Sunday, August 24, 2008

On Controlling the Weather

Mrs. Eddy is quoted as saying (and she demonstrated it as well): "You are not a Christian Scientist until you do control the weather." Since neither this statement, nor one similar to it, appears in any of her published writings, it does not have the authority that statements in her published works do, but given present weather patterns it should perhaps be carefully considered.

We seem to be living at a time when the norm in weather has become harsh extremes--too little or too much. And the ferocity and deadliness of storms worldwide is also increasing. All Christian Scientists should take on weather as a patient in order to restore normalcy. Such an undertaking would also promote individual growth in Christian Science.

Note 1: The title of this blog was changed from "The Morning Meal", since to Google that title sent one to the land of cereal and trendy breakfast food. Though if the current title is Googled, one will probably find himself in the watery blog realm of commercial fishermen.

Note 2: The"author" for this blog is simply the name of the chief character in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress. No sense of pride or special accomplishment is intended.

Note 3: The conclusion to the previous entry should appear tomorrow.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah, a Christian Scientist who thinks and writes incisely. A pleasure to be reading your blogs!

Zoarean said...

As a lifelong Floridian, I’ve prayed many times for protection from the many storms that we experience yearly. With this last storm that came through our state (Fay), I prayed yet again for safety of those in its path. I am a former CSist, but I have several family members who still follow CS & their prayers differed from mine. They spent their time “knowing the truth” that the storm was not real & should therefore dissipate. But I say “Is it not real only because its winds had crossed a line whereas they can inflict property damage?”

While water still comes from the tap, we have been in a drought for about three years now. The Florida Aquifer that is the state’s main source of water has been suffering salt water intrusion due to low rainfall. Farmers & water management officials have been praying for just such a deluge that others are praying against. Climatology is a relatively new science & even experts in the field cannot forecast the future needs of the environment in regard to meteorological conditions (Indeed, they have trouble even determining the events of the past 1000 years, much less the future-http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/climate-change/dn11646 ).

The builders of “Biosphere 2” arrogantly promised the world that they understood the all the complexities & minutiae of controlling their own environment- (http://www.thespacereview.com/article/305/1). They were both proud & foolish as they proved their ignorance. But after looking past those arrogant men, Columbia University scientists did discover yet more overlooked aspects of nature- that wind is a necessary force (http://www.nybg.org/bsci/french_guiana/wind.html) (http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/sw/changes/natural/et/).

To re-state my rhetorical- Is the storm with 30 MPH winds good or bad? How about 50MPH? Exactly how many inches of rain, & at what rate per hour, & at precisely what location would you consider “normal”? My point is how can a non-expert in the “positive” & “negative” effects of meteorological events (and even those effects would be categorized differently by the farmer, the professional surfer, the homeowner, the fisherman, the sports team, etc…) know exactly how to pray for the “normalcy” of the weather when even scientists don‘t know? Only God knows what “normal” should be at any given time, so my prayer is that God will provide all that we need, & that people won’t suffer unnecessarily in the process.

Anonymous said...

Take the Weather on as a patient? Are you serious? Zoarean is right!

Seeker of Truth in DE said...

Take the weather on as a patient? You bet! I've done it on several occasions and seen the good results. One of the most outstanding demonstrations I've been privileged to witness was when there had been weeks of rain where I lived, so much so that moss began to grow on the wooden railing outside my duplex. The weather forecast was for another week of rain every day. That night, I went to a Wednesday evening testimony meeting and the readings were on the weather. The next day (and I don't remember how many consecutive days after), not only was there no rain, but there was bright sun and hardly even a cloud in sight.