One thing we have learnt this week-wilderness

Theologically wilderness has always had a strong role in the bible.  From Exodus to Jesus’s 40 days in the desert its there.  As my Bible dictionary says of the Exodus period;

“Theologically, the wilderness period became the dual symbol of God’s leading and providing and man’s rebellious nature typified by the Israelites.”

Jesus’s time in the wilderness was the same he was tempted by the devil and had to rely on God and scripture.

All this came to mind when I was reading about the threat to the Alaskan wilderness from oil drilling yesterday.  Despite the oil drilling that went on the 1970’s (whose fields are in decline) most of Alaska is pristine wilderness inhabited by moose bears, polar bears and of course mosquitoes.  President Obama has just allowed exploration drilling of the north coast for oil and there have been protests as Shell sends a rig to the Arctic.  But the real prize is the onshore drilling, in aeras given some protection as a refuge but not having full national park status.  Its this that big oil and its political supporters want to get their hands on.

There is little in the way of true wilderness left.  I would say I have been to some in Scotland and in Cradle Mountain Tasmania.  Both of these examples however cannot not be said to be unaffected by man.  Although in both I have seen the wonder of God’s creation.  This leads me to think that some places such as Alaska should be off limits to drilling.  After all we cannot afford to extract every last drop due to climate change.  Some places should be left as wild as possible. Maybe we should trust on God’s provision without extracting all the oil.

Neil