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The Hospital Times Vol. 6. No. 7 July 2008 So God created man in his own image…
CHAPEL SERVICEMonday to Friday - For Students - 6.45 am VISITORSMrs. Erica Bebb and Mr. Dave Brae from the Diocese of Gloucester From Churches: WELCOME EVENTS CONGRATULATION
Our appreciation and thanks to the Principal and Tutors of Paramedical Courses BIRTHDAYS YOUTH WORLD Religious Works Department – Chaplain Rev. Violet Dennis The Paradise Lost Imagine, we get up in the morning but there is no sun to greet us and as we walk down the campus there are no trees, no plants, no chirping of the birds, only buildings, imagine that as we turn our taps open there is no water coming from them, how would our lives be? My dear friends, our good Lord created everything. He made the Sun, the Moon and the Stars, the flora and the fauna, the ocean and the seas; a beautiful garden, the garden of Eden and then He created us. And the Lord God saw that it was good. In Gen 2:15- 'Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. If we look carefully into the first part of the chapter we find that the author had already noted in v8b that God put man into the garden. In v15 he returns to this point and recounted the purpose for God putting man there. Two important points from v15 are in danger of being obscured/mistaken in English Translation. The first is the change form v8 in the Hebrew word for 'Put'. Unlike v8, cohere a common term for 'Put' is used, in v15 the author uses a term that he elsewhere has reserved for 2 special uses- God's safety or rest, which he gives to man in the land. (Gen 19:16, Deut 3:20) and the dedication of something in the presence of the Lord. (Ex 16:33-34, Lev 16:23). Both senses of the term appear to lie behind the author's use of the word "put' in v15. Man was put into the garden where he could rest and be safe; and man was put into the garden in God's presence where he could have fellowship with God (3:8). Another point in v15 that has often been overlooked in the English Version's is the specific purpose for God putting man in the garden. A more suitable translation (acc to Cassuto) of the Hebrew text would be 'to worship and to obey'. Man is put in the garden to worship God and to obey him. Man's life in the garden was to be characterized by worship and obedience. Throughout Ch2, the author has consistently and consciously developed the idea of man's 'likeness' to God along the same lines as the major themes of the Pentateuch as a whole, namely, the theme of worship and Sabbath rest. Friends, if we look in the bible, Garden is an important place, because Our God encountered humans there. We read that God walked in the garden, the garden that He had created that which He saw was good. But if He would come today and would want to have a walk, would He still say that it is good and very good? Shrinking forests, descending water tables, eroded soil, dying fisheries, perishing plant and diminishing bio-diversity are signs of the 'abuse' of mother earth- proving to be a fatal threat to unborn generation. The capacity to generate and nurture all forms of life makes earth eminently feminine. But today for some earth is material and not yet maternal. The earlier mother-offspring relation turned into one of resource-exploiter, respect and veneration gave way to greed and the urge to conquer and possess. The one time offspring (humans) now wants to be the Lord of the earth- and the result is environmental degradation. It is indeed an ethical problem. It reflects the crises in human value system. The ethic of modern materialism is the worship of human pride. Humankind values its own gains and glories of technological advancement. We need an ethics that would change our role from controller and manipulator to its friend and partner. 'We humans are behaving as though there will not be a next generation'. 'Myopia" generally known as 'short sight' is a visual impairment. But most of us suffer from another kind of myopia. We do not have far sightedness to see what would happen in the next 20 yrs or so if the environment degradation continues at this rapid stage. We need to live with ecological sensitivity. To live in the midst of flora and fauna with an ecological sensibility is indeed the celebration of life. The teachings of Jesus provide us with a blueprint (Matt 5:45, 6:19,20; 4:2-8, 6:28-30, 7:16 etc). Nature is envisaged as one of the spheres in which God meets man personally and in which he is called upon to exercise responsibility. Matthew fox calls it "creational spirituality.” This can be seen in the Jewish celebration of "Tu Bishuat' - a New Year for the trees corresponding to ROSH-HA-SHANA, the new year for humans. It goes back to Talmudic Times and falls on the 15th day of the month of SHEVAT. Although the celebration consists of having a meal of nuts and reciting Amos 9:13, it is a time of reflection for those who faithfully observe the day. It is taken as a time of reconnecting with the trees, not forgetting the first encounter with the trees in the Garden of Eden. The festival is reckoned as a time to glimpse what the garden at Eden was and how life could be again. It is also celebrated with elaborate tree planting all over Israel. In Jewish thinking it is taken to be a statement of faith. Such an attitude towards the trees is affirmed in the words of RABBAN JOHANNAN BEN ZAKKAI, 'if you have a sapling in your hand and you are told, The Messiah has come first plant the sapling and then go to greet the Messiah". Friends, as we know, the earth's limited resources are being exploited at a higher speed. What we are witnessing everyday is excessive consumerism on one side and poverty on the other. The gap between the rich and the poor gets wider every day. Can we simply be muter witnesses to these? There is certainly no ethics in the excessive consumerism of a few in front of the sufferings of the vast majority why struggle to survive. Whenever there is famine or drought it hits the poor hardly. It is they who suffer few months back we read in papers that 100's of farmers committed suicide due to failure of monsoons. Again, when the water is polluted it is still the poor who struggle through diseases like Malaria and so on. But the rich can choose alternative methods; we have Aqua guard water purification systems. But what about the poor in the slums and villages. Aren't we also the cause for environment pollution and its effect on the poor. Do we have a responsibility here? Friends if any of us have a mission for the perishing let us begin here. An Islamic Literature reads- "live in this world as if you were going to live forever, prepare for the next world as if you were going to die tomorrow". To all the 'Adam's' and the 'Eve's', let us ask ourselves this question- what on earth are we doing for heaven's sake? Let us buckle our shoes, loosen our belts and start right from this campus. God made everything and saw it was good and very good. But if He were to come today would he still say the same words? TRAINING PROGRAMSGeneral Nursing and Midwifery Admissions still open Apply: Principal School of Nursing for Nursing Courses Published by Public Relations Office, Church of South India Hospital, Bangalore – 51. |
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