And God said, let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. . . And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind; and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” Genesis, chapter 1. One of my favorite movies is called “Big Miracle” about 3 gray whales caught in the ice when the sea froze sooner than normal. The mother, father, and baby whale were spotted by a reporter when they surfaced repeatedly in an opening in the ice near the city of Barrow, Alaska, five miles from open water (too far for them to swim without coming up for air). When a report about the whales was shown on an evening news program, the story spread quickly and agencies from around the world sent reporters to Alaska to keep their viewers up to date on the progress of a rescue effort that was begun by the Green Peace organization--and then joined by the Alaska National Guard, an oil drilling company, the President of the US and then even the crew of a Russian ice breaker. At one point in the movie, Rachael from Green Peace explains why people care so much about the whales. “Because even though, theyre strong and big and powerful, theyre vulnerable too. And it just makes you wish that you were Superman and you could just scoop them up and bring them somewhere safe. And whats heartbreaking is they know whats going on; they know theyre in trouble and theyre scared. And we ache for them because theyre so much like us. We get scared; were vulnerable and we need help sometimes too.” In the 4th chapter of the Book of Revelations, starting at the 6th verse, John the Beloved recorded, “And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man,and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” Joseph Smith received a revelation about a few of the harder to understand parts of the Book of Revelation. He learned that beasts have spirits and shall dwell in eternal joy on an immortal earth. In answer to the question, “Are the four beasts limited to individual beasts, or do they represent classes or orders?” He received this answer, “They are limited to four individual beasts, which were shown to John, to represent the glory of the classes of beings in their destined order or sphere of creation, in the enjoyment of their eternal felicity.” Another question, “What are we to understand by the eyes and wings, which the beasts had?” and the answer, “Their eyes are a representation of light and knowledge, that is, they are full of knowledge; and their wings are a representation of power to move, to act, etc.” We need to do a better job of caring for the creatures God created to fill the seas, and the air, and to creep upon the land. We need to do this for the creatures and we need to do it for God. I watched a young man give his TED talk on someones post here (tried to re-post it but was not successful). He spoke animatedly about the harm that plastic waste is doing to the oceans and the creatures that depend on them for life. I will probably always remember one of the slides that showed a dead bird that had been cut open to reveal that the bird had swallowed so many colorful, plastic bits from the water (looked like food to the bird) that its carcass was filled completely with these indigestible leftovers that had been made, bought, used, and discarded by man. I wondered, “When the oceans heave themselves beyond their bounds, are they retaliating in some measure for the way seacoast city people use the oceans as their garbage dump?” Saturday when I went shopping I remembered to take two reusable bags with me to cut down on the number of plastic bags I needed to use. Not Superman, not much, but a start.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 02:27:20 +0000
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