Miracles.
That life even exists on Earth is a miracle; in previous blogs I have written about the fine tuning of nature that makes existence possible. We can extend that further in that each of us represents a chain of miracles that add up to whom we are, and to have been created from the countless ancestors who have each contributed to the DNA sequence that makes us a unique individual being. The chances of an individual living long enough to become a parent is reasonably good in many societies today, but that has not always been the case. Throughout history the chances of not being killed by hunger, a predator or disease as a child has been greater than the chance of surviving. Added to this; as recently as Greek and Roman times unwanted children were simply killed or discarded to the “gods”. In some societies today it is not regarded as a crime to do away with children or those of whom we do not approve. Even in some so called civilised countries “honour killings” are still an accepted way of life.
One of the greatest dangers to the existence of human life on Earth has always been our fellow man. The wars of the twentieth century claimed more lives than probably all the wars that had gone before and in the last two thousand years for every year of peace we have experienced nine years of war. The miracle of life itself is only overshadowed by the miracle that we have not destroyed ourselves and the planet already, but there is still time. An estimated 80,000,000 human beings were murdered in the course of the 20th century (not including war casualties), and they were all murdered by atheists such as Amin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, and Stalin. We can each of us as survivors thank the miracle of birth that ensured that we either were not born under one of these murderous regimes or if we were that we somehow survived.
Our Judeo-Christian society was, until recently, religious to its core this has given our civilisation its basic values; respect for human life, peace, justice, equality before the law, education, and social responsibility. Today outspoken atheists insist that religion is the source of all evil but it is men who perpetrated the evil; usually in direct opposition to the principles they were professing to promote. The most heinous evils however were perpetrated by men who disavowed any religious affiliation. As our society becomes ever more secular the risk of annihilation grows daily, the greatest miracle of all - life itself – hangs by a thread.
The miracles that brought humanity to this point are about to be tested in the next few years and the greatest miracle of all will be that any might survive. We are regularly presented with views of starving children and requests for assistance and aid, this is not new these requests have been seeking our charity for decades. We are today being asked to support the children of those we helped twenty or thirty years ago. Why? Are these people so inept they cannot feed themselves? Why do they live in drought ravaged countries, why can’t they store food supplies in years when there is no drought?
The sorry truth is we can produce the food needed for these people and they can produce food themselves, but politics and war prevent it or drive them from their homes. All the world’s famines and poverty are man made. Hunger, war and the risk of a new pandemic grow daily as the World’s population grows. The US census bureau records the rate of births and deaths in the world to calculate current populations and estimates that on May 10th 2008 the world population will reach six and two third billions (6,666,666,666). Most of these people will be living in poverty or under threat from inept or repressive government or local hostilities the dangers of war, famine and pestilence grow daily and in recent months food prices have been soaring as farming costs rise in response to oil prices and bio-fuels become more attractive crops than food further pressuring these people. Food riots have already occurred in countries such as Haiti, Indonesia and the Philippines. We can expect this type of reaction to become more common as prices rise and supplies become scarcer, our wealthy western societies will have to be content with less and provide more aid to poverty stricken nations or face a world wide battle for the limited resources that remain.
Food riots will degenerate into civil wars and governments can be expected to fall we must be prepared to bargain with food for peace or face the risk of rogue nations being prepared to sacrifice populations in an effort to supply them with food. Sometimes war might seem to be a logical answer, allow a nation to starve or conquer a neighbour.
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Don’t forget to visit my website, if you have a comment go to the forum, or to find out more buy my latest book.
One of the greatest dangers to the existence of human life on Earth has always been our fellow man. The wars of the twentieth century claimed more lives than probably all the wars that had gone before and in the last two thousand years for every year of peace we have experienced nine years of war. The miracle of life itself is only overshadowed by the miracle that we have not destroyed ourselves and the planet already, but there is still time. An estimated 80,000,000 human beings were murdered in the course of the 20th century (not including war casualties), and they were all murdered by atheists such as Amin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, and Stalin. We can each of us as survivors thank the miracle of birth that ensured that we either were not born under one of these murderous regimes or if we were that we somehow survived.
Our Judeo-Christian society was, until recently, religious to its core this has given our civilisation its basic values; respect for human life, peace, justice, equality before the law, education, and social responsibility. Today outspoken atheists insist that religion is the source of all evil but it is men who perpetrated the evil; usually in direct opposition to the principles they were professing to promote. The most heinous evils however were perpetrated by men who disavowed any religious affiliation. As our society becomes ever more secular the risk of annihilation grows daily, the greatest miracle of all - life itself – hangs by a thread.
The miracles that brought humanity to this point are about to be tested in the next few years and the greatest miracle of all will be that any might survive. We are regularly presented with views of starving children and requests for assistance and aid, this is not new these requests have been seeking our charity for decades. We are today being asked to support the children of those we helped twenty or thirty years ago. Why? Are these people so inept they cannot feed themselves? Why do they live in drought ravaged countries, why can’t they store food supplies in years when there is no drought?
The sorry truth is we can produce the food needed for these people and they can produce food themselves, but politics and war prevent it or drive them from their homes. All the world’s famines and poverty are man made. Hunger, war and the risk of a new pandemic grow daily as the World’s population grows. The US census bureau records the rate of births and deaths in the world to calculate current populations and estimates that on May 10th 2008 the world population will reach six and two third billions (6,666,666,666). Most of these people will be living in poverty or under threat from inept or repressive government or local hostilities the dangers of war, famine and pestilence grow daily and in recent months food prices have been soaring as farming costs rise in response to oil prices and bio-fuels become more attractive crops than food further pressuring these people. Food riots have already occurred in countries such as Haiti, Indonesia and the Philippines. We can expect this type of reaction to become more common as prices rise and supplies become scarcer, our wealthy western societies will have to be content with less and provide more aid to poverty stricken nations or face a world wide battle for the limited resources that remain.
Food riots will degenerate into civil wars and governments can be expected to fall we must be prepared to bargain with food for peace or face the risk of rogue nations being prepared to sacrifice populations in an effort to supply them with food. Sometimes war might seem to be a logical answer, allow a nation to starve or conquer a neighbour.
____________________________________________________
Don’t forget to visit my website, if you have a comment go to the forum, or to find out more buy my latest book.
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