mature plants from seedlings, and they do so in their own time. They need nutrients and minerals in the soil to grow, and for their fruit to have an ample supply of nutrients, not to mention taste. Nature typically supplies what plants need from organic matter (fallen leaves, grasses, nitrogen-fixing groundcovers, earthworms, sometimes animal manures). This also supplies nutrients beyond the typical macro groups such as NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium) and provides trace elements and minerals not found in synthetic fertilizers, which are far from hollistic for plant health. I am not going to draw a parallel of scientists "playing God" when it comes to these kinds of practices. But I think we have overstepped our bounds when it comes to agricultural practices that work with nature, rather than against it, as it relates to modern farming.
Something else I was thinking about as it relates to our own fertility as human beings. Pornography is touted as a kind of sexual fertilizer used to jump start one's libido. It excites quickly, acting on the pleasure senses in the brain in a way similar to that of drugs. The unintended consequence being of course, that, like modern synthetic fertilizers, you eventually need more and more of it to achieve the same ends til eventually it takes a toxic kind of form. It also attempts to make one 'self-fertile'--that is, sexual gratification becomes inward, not outward or expressive, less about love and more about personal satisfaction, trapped in itself and synthetic. Studies have proven that those exposed and engaged in long-term porn use have more problems relating, more problems with intimacy. Sex becomes something with macronutrients, but deficient in those trace elements and minerals for a healthy sex life (communication, tenderness, sensitivity to another's needs). Hormonal contraceptives likewise work to 'trick' the body by suppressing ovulation to render the womb inhospitable to implantation, the desired outcome being, of course, the ability to have sex without fear of pregnancy. For some, especially those overburdened by an already large number of children or those not desiring children at all, this is a welcome respite. But it does seem to disrupt a natural rhythm by chemical means (often carcinogenic).
It's said that modern agriculture has given us an abundance of food on less acreage, resistant to disease and harmful insects. But our soil is depleted of nutrients and minerals, produce from the supermarket lacks taste and nutrition, and pesticides are ingested into our bodies because often times they cannot be washed off since they are embedded in the fruits and vegetables themselves. Chemical companies have a stake in making sure farmers continue to use their products to achieve the same yields, and farmers have to use them to ensure against crop failure. Consumers have some choice, but are often uninformed of alternatives. The whole cycle has become more and more removed from what is natural, and by natural I don't mean that 'all-natural' marketing nonsense on your box of whole-grain Cheerios, but out of step with the natural order of Creation.
Porn is big industry. The Pill is big money. Abortion is big business. There's money on the line from those running those shows. But our health, our sexuality, our relationships, our spiritual nature, and our very souls are on the line as well when we step out of the designs of He who created us out of love and for love, out of disorder and into order, out of nothing and into beings made in His very image and likeness.
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