When diseases and other catastrophes happen, they leave humanity with many questions and speculations. Sometimes it confirms the positions people have already taken about life, at other times it may lead people to change their stand or they are a bit shaken such that they are left in doubts.
That with all the scientific and technological advancement we have in the 21st Century, the scriptures of old can still come true, should cause as to desire the other revelations God has made for mankind instead of running from reality.
In the scriptures from the Holy Bible we read of three things that are required from humanity:
1. Acknowledging the existence of God and loving Him with all our hearts, all our souls, and all our minds.
2. Loving our neighbors as we love ourselves.
3. Obedience to the first two.
Mathew.22:36-40; Micah 6:8.
Given the diversity of human socialization in the 21st Century, people are capable of believing the unimaginable. Some have said there is no God, others have concluded that He is an autocrat who when disobeyed a little, he unleashes his wrath by sending diseases like Corona Virus, Ebola, HIV/AIDS, etc. Still, others, when caught in the happenings they find themselves into in this earth we were born into, they don't know what position to take or they are not interested and are willing to let their lives as a boat in a vast sea of life drift whichever way it takes. The problem with the last disposition is that human beings are always inclined to make meaning of what is happening and to find a purpose for their being here on earth. It is like the three things required of us are inbuilt in every person. So no one can take that don't care position for long.
It must be observed that all we are and all that we will ever be as humans, will always depend on our response to the three rules of life mentioned above.
For example, God threatened diseases without a cure in a language that if well-understood means "You will bring these calamities upon yourselves if you do not ..." And the above three rules apply. Lev.26:14 “However, if you do not listen to me or obey ...16 ... I will bring sudden terrors upon you—wasting diseases and burning fevers that will cause your eyes to fail and your life to ebb away. You will plant your crops in vain... 17 I will turn against you, and you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will run even when no one is chasing you! NLT.
Deuteronomy 28:15a, 22. But if you refuse to listen to the LORD your God and do not obey...occupy.22 The LORD will strike you with wasting diseases, fever, and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, and with blight and mildew. These disasters will pursue you until you die. NLT. Jeremiah 46:11 “Go up to Gilead to get medicine,
O virgin daughter of Egypt!
But your many treatments
will bring you no healing. NLT.
All the progress mankind has made in science and technology - eradication of diseases, prolongation of life, reduction of extreme poverty, modern transport, modern communication, space exploration, etc, have been possible because mankind believed they were a higher breed than animals and that they were to rule and concur, an idea got from God: Gen.1:27 So God created human beings* in his own image.
In the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.NLT. We know that God is full of wisdom, He is creative, he is an organizer and a planner, etc. Mankind has heeded and gone ahead to be all that too. Gen.1:28. Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.” NLT.
As time moved and education that had sprouted out of a desire to achieve God's instruction above - for the achievement of the earlier mentioned 3 rules, was separated from God, and humanity has been made to believe anything and that there is no definite purpose in this life, mankind's progress and advancement may turn out to be the cause of our own destruction.
While mankind was created with the potential to discover habitable planets in space and live among stars and do other wonderful discoveries, having forgotten the three rules of life, we will annihilate ourselves with the beautiful advancements we have made.
"Most of the threats humans now face come from advances in science and technology such as nuclear weapons and genetically engineered viruses" Hawking
"When we invent a new technology, we often do so in ignorance of all of its side effects. We first determine whether it works, and we learn later, sometimes much later, what other effects it has."
It is possible, especially without the guidance of the three rules of life to engage in practices such as war, other acts of hatred, or acts that do not consider the the welfare of others, and in so doing destroy ourselves. It is also possible to create a technology that by design or by mistake destroys those who invented it.
Living by the three rules of life will ensure that we realize we are servants in this life under the master controller of all things and our aim will be to ever make things better than we found them and not worse in any way. The desire to do good to the other will direct all our science and technology adventures. If we all lived in peace and unity, there would be no need for coming up with technologies that have the potential to wipe out humanity - Let us go the way of peace - I don't know any greater sign of advancement than that - PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE. We need to so care about others in a a reasonable manner that no one will be tempted to think that a system somewhere is taking advantage of them and be tempted to revenge or do harm. That also means we should care about how people are socialized because soon they will manifest their inner convictions.
My appeal to the whole world: Let us go back to the three rules of life. Let them guide us in all that we do.
Kirima Elijah.
Reference:
1. the guardian.
2. Vox
