I was thinking a lot in the wee hours of this morning about the fact that faith is a real part of life - for everyone.
We tend to think that we live without faith in some things, but let me share how faith in the unknown and unseen is a reality for all - whether they acknowledge it or not.
Some think that they can simply dispel any thought of God because they believe that science indicates that it is possible for life to exist without divine intervention. There are knowledgeable people like Darwin that argue sufficiently strongly that the power of natural selection might have enabled all life - the millions of species of plant, insect, bird, reptile, fungus, and every other class of organism - to have evolved without any intervention by some divine power. And so they live their lives without regard for the inconveniences of the commandments that they reckon impact on their freedom, comfort and convenience by requiring sacrifice of some sort or another at the request of some unseen being.
Let me share at least three aspects of life in which each and every one of us demonstrates faith, and how there can be an impact on our freedom, comfort and convenience should we fail to abide by associated rules.
Electricity
We enjoy the benefits that we derive from electricity without fully comprehending the complexity of exactly what it is, and what is involved for us to be able to use that light, heater, air conditioner, stove, machine, computer, mobile phone, game, television, refrigerator, or whatever device that we are so accustomed to using that enables us to enjoy freedom, comfort and convenience. We might even chafe at the suggestion that we should reduce our consumption by turning off unnecessary lights, computers, heaters, and so forth. We do not always consider the complexity of the electricity infrastructure that needs to be adequately supplying vastly more electricity than is required for demand at any given time. Electricity needs to be available in the network of power lines, cables and wires for us to be able to use any electrical device whenever we wish to flip the switch.
We tend to not think of the fact that those administering the power grid have to be adequately prepared with increasing capability to generate excess power in order to meet the continually increasing demands due to consumption due to an ever increasing population, industry, leisure and other needs. The leaders in South Africa and in several other parts of the world have failed to adequately prepare for the need for sufficient generating capacity to cater for these increasing demands. They need to prepare for outages due to planned maintenance of the existing generating facilities as well as unplanned failures of generating facilities due to insufficient coal, water or other sources of energy, or simply disasters like leaking nuclear plants. We might object to paying taxes and tariffs that are levied in order to make it possible to have the generating capacity that we enjoy - especially if we see any dishonesty in anyone in any level of the hierarchy involved.
It is highly commendable that many people have opted to generate some power using solar or wind in order to reduce demand and increase supply.
We, in turn, often do not exercise restraint to not consume more than we actually need. Then we complain when there is an unplanned power failure or planned loadshedding because it impacts on our freedom, comfort and convenience. We each have rights, but we also each have responsibilities to help reduce demand and facilitate increasing supply.
We have great faith in electricity despite our lack of understanding everything involved in it.
Water supply
We have recently had a serious impact in Cape Town due to a shortage of water. There had been less rainfall in previous years than is the norm and so our storage facilities were emptying at a rate that was in excess of the rate of inflow to meet the demands for water.
This is not new - I remember my sister telling us of the shortage of water in England when she was there in the 1970s because there had been less rain in preceding weeks that was the norm. I remember dams being very low in parts of South Africa in about every decade or two of my life, and the rejoicing that we had when they were filled to overflowing with subsequent rains.
Many of us use water without due regard for our responsibility to conserve this valuable resource. We might fail to turn off water when it is not needed, to use less, to repair leaks, to stop using wasteful water features. We often carelessly allow water to flow out into the drainage system that feeds into our processing plants or into rivers that simply flow into the sea.
During the recent time of crisis there was much complaint about the impacts on freedom, comfort and convenience that the water restrictions caused. Many of us installed water tanks that enabled us to harvest rain that did fall and thus reduce demand on public water supply. But many did not consider the needs for the authorities to cater for increased demand by building and maintaining water storage facilities, desalination plants, or other means of providing an adequate supply of fresh drinking water to meet the demands of a growing population and industry. Once again, many grumble about paying taxes and tariffs that enable the authorities to prepare to meet anticipated demand, especially when there is any hint of dishonesty in anyone in authority.
Viral infection
The world has been impacted by the COVID-19 coronavirus that has seriously impacted on our freedom, comfort and convenience. We have been called upon to help reduce the spread of the virus by wearing masks, sanitising hands, exercising social distancing, reducing gatherings, staying at home, and many other serious impacts on our normal ways of living. We were initially required to stay at home in order to help the medical system to prepare adequately for meeting the demands for care, oxygen, and beds for those infected. Then we were asked to exercise personal responsibility in order to reduce the rate of spread of the virus due to thoughtless acts. Many complained about the costs to us in terms of taxes and tariffs, and the impact on freedom, comfort and convenience that has arisen, and too many have had super-spreader events or irresponsible behaviour that have caused the virus to spread to thousands of people who were particularly vulnerable due to age or specific health issues, and more recently the virus has been contracted by many younger people than was the case in the first wave in South Africa and other countries all around the world.
Conclusion
In each of these cases, we live by faith - faith in supply, faith in the planning of the authorities, faith in what we probably do not fully understand or comprehend, and what we certainly cannot easily see with our eyes. Those electrons moving in the power network, those impurities that are removed from our drinking water, those viruses that we cannot fully see or understand. We have to trust that other people have the required knowledge, understanding, foresight, wisdom, integrity, and whatever is required for us to be able to enjoy freedom, comfort and convenience.
Despite our exercising faith in these ways, many ridicule those who live by faith in a divine plan, declaring it to be unreasonable. If we look carefully at what is happening in nature around us, we might be humble enough to acknowledge that we do not fully understand genetics, speciation, ecology, selection, and everything that is involved in order for a species to survive. We might also need to be humble enough to acknowledge that there might be a divine being who knows more than man does collectively. We might observe that we actually see a decline in species numbers over time and no evidence for new species forming despite the rapidly changing environmental niches that are supposed to have made it possible for new species to be selected and become established in the distant past. We do not necessarily have any personal experience with breeding flowers, rabbits, pigeons or anything to fully appreciate those selection processes described by Darwin for features like colour or size - let alone the innumerable characters that are not visible to the breeder and cannot be selected for, such as nuclear and mitochondrial characters that make species survive and thrive. But an all wise and knowing divine creator can select for these unseen characters.
Natural selection certainly is possible, but it is immeasurably improbable. It takes a certain amount of humility to accept that just maybe there is a divine power that has a plan and directs those selection processes that enable a species to survive. But - let's face it - man is really good at leading to the extinction of many species, resulting in a nett loss while we do not see the increase of species numbers through mutation, genetic isolation, mate selection, and ultimately the selection of new favoured races.
All of these things denote to me that there is a God. I am comfortable in my mind that there is design and planning that has resulted in the wonderful freedom, comfort and convenience that we are able to enjoy on this planet Earth. I accept that I need to be responsible for enabling the provision of freedom, comfort and convenience for other humans and organisms by being careful in the choices that I make to not be wasteful, to not spread infections, to not be disrespectful of the freedoms, comfort and convenience of others. My living responsibly, paying taxes, tariffs, even tithes, is part of the way that I can help others to have a more meaningful experience in life, appreciating the abundant natural heritage that we do have and facilitating supply, rather than just demanding more and more in terms of freedom, comfort and convenience. I think often of that first instruction to man to be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over all living things.
I am grateful for the commandments and guidance through prophets that have taught us about the divine creator who desires our eternal freedom, comfort and convenience and wants us to have that eternal perspective that will enable us to be part of the supply of solutions rather than simply adding to the problems arising from an ever increasing demand.
I have observed many people that are atheist, agnostic or irreligious demonstrating an innate divine nature of faith, hope and charity in their responses to the challenges of electricity supply, water supply, and COVID. It is unfortunate that I have seen some religions people who have demonstrated a lack of faith, hope and charity in some of the things that they have done or said in these same situations that we are all facing. I hope that I continue to demonstrate faith, hope and charity. That is the desire of my heart, even although I fail at most times to be a perfect example of what I intend to be.
Images
https://toursofutah.com/blog/christus-statue-salt-lake-city-tours/
Walking with masks: Les Powrie
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