Man: The Dirty Animal
There is yet another way in which human nature has a bearing on pollution. Not only is human nature selfish and lustful, but it is also lazy and dirty. It likes to make filth and pollution, but it doesn't like to clean it up!
As one civic official lamented at the conference, "Everyone wants you to pick his garbage up, but nobody wants you to put it down — at least near him."
Why do we have so many open dumps? Because it is cheap and requires no planning," reported Charles C. Iglehart, Jr. of the Kentucky Department of Health.
He went on to say of pollution control programs that, "the problems are not technical, they are problems of human nature . . . cooperation; how to get along with your neighbor; interest in the community. . . These are the problems that must be worked out."
These perceptive words hit the nail squarely on the head. Cleaning up pollution just isn't that appealing to human nature.
Right now more than twenty percent of the budgeted jobs in pollution control in city, state and federal offices are going begging because of a lack of qualified men to fill them. Some of these jobs are in the $25,000 a year category!
The only apparent reason seems to be, as one official put it, "Dealing with garbage is not as glamorous as a moon shot."
Many people or industries clean up only when forced to do so. Man truly is, as a recent book was entitled, "The Dirty Animal."
How to Eliminate Pollution
There is a CAUSE for pollution just as there is a reason for every wrong result, a penalty for every broken law.
Man's efforts at pollution control are failing because he is only treating the result. He isn't even trying to eliminate the CAUSE!
This is why no amount of money, no new laws and no amount of research will solve the problem. These things don't eliminate the cause of pollution which is HUMAN NATURE and a WRONG WAY OF LIFE.
Human nature doesn't like to face up to this fact. We like to kid ourselves that we can still solve the problem. "Modern technology has created the problem; it can solve it as well." Or, "Man created environmental contamination and he can also correct it."
But the truth is, the problem is beyond man's ability to solve. Soon he will be forced to face that fact.
Only God can solve the problem now — and He will! God will use "the total approach" men talk about today but are unable to accomplish. He will solve today's dreary catalog of ills — including the pollution problem — by ELIMINATING THE CAUSE of these problems.
An End to Man's Rule
For almost 6000 years now God has been allowing man to go his own way, to build a society based on raw, unbridled human greed and lust and on the deception of Satan the devil. Satan is the god of this world, and with his demons, he has "deceived the whole world" (Rev. 12:9).
Today we are beginning to reap the cumulative penalties of this deceived, confused way of life with emphasis on material goods and pleasures. If you want to know what God thinks about this idolatrous materialism — and what He will Do about it — read Isaiah 2, beginning with verse 7:
"Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures." What could more aptly describe our age of materialistic superabundance? This same verse says "neither is there any end of their chariots." Prophetically speaking (and this is for the "last days" — verse 2) this phrase refers to the 150 million pollution-producing automobiles, trucks and buses straining the capacity of America's and Western Europe's road system today!
What does God say about our materialistic way of life? How does He evaluate it? Continue, verse 8:
"Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made: And the mean man boweth down [in service to these idols] and the great man humbleth himself [before the same idols]: therefore forgive them not."
What must happen to this materialistic age in which people have all but forgotten about their Creator? ". . . And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day . . . And the idols he shall utterly abolish" (verses 11, 18).
Yes, we take great pride in man's accomplishments. We worship what man has made and done. We idolize our "sophisticated" way of life. Yet this very way of life would lead to oblivion without God's intervention! (Matt. 24:22) But a merciful God WILL intervene to save mankind from himself.
The Beautiful, CLEAN World Tomorrow
Once man has learned his lesson, God will help him to rebuild society and civilization. But this rebuilding will be done God's way and according to His Law of Love.
Here in a nutshell is what will be done: The entire society in the world tomorrow will be based on the Ten Commandments summarized as love toward God and love toward neighbor. God's Spirit will be made freely available to all who desire to obey their Creator and follow His way of life. This is how God will solve the most basic of all pollution problems — CHANGING human nature!
Further, God's society — even in the cities — will be based on supplying man's physical need — agriculture (Micah 4:3-4).
God wants man to have a communication with nature. Man needs to see firsthand the growth of living things, both plants and animals. There is no better way for him to realize he needs to grow mentally, emotionally and spiritually, to develop God-like character! There will be cities with their various crafts and industries, all right, but they will be very carefully controlled from above so that the quality of life and the quality of manufactures do not deteriorate. No more built-in obsolescence — no more emphasis on the latest model — but quality products inherited from generation to generation.
The Big Clean-up
Describing the beginning of His rule, God prophesied through Ezekiel:
"Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be dean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you . . . And I will put my spirit within you [enabling man to overcome the pulls of human nature] and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. . .
"I will also save you from ALL your uncleanness’s [from physical pollution as well as spiritual]. . . In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities, I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded. And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited" (Ezek. 36:25, 27, 29, 33-35).
And now verse 38: ". . . so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men." Notice, it doesn't say "men packed into cities like sardines in a can" but "flocks of men," human beings with enough room to roam around in, to live comfortably and enjoy all the blessings of God's way of life.
Notice also what the prophet Amos predicts for the happy people living in the soon-coming world tomorrow:
"They shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them" (Amos 9:14).
Imagine! Gardens in the city! — actually growing food — as in Amsterdam today — to be picked fresh only hours before use. Imagine people interested in having substantial gardens and working in them!
The cities of the future will also be spacious enough to care for animals (Jer. 31:24; Zech. 2:4; Psalm 144:13). No more milkless milk and foodless foods. With good food and sufficient exercise, fresh air and sunshine, people will be robust and healthy instead of pallid and sickly.
Yes, society in the world tomorrow is going to be far superior to anything on earth today. God promises: "And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit; and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the Lord" (Ezek. 36:11).
This is the good news of how today's pollution problem will be solved!
If you want to learn more about the happy world tomorrow — and how you can have a part in it — write immediately for our free booklet entitled The Wonderful World Tomorrow — What It Will Be Like. It will open your eyes.