Positively Vehement

Check out this website I came across while Facebook stalking:  

At first I thought it was a joke.  

(It really seems like a joke, doesn't it?)

So I visited the website.
The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement

Sadly, it is no joke.  What miserable lives these folks must have that they can't see the beauty of human life. Survival of the species is a most basic instinct, yet there are those who actually campaign for the end of our existence?  

 I really don't understand the unofficial motto.  What justifies your living long if you believe you are contributing to the planet's demise in the process?  And if YOUR life is valuable enough to warrant longevity, then who are you to work to deny that from another? 

Of course, it would be great if the earth were back in the condition of its original glory.  But then again, what would be the point?  Plants, and animals don't have the capacity to appreciate the wonder of the planet.  They would continue to eat and sleep and wander around just the same.  Of course, there would be more of them because THEY would keep reproducing.  The very fact that we humans can think beyond our instinct is reason enough for me to believe that human life is unique to nature and worthy of being preserved.

While I don't suggest we mindlessly continue to consume the resources of the earth with no regard for our impact on the world around us, I would also advise against the voluntary extinction of our species.   I'm pretty darn sure there are better ways to nurture our planet back to better health than erasing human life from the picture.  Like teaching our children (may they be abundant in number!) to be responsible inhabitants of the earth and by working to develop less destructive technologies for the things that make life for humans safer, healthier, and more convenient.

With all the bad that goes along with humanity, I still do and always will believe that human life is the greatest miracle the universe has ever known.  

Christian Perspective

Listening to the radio today I was propelled into deep thought when the show's host posed this question to his audience: "Does God cause bad things to happen? If we can praise and thank when we receive blessings, shouldn't we question and curse God when bad things happen?" Of course he was responding to the horror of the earthquake and aftermath in Haiti a few days ago. Tragic events often incite similar questions within my own head. I think for anyone who believes in a loving and merciful God it is natural to agonize over how this faith fits into the reality of a dark and sometimes terrifying world. We must at some point find a way to resolve our image of Him with the terrible things we experience or witness in this world; how else can we keep our faith strong? In contemplating this today, I think I've come a little closer to finding a way to be at peace with this myself. I believe God, who is love, created the world, and His creation was perfect. A loving God did not create a world with disasters that eradicate humans. This was not in His plan. Everything in His creation was ordered and worked together in harmony. That is, until He created us in His image, giving us dominion over the rest of His creation and the free will to choose to live in union with Him, as He intended. Because of His great love for us He gave us this free will, or else we would be nothing but robotic slaves programmed to love and walk with Him (that is not love.) Unfortunately, we, ("Adam and Eve"), chose to break union with God and separate ourselves from Him by disregarding his commandments. In sinning, we invited death and disorder into the world not only in a spiritual sense but also in a physical sense. When we created this chasm between ourselves and God, we disrupted the natural order that God intended His creation to follow. Now creation follows a different order in which the ground is unstable and terrible disasters claim and threaten human life on a daily basis. It is the order we created and chose to follow. God allows this order to persist not because He wills terrible things to befall us but because we chose this order and in His infinite love, He abides by it. I believe He weeps at the pain we suffer here on Earth and in His mercy has given us the capacity over time to invent ways to help ease people's pain. Things like medicine, clean drinking water, advanced transportation systems, communication technology, etc. All the good things that are happening now in the wake of this disaster, these come from God. It is possible to praise God for good things that happen and not curse Him for bad things, because all good things DO come from Him. And bad things are a result of an agitated natural order that will be transformed anew on the "Day of the Lord." In summary, I think of it like I've read time-travel scenarios play out. If a person travels back in time and alters the course of history, the world continues in a different reality from that point on. When we sinned, we altered the course of our own history.