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Then there is the question of diet. The law of Moses includes various regulations regarding the food that was to be eaten. The creatures that were edible were those that were prey species anyway; herbivores rather than carnivores. Further, it would appear that those animals that had intelligence and other features that were close to those of mankind should not be eaten. One could cite here pigs, asses and marine mammals such as whales. While again we are not under the law of Moses regarding these matters, there is something to be learned from them. Some would say that pork is a meat that goes off quickly in hot weather and therefore is best avoided in such conditions. Further, some have said that there is no real benefit from it as the cost of digesting it is as great as the benefit received. Man being too clever by half has in his folly fed meat (offal) to herbivorous cattle with the result that the terrible disease of BSE resulted. Ignoring the teaching of Scripture has its consequences. A gardener once told me that he thought that it was best to eat the fruits of the earth in the season in which they reached maturity as then they were likely to provide the nutriments that we need at that time of the year. There may be something in this. God is wiser than mankind is inclined to think. Further, an evolutionist is unlikely to think of the point. |
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Killing predators on a significant scale could well have knock on effects. Whales, for instance, consume large amounts of plankton and other small organisms. Significantly reducing the number of baleen whales would probably have adverse consequences as it could upset the balance of nature. The environment could suffer damage. |
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Then there is the question of genetically modified organisms. Tampering with nature in this way could have unforeseen consequences. Grafting trees has long been practiced with no real adverse consequences. Paul speaks of such practices in Romans 11:16-36 without any critical comments. However, tampering with genetic material is another matter. Where there has been genetic damage (loss of genetic information), reversing this would not be wrong. One would be helping nature to correct a defect, but so far as one is aware it is not at present possible to do this. What is apparently being done is to take genetic material from elsewhere and add it to the genome of another plant or animal. This is in effect mixing things which God has made separate. Under the law of Moses mixing seed was forbidden: "Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with [seed of] two sorts" (Deuteronomy 22:9). Again we have: "Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with another sort" (Leviticus 19:19). We need to ensure that we do not cause confusion (Leviticus 18:23). |
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All this points to the fact that our problems to day are not essentially new, though they may be said to be on a larger scale. This agrees with what is said in Ecclesiastes 1:9 "There is nothing new under the Sun". |
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November 1999 |
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