What's Wrong With This Picture?

By Ken Laue

“What in the world?!” I shouted, as the still surface of the lake twenty feet to our left exploded.

The outboard purred as it pushed my ancient aluminum fourteen-footer back across Parker Canyon Lake that late September day with my wife, two granddaughters, and a couple of friends aboard. 

We flinched at the enormous splash, and before the surface had a chance to calm before the next eruption.

An osprey emerged, flapping its way out of the depths with a huge flailing rainbow trout in its claws.

As it struggled to gain altitude we wondered if it could remain airborne.

Maybe it should have picked on a smaller fish.

Somehow the fish hawk managed to labor off to the east with its panicked prize.

A magnificent close-up of the wonders of nature, yes? Where’s my camera when I need it, right?

It had all happened too fast to capture, anyway.

The ospreys had circled for most of the day. As our tired group headed back across that small mountain reservoir, we had scarcely given them a thought, save to admire their majestic beauty as they glided on the air currents.

But in this magnificent snapshot of nature, the look of terror in the trout’s eyes and its hopeless struggle to break free from the iron grip of the hawk’s talons told me something was wrong with this picture. Very wrong.

I don’t normally watch TV.

But during a recent hospital stay, it was a toss-up as to which was more likely to prove fatal – my heart condition or sheer boredom.

So I switched the thing on and surfed until I found one of those National Geographic nature-type shows.

I was treated to the gory details of some crocs pulling a hapless zebra into the water and ripping chunks off the struggling (though not for long) creature.

Hey, maybe I didn’t have it so bad after all!

What’s a few little tubes hanging out of my veins? Or people sticking me with needles every few hours?

Another program showed orcas putting a sea lion through a long, drawn-out torture before finally killing it. They rammed it, tossed it about, and thrashed it mercilessly.

Sea World and other nature organizations say orcas are gentle, friendly giants. Really?

A news story just a few weeks ago reported that a trainer was killed by an orca at Sea World.

Most people who reject the Bible as God’s Word have no idea the destruction and devastation the entry of sin has had upon our planet.

For example, the predator-prey interactions are seen as a normal part of nature, and as such, something valuable to preserve and protect.

Studies on wolves re-introduced to Yellowstone and grizzly bear populations in the Rockies have shown that the absence of keystone predators brings profound changes to natural ecosystems.

Natural is defined for these folks’ purposes as what nature looked like before the onslaught of Western civilization.

However, I believe the natural order of ecosystems we see on our planet may not be at all normal.

Take a look at Isaiah chapter 11 and you will see a portrait of our post-curse world. Once the curse of sin is removed, dangerous animals become gentle and harmless. Carnivorous behavior no longer exists, and predators are vegetarians.

Genesis also catalogs critters as vegetarian before the fall brought by man’s sin.

Predators and carnivores were not part of God’s Paradise in a pre-sin world, nor will they be part of the world order when Christ returns.

No, nature is not so beautiful when you take a closer look.

Nature is not kind, and something is very wrong.

And I haven’t even mentioned our own species’ sordid history of wars and murder down through the ages.

In the early days of Billy Graham’s ministry, Charles Templeton was Graham’s preaching partner.

But surveying the horrific aftermath of World War II, Templeton’s faith was shaken.

How could a loving God allow so many millions to be murdered?

Templeton chose to stop preaching the gospel and depart from the faith, but Billy Graham chose to believe the Bible.

Graham went on to become the famous evangelist we all admire, but Templeton wrote a book many years later which seeks to turn people from Christianity and faith in God.

I don’t profess to have all the answers for people like Templeton as they question God’s goodness, but here’s how I look at things.

The whole thing is almost like a sci-fi story.

A rogue planet in the galaxy, in full rebellion against the intergalactic authority is in possession of the planet. But in the end the intergalactic council will regain authority and reign in peace.

Maybe that sounds so far-fetched to our cynical generation that many can’t accept it. 

Or maybe they just refuse to. After all, it can’t be so far of a stretch for a Star Wars fan.

The Bible says we were all birthed into a world at war with its Creator.

Like it or not, we inherit that rebellion merely by being born.

It’s much like citizenship. You became a Mexican or an American or a Frenchman or a Panamanian, like it or not, based on where you were born.

Because you were born on the rebel planet Earth, like it or not, you were born an enemy of God.

Because sin has tainted everything on earth.

But the good news is that God is calling us to step out of that uprising and join forces with Him, the Benevolent Ruler of the Universe, our Lord and our God.

By making His instruction book, The Holy Bible, the foundation of our life, and choosing to follow all that it teaches us about our God –  the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – we become part of the solution, and are no longer part of the problem.

People like Templeton who look at all the death and destruction in the world miss something very important.  Death is God’s means to get us off of this rebel planet.

Would He still be a God of love is there was no death and we were condemned to live forever in a world that’s in civil war against Him? Where the world system is against all things that are good and right?

No. Part of God’s purpose is to take each of us out of this evil world and home to Himself in His perfect kingdom.

Granted, the Bible says that one day Christ will vanquish death once and for all.

At a future time He will reign on this earth as head of the political government, and He will make all things right. There’s coming a time of no more death or disease or tears or suffering.

But until Christ implements that administration – and it’s probably not so far off – this is the current state of affairs.

It’s too bad Templeton threw away his “ticket” to Heaven by rejecting Jesus.

He is one of many who criticize God and His instructions and explanations in the Bible.

Like it or not, that’s the set-up, God’s the rule-maker and He still holds us accountable for the knowledge He gives us in His gospel.

Have we made His Word the foundation of our lives?

How we live our lives – and more important, who we live our lives for – will determine where death will take us. Away from this rebel planet, certainly.

But to the Creator’s home in heaven, or eternal separation in hell?

That’s your call and my call.

What’s the foundation we’re building our lives upon? The Bible’s unshakable truth? Or something else?