The Beauty of God's Creation

“Now, therefore, put away the strange gods that are among you
and turn your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.” (Joshua 24)

When I first read this passage from Joshua, I was distracted by all the tribal implications of what Joshua was doing—commanding allegiance to the God who, as the Israelites believed, had selected them from all the peoples on the earth. I was thinking of how tribal monotheism has accounted for so much murder, conquest and mayhem in our world as it evolved during the agricultural era. It was during the agricultural era that land became the god—land, possessions, title deeds, armies to protect possessions, and warfare over land. And as I write this I think back to Francis of Assisi who told the bishop, “If we have possessions, we will have to have weapons to protect them.” Continue reading →