2024 Safari Experience: controlled burn in Akagera National Park, Rwanda.
Controlled burns in the park reduces the amount of dead vegetation which can fuel wildfires,
provide areas of escape for wildlife in the event of an actual wildfire,
improves soil health, aids in habitat enhancement by clearing thick underbrush while leaving mature trees in tact
Last week, I posted about the recent loss of my home in a wildfire. (See that article: Trials by Fire) Deeply impactful events like this that happen in our lives make us stop, reflect, and sometimes reassess.
One of my nieces and her husband are graciously hosting me while I sort things out after the loss of the home. As I was awaking and beginning work this morning, my niece was opening a few boxes delivered from Amazon the previous evening. As she cut through the shipping tape to open the first package, I remembered I had items that I had brought back from Rwanda (untouched by the house fire!) and needed to ship them to some of my family. My intention had been to deliver them personally, but I had not yet had that opportunity.
My mind turned to the fact that I had over the years prepared things at home to be at-hand for whatever needs arose regardless of how infrequently they may occur. I tried to stayed prepared for whatever might be needed in a moment's notice. I'd say there was better than a 90% chance I already had something to address 90% of the needs that arose. Since I was seeing her open the packages, I focused on that particular 'need'. At my home, I had kept shipping boxes, packaging tape, bubble wrap, packing paper, scales, address labels, etc. I had everything at the ready to pack up items and get them sent out.
I even had things stored in my car for needs that might arise while away from home. Things I kept in the car were both for the car or just for instances that might arise. Things such as an OBD reader (to get codes from the car's computer for diagnostics), full tool set, a first aid kit, an air pump, and can of Fix-A-Flat, gloves of both winter and work varieties, jumper cables, paper napkins, flashlights, and Advil.
It kept my friends and acquaintances amused, but thankful, for keeping even out of the ordinary things in my car that met some pretty rare needs that would arise.
But there were a few things I kept with me on my person or in a pack that I considered to be of great importance. Even if they were not of a frequent need, their worth to me was such that I kept them with me. That is representative of how I am. Some might call it obsessive. Others would call it something more accurate but less kind.
This is what made me start thinking this morning.
No matter how prepared I was, no matter what I had at the ready, no matter what the circumstance - I could not stop the destruction of my home after living in it for the majority of decades of my life thus far. Even keeping the things most important to me with me on or near my person ultimately served no purpose in preserving my life as it had been.
This really is representative of life. We go through life fulfilling duties, chasing dreams and desires, helping our loved ones as well as strangers. But there comes a day when it all ends. We die. All of the things we've accumulated are lost; they have no more value; they are gone in a flash. And the things we hold most closely have no effect on that end.
This brings up one of the greatest philosophical questions we have: what happens to us when we die? There are only two answers: we cease to exist or we continue to exist.
The answer "we cease to exist" brings up all sorts of problems regarding value, meaning, morality, good, and evil. See my article on Hard Questions: Is there a god? Does God exist? regarding this position's problem regarding morality.
If the answer is "we continue to exist", then we should be convinced of our position.
Miriam-Webster defines convince as:
1. to bring (as by argument) to belief, consent, or a course of action
Are we judged by some loving, cosmic, being we call god by simply being the best and kindest people we can be even though we aren't perfect.
Are we judged according belonging to, and how well we adhere to the tenets of, specific religions such as Mormonism, Jehovah's Witness, Scientology. or others?
Are we judged according to our karma on whether we break the cycle of birth-life-death-rebirth according to Hinduism?
Are we judged according to how well we adhered to the Eight-fold Path of Buddhism?
Are we judged by Allah according to his whim on how well we adhered to the Five Pillars of Islam, or simply by his arbitrary mercy?
Are we judged by Jehovah God by how well we adhered to the Laws of Moses according to Judaism?
Each one of these paths are all works-based methods. That means our entry into heaven - a place of ultimate perfection - is solely dependent on our own merit. We not only have to be good enough, we have to be good enough that it outweighs all the bad we have done. But how in the world could we know when "good enough" is good enough? The answer is simple: We can't.
It's easy to see ourselves as generally good people, and in fact by human standards most of us probably are pretty good. But we are all far from perfect. That is even readily acknowledged in the common sayings "I'm only human." and "Nobody's perfect."
That understanding is actually a biblical principle from the Old Testament and echoed in the New Testament: "None is righteous; no not one." [Romans 3:10] and "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." [Romans 3:23].
Let's say that you don't have to be perfect to get into heaven; you just have to be "good enough". If your imperfection is allowed into a place of perfection, what would happen to that place of perfection? It becomes imperfect - blemished. The more imperfect people let in, the more it becomes imperfect. With the very first admittance of someone imperfect, it can no longer be 'heaven' or 'paradise'.
A truly perfect and just god cannot simply dismiss sinfulness; doing so would by definition make him imperfect and unjust.
In biblical Christianity, God - in the person of Jesus, the second person of the Trinity (see my article Christian Essentials - The Triune Nature of God) - became a man, lived a perfect and sinless life as a man, died crucified on a cross, and bodily rose from the dead in order to pay the debt of sin that each and every person ever born (aside from Jesus Christ Himself) is subjected to. To those that believe in Him as God, savior, and redeemer, He has paid for our sins with His life and gave to us His righteousness making us perfect in the sight of God, and we will be transformed into complete perfection in our future. (See my article: Hard Questions: Am I saved? How Can I Be Saved?)
Unlike every other world religion and philosophical view, in biblical Christianity we can not earn our way into righteousness. Even our good deeds are tainted by our imperfection. God imparts righteousness to us by His grace (alone) through our faith (alone) in the perfect life, the death, and the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ (alone). He took on the difficult part Himself and leaves it simply for us to truly believe and accept His sacrifice.
We can't achieve the impossible standard of perfection no matter how many lifetimes a religion believes we have with our good and bad deeds done in the current life dictating the conditions of the following life.
Without the perfection of God, His infinitude of righteousness, His boundless grace and mercy there would be no hope for any of mankind. Our homes, and our very lives, are limited by time - some longer than others, some shorter than others, and we rarely know when the end comes.
We must be ready in that moment.
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