I am reading Wilson’s The Creation. It is not a hard read at all—it was meant to read like a letter to a Baptist pastor about the value of creation.
Wilson makes two important points that I found so uplifting. First, he argues that just as God is unknowable or undefinable, so is nature. We can experience nature and even see it and live in it, but the cosmos is too vast to be known or grasped. The more we explore the natural world, the less we realize we know about its workings. We know very little about the earth’s intricate workings; it remains a mystery to the human mind.
Second, just as humanity has humanized God, so we have done with nature. The humanization of nature, he argues, allows for valuing only certain species of the natural world. Plants and animals that are useful to humanity have become the focus of human protection, while the rest are abused, and often over exploited into extinction.
The humanization of nature, however, ignores the fact that creation is a living organism. It existed without humanity and will continue without us. Wilson further warns that our negative attitudes toward the Earth will lead to our own destruction—we cannot live outside the natural world. We may humanize nature, but the truth remains—humans are part of nature!
Finally, theologians have long identified the link between knowing nature and knowing God. The concept of natural revelation, for example, rests on this idea. God is revealed in nature. To understand nature is to understand God. In this regard, our failure to fully grasp the natural world is due to the very Creator who is revealed through it. Our duty is to serve or tend the Earth in honor of the Creator!
Do you have time this Saturday, join us as we clean our Church gardens. Planting time is on us!!
Please note:
I will be taking some time off. Although we officially take off the week after Easter, I will be in the office the week of April 5–12, and will take off April 13–19 instead, followed by my three week time off. So I will miss the following Sundays: April 19, 26, May 3, and May 10.
From the E-Crier of April 9, 2026. Subscribe to the weekly newsletter.