Paradise​—A Desirable Place in Which to Live

WHAT picture comes to your mind at the mention of an earthly paradise? What do you think it would be like?

Perhaps you envision a lovely park, a place of natural beauty and peacefulness. You may imagine trees and flowers in great variety, as well as many birds and animals that you can enjoy. Such a mental picture is understandable, for in many languages the word “paradise“ comes from ancient words meaning a wooded park or a parklike garden.

However, rather than a park with fixed boundaries, what if the whole earth were a paradise? What would it be like for you?

For one thing, a paradise earth would have endless variety in plant and animal life, not like today where, in large areas, men have killed off many forms of life.

There would also be delightful variety in terrain. You might enjoy visiting a rocky or sandy coastline unmarred by garbage or industrial pollutants. There you could listen to the waves and watch graceful gulls and other sea life. Inland you would find a variety of forests, each with its distinctive animals and plants, and all free of the effects of ruinous exploitation by greedy men.

Of course, there would be mountains, some lofty and blanketed with snow, others with gentle slopes, where you could hike without stumbling over discarded beer cans and other litter. Beyond these mountains there would be drier plains. Instead of these being man-made dust bowls, they would display their own natural vegetation, and would abound with animals, large and small, wild and domestic. Elsewhere you would find heaths with low trees and softly colored shrubs.

Maintaining and cultivating such a global paradise would require some work, would it not? But you would not mind that if you were not frustrated or oppressed by a harsh boss. You could apply your efforts and abilities in ways that would bring benefits to you, your family, and to the rest of mankind by cooperating together. You would delight in making your contribution to paradise.

Having a personal share in paradise, you would get lasting pleasure from your work and from your opportunities to rest, to travel and to learn more about the wonders of this earth.

But do you feel that this is all just fanciful dreaming? Do you think that it is not possible for the entire earth to become a place of beauty? From what you have seen and read, do you believe that it is headed in the opposite direction​—toward more pollution, plunder and ruin?

Frankly, as cheerless as the earth’s future may seem, there are sound reasons for you to expect that our planet will become a global paradise.

A Global Paradise​—Why Possible?

TODAY many informed persons would take the view: ‘A global paradise sounds marvelous, but it is impossible. The earth can never be turned into a total paradise.’ Are you inclined to agree?

Likely you are to some extent aware of what men have done in despoiling our earth, seemingly wrecking any hope of paradise.

For instance, men have polluted our air with soot and dangerous fumes. You have breathed that in, have you not? Besides harming our health, this is damaging our entire planet. How so? One authority reported ‘that man is making the weather situation worse by pumping dust, smoke and other pollutants into the atmosphere.’ This is said to alter the climate and to bring on weather changes that have expanded deserts and contributed to famines, as recently happened in Africa.

We cannot ignore, either, the other damaging forms of pollution that are making our earth anything but a paradise. Sea life is killed by oil spills. Streams are often so filled with chemicals that the water is unsafe, and fish die by the millions. Human and animal food is contaminated with mercury, copper, lead and DDT.

A global paradise also might seem impossible because of the devastation already brought about by man-caused erosion. Men have plundered the forests, stripped off protective vegetation or overgrazed the land, resulting in millions of useless acres. What is the effect? Bioscience concluded: “For the first time in man’s history he has reached a stage where he actually has the potential to destroy the earth’s biosystem either intentionally or accidentally.”

Is Recovery Possible?

Has the earth been so damaged that it can never recover, that it can never become a paradise? Rene J. Dubos, professor emeritus at The Rockefeller University, said in this connection: “We have enormous problems, most of which are getting worse. . . . But I’ve become convinced that these bad situations are reversible.”

Have you ever given thought to the earth’s ability to recover? It is truly amazing to see how the earth can gradually overcome damage and abuse done to it. The recent book Man and His Environment: Law made this observation.

“The living, self-replenishing world is actually far richer than any comparison to a storehouse of treasure. Nature, unless broken into exploited fragments cut off from sustenance, constantly replaces itself . . . The dynamic, moving, renewing qualities in nature retain their activity and mock any comparison to the richest human treasury.”

There is abundant proof of the earth’s ability to restore itself. For instance, have you heard of the island of Krakatoa, near Java? It was blown up by a volcanic explosion equal to a 10,000-megaton H-bomb. What remained was just sterilized land covered by ashes and pumice. But would Krakatoa remain a heap of lifeless ash? Biologists watched to see. Within three years, twenty-six species of plants reestablished themselves. Ten years more brought coconut trees, wild sugarcane and orchids. And twelve years more found 263 species of animals there. Even without man’s help it became once again a tropical paradise of forests and lovely birds.

You need not travel to some distant island to see this recuperative process in action, or to see its results. Likely there are areas in your country that have been drastically changed by pollution, flood, warfare, destructive farming practices or erosion. Yet they may already have recovered from those changes or be in the process of doing just that.

For example, many sections of New England in the United States were turned into farmland a century or more ago. Virgin forests were cut down, vegetation was removed and rocks were piled on the sides of the fields. However, as the tide of agriculture moved west, these fields were abandoned. Soon wild plants began to grow in the uncultivated fields​—weeds, grasses, goldenrod and some berry seedlings. Within a few years gray birches could be found and windborne white pine seeds developed into small trees. Then around some of the pines black cherry seedlings sprang up from seeds that birds had dropped. For a time the pines dominated. Yet that was a passing phase, because in the shade under their tight canopy few pine seedlings could take root. But oaks and maples could, so gradually they replaced the pines. Later, beneath the towering hardwoods, some hemlock, beech and basswood trees began to grow. And as these changes were occurring the type of wildlife shifted and adjusted to the changing forest.

Take a pleasant walk through these hills now, breathing in the sweet forest scents and keeping eye and ear alert for the varied forms of wildlife. Once in a while you will find a slowly crumbling stone fence that silently testifies to what this land was not so long ago. Now the forest has returned.

What, though, when humans have intervened, not merely by turning a forest into farmland for a time, but to the extent of badly polluting or damaging the earth? Can it still recover? Is there still the possibility of the earth’s becoming a paradise?

To Desolation and Back

“Pollution in Paradise” was the title of a television documentary about the horribly polluted Willamette River in Oregon. The river had been exploited and damaged by man. But was it ruined forever? After legislation had halted the most blatant polluting, the river restored itself. It became a place in which to swim, and once again it thrived with salmon. Similarly, a 1975 report, telling how England’s Thames River is recovering, says: “A year ago the first salmon in 141 years was taken from the Thames. This summer a second salmon was found in the river.”

Not just lakes and rivers, but the land too can recover after man has devastated it. Should you visit sections of France, Belgium and Germany that were pulverized and denuded in the world wars, you will now find lush fields and thriving forests.

Sometimes man himself can effectively cooperate with the earth’s restorative processes. In New Zealand early settlers cut or burned large forests to make pastureland. But, in many cases, they put more grazing animals on the land than the pastures could feed. Added to that, rabbits, which man introduced to New Zealand, became a plague by eating vegetation that was needed to hold the soil. The result? Massive erosion​—ruined land. Later, though, soil conservationists worked to halt the damage in the Tara Hills, even to reverse it. They restored fertility by spreading manure and seeding pasture legumes, and they worked to control the rabbit population. In time the hills became pasturelands again, useful and pleasant.

What about land that has been ruined by man for centuries? Can it recover and become part of an earth-wide paradise?

A case in point is the Near and Middle East and North Africa. You may think of this area in terms of what has been there in recent times, ‘sand dunes, malarial swamps and naked limestone hills.’ But, writing in Scientific American, agronomist Walter C. Lowdermilk explained that the evidence proves “this land was once a pastoral paradise,” but that it “has been overgrazed for more than 1,000 years.” Think of that​—a “pastoral paradise”! Yet, since it has been devastated for so long, is it past ‘the point of no return’?

Representing the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization, Mr. Lowdermilk investigated what was being done in Israel. He concluded that “Israel is restoring to cultivation a land damaged by a millennium of abuse.” Yes, with man’s help and cooperation the earth can recover from even centuries of abuse; it can return.

Would you have thought that “the Near and Middle East and North Africa” once was a “pastoral paradise” and could be returned to such a condition? That is not surprising if you look at it from a Biblical standpoint.

The Bible explains that at the beginning of human history the Creator provided a paradise or garden for the first human couple. Evidently it was in the area of what we now call the Middle East. The historical account of this reads:

“And the Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure [the Garden of Eden] from the beginning: wherein he placed man whom he had formed. And the Lord God brought forth of the ground all manner of trees, fair to behold, and pleasant to eat of . . . And a river went out of the place of pleasure to water paradise.”​—Gen. 2:8-10, Douay.

Our forefathers, Adam and Eve, were responsible to care for that garden or park and to expand it until the entire earth became a paradise.​—Gen. 1:28; 2:15.

But the first humans rebelled and were expelled from the original paradise. God told the man: “Cursed is the ground on your account. In pain you will eat its produce all the days of your life. And thorns and thistles it will grow for you . . . In the sweat of your face you will eat bread.”​—Gen. 3:17-19.

Did that curse come about? It certainly did. Centuries later Lamech even spoke of the need for relief “from the pain of our hands resulting from the ground which Jehovah has cursed.” (Gen. 5:29) Lamech prophesied that relief from that curse would come in the days of Noah, and it did. By means of a flood, God wiped out the wicked. After that, Jehovah God indicated that he had also lifted the curse from the ground.​—Gen. 8:21.

Because of that, parts of the earth later be described as being “watered throughout, . . . as the paradise of the Lord.” (Gen. 13:10, Douay) And the Promised Land was abundantly fruitful, veritably “flowing with milk and honey.” (Num. 13:23-27; Deut. 8:7-9; 11:10-17) Is the accuracy of this Biblical description not confirmed by agronomist Lowdermilk’s conclusion that much of that area “was once a pastoral paradise”? Also, do you not know personally of areas of the earth that right now are paradise-like because of their beauty and fruitfulness?a

What Is Lacking?

An honest appraisal of the world scene, though, leads to the conclusion that even if beautiful parks and farms are now like paradise, they are exceptions. Man is ruining more and more of the earth. Yes, the responsibility is on man’s shoulders. Oh, it is true that sometimes “natural disasters” such as floods or droughts do damage. But the basic problem is what has been done and is being done by man. Walter Lowdermilk pointed out:

“Harsh as these conditions [now common in the Middle East] are, there has been no significant deterioration in climate since Roman times. . . . The ‘desert’ that took over the once-flourishing land was the work of man, not of nature.”

Similarly, the book Ecology says:

“Man has had the power​—and the responsibility—​of a destiny ascribed to him in Genesis: to ‘have dominion over all the earth.’ But during his dominion he has broken nearly every ecological principle.”​—Page 165.

However, man’s technical accomplishments that have been used in polluting and devastating our earth could be turned to undoing the damage. The Encyclopædia Britannica (1974) acknowledged: “The scientific and technological knowledge now available is more than adequate to solve most of the world’s major environmental problems.” Just think of what could be accomplished if that knowledge were unitedly and consistently applied to our earth, keeping in mind that the earth is a choice location for life and that it has such an ample capacity to recover from damage done to it! The earth could once again be a clean, wholesome and healthful home for mankind. This is what man needs!

In fact, Dr. Rene Dubos pointed out that a major problem today is that

“somehow the ways of life do not satisfy something very profound that the human being needs. When people have hardly any chance to experience the fundamental sensations of life​—contact with undisturbed nature, hearing its pleasant sounds and smelling its pleasant odors—​they are starved for these and seek a substitute. Drugs provide a momentary opportunity to create a world of one’s own, a kind of satisfaction addicts believe the real world no longer gives.”

True, more is needed than just getting away into the woods, for some persons who have fled into wilderness areas continue to seek thrills and escape in drugs. Yet that does not alter the fact that if the earth were a global paradise we could all draw peace and satisfaction from “contact with undisturbed nature.”

Since the potential for a global paradise certainly exists, why has it not been achieved? What is lacking? And why can it confidently be said that it is entirely possible for you to live to see and enjoy life in a global paradise?

[Footnotes]

[Picture on page 4]

Krakatoa was sterilized by a volcanic explosion, but even without man’s help it again became a tropical paradise

[Picture on page 5]

Land that was once stripped by man and later deserted has again become a forest

Will You See All the Earth Become a Paradise?

NO QUESTION about it, the earth has within itself tremendous, well-nigh inexhaustible reserves to restore itself if but given the opportunity. And, likewise, there is little question about man’s scientific and technological means making it possible for him to cooperate with earth’s forces to restore and keep an ecological balance. But are scientists, such as biologists and ecologists, therefore optimistic regarding the future? By no means!

Thus Dr. Szent-Gyorgyi, one of America’s leading biologists, says that man can choose as to which course he will take: “Toward a bright future or toward exterminating himself? At present we are on the road to extermination.” Yes, according to him, the outlook is “very bleak.” And he speaks as an eminent scientist with more than fifty years of experience. Biophysicist Dr. John Platt expresses himself similarly. He urges that scholars, such as natural and social scientists, doctors, engineers, teachers and those with inventive ability all be enlisted to save the environment. But even with the help of all of these, he warns, “there is no guarantee that these problems can be solved, or solved in time, no matter what we do.”

Why are these men so pessimistic? Because man is losing the battle against pollution. More and more harmful products are being dumped into the oceans, and their contamination by oil spills is increasing. In some cases efforts to decrease one cause of air pollution have resulted in a pollution of another and even more serious kind. An example is California’s fight against air pollution. Though its laws are the strictest in the country, news reports say that it is “loosing the battle against pollution on all fronts,” and “the sad fact is that air pollution” there “is worse than ever.”

Why?

Why is the overall outlook so bleak? What accounts for it? Without a doubt one of the reasons is that the matter of keeping man’s environment livable is not just something of national concern; it is of international interest. Authors Ward and Dubos, in their book Only One Earth, explain: “Concerns with global air pollution lie beyond the effective protection of individual governments.” According to them, “man’s global interdependence begins to require . . . a new capacity for global decision-making and global care,” that is, “it requires a new commitment to global responsibilities.” But what prospect is there for such assuming of global responsibilities and for global cooperation? Little indeed, judging by the past record.

The Encyclopædia Britannica (1974) shows why this is the case. After telling that man has the technological know-how to prevent ruination of the earth, it goes on to show that the problems of the 1970’s “are not problems of science and technology but of the arrangements and functioning of human institutions and of the attitudes of individuals.”

J. F. Cassel, writing in Environmental Ethics, puts it more bluntly: “The basic problem of contemporary human ecology is selfishness​—and selfishness is in. The wages of sin is death. The biotic world is dying!” And what shortsighted selfishness it is! Scientist Szent-Gyorgyi concludes that the trouble is that the people “are under the terrible strain of idiots who govern the world and [are] moving inexorably and insanely toward ultimate calamity.”

From what you have observed, you likely can agree with one prominent and concerned American official who stated: “If, by a selfish act, a man can benefit himself while harming the community, he is likely to perform that act.” Illustrating that fact is a report that showed why public utilities were so slow in complying with government orders to install pollution-control equipment. Every year that one such utility delayed in installing a million dollars’ worth of such equipment they saved a quarter million dollars. This helps to explain why American public utilities spend eight times as much in advertising as in research to help to solve the pollution problems to which they themselves contribute! Well did Lord Ritchie-Calder say: “Pollution is a crime compounded of ignorance and avarice.”a

‘Man’s Extremity Is God’s Opportunity’

Is there, then, no hope for the future? If man with all his science and technology is waging a losing battle due to ingrained selfishness, from where can help come? Help can and will come from the Grand Creator, Jehovah God. God? Yes, because his Word the Bible assures us both of God’s interest in the earth and of his purpose for the earth. After all, He created the earth. It belongs to Him, even as the ancient psalmist King David sang: “To Jehovah belong the earth and that which fills it, the productive land and those dwelling in it.”​—Ps. 24:1.

When on earth, God’s Son, Jesus Christ, repeatedly assured us of his Father’s concern for earth’s creatures. He stated that God clothes the lilies of the field with beauty, that he provides for the birds of heaven, that not a sparrow falls without his knowledge. More than that, Jesus said that God causes the sun to shine and the rain to fall on good and bad people alike. (Matt. 5:45; 6:26-30) At Psalm 104 one of God’s servants extols Jehovah God for providing so bountifully for the trees of the field and for all manner of living creatures on earth, including man.

Moreover, God’s Word assures us that Jehovah is “the Former of the earth and the Maker of it, . . . the One who firmly established it, who did not create it simply for nothing,” but “formed it even to be inhabited.” Yes, to be inhabited, not to be ruined. And his Word further assures us: “My word that goes forth from my mouth . . . will not return to me without results, but it will certainly do that in which I have delighted, and it will have certain success in that for which I have sent it.” So we can have confidence that the Creator will never let this earth and all mankind go to ruin.​—Isa. 45:18; 55:11.

Of imperfect humans, it is often true that ‘the means are as often without the will as the will is without the means.’ In other words, it is generally the one with little means who has compassion for those in need of help. But that is not true of the Creator. Not only has he the will to help mankind​—so much so that he gave his only-begotten Son to be our savior—​but also he has infinite means, resources.​—John 3:16.

Unquestionably, there is no limiting of God’s ‘means,’ his wisdom and his power. Did he not create the starry heavens and the earth in the first place? (Gen. 1:1) Then in six creative epochs he prepared the earth that it might be man’s permanent home. During these epochs he caused light to be, formed the atmosphere, caused caused dry land to appear and plant life to spring forth, created sea, air and land creatures and, lastly, man, his crowning achievement.​—Gen. 1:3-28.

The Encyclopædia Britannica (1974) observed: “The Earth is an ideal medium for life. It is at precisely the proper distance from the Sun to receive neither too much nor too little sunlight. It spins on its axis at a rate fast enough to allow the daytime side to warm in sunshine and the nighttime side to cool. Its mass​—and therefore its gravity—​is such that it holds a wide variety of molecules, including the lighter ones that otherwise would drift off into space. Its magnetic field deflects back to space the Sun’s highly energetic radiation, which otherwise would destroy life.”

What infinite wisdom all these facts regarding the earth and the creatures upon it display! Surely the wisdom that produced all these things is equal to any problem that man may cause because of his selfishness and ignorance!

Even as God’s wisdom is infinite, so is his power. As He himself reminded the patriarch Abraham, he is “God Almighty.” Furthermore, Abraham was asked: “Is anything too extraordinary for Jehovah?” Many centuries later God’s Son, Jesus Christ, assured us of the same, saying: “With God all things are possible.” Yes, he is the Almighty, of which fact the Bible reminds us some sixty times.​—Gen. 17:1; 18:14; Matt. 19:26.

How Will God Do It?

How will God go about rescuing this earth from its polluters and destroyers and bring about a global paradise? This he will do by a threefold action. First of all, since ignorance and selfishness are at the root of the problem, God is at the present time having a campaign of education carried on for the purpose of turning men from a course of ignorance and selfishness to a course of wisdom and righteousness. By means of preaching the good news of God’s kingdom and teaching men how to become disciples of Jesus Christ, great changes are being made in people’s personalities. These people are being prepared for life in God’s new order, where there will no longer be the crime of pollution.​—Matt. 24:14; 28:19, 20; Mark 12:29-31.

But for one reason or another the vast majority of people on earth do not respond to the preaching of God’s kingdom. All such will perish when God takes the second step against the crime of pollution by means of a “great tribulation” in which he will “bring to ruin those ruining the earth.”​—Matt. 24:21; Rev. 11:18.

Once before, by a mighty act, Jehovah God rid the earth of those who were polluting and ruining it. When was that? At the time of the Noachian flood. Both Jesus and the apostle Peter drew parallels between the flood of Noah’s day and the end of this present wicked system of things. Jesus described the end as a “great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again.” That tribulation will culminate in the “war of the great day of God the Almighty,” Armageddon.​—Matt. 24: 21, 37-39; 2 Pet. 3:3-13; Rev. 16:14, 16.

With the destruction of all those found in opposition to God and his righteous rule, the way will be open for God’s third great action in regard to the problem of pollution. That is the transforming of the earth into a paradise to be enjoyed by clean-living humans, including those who have survived the “great tribulation” due to their faith and love for God and righteousness. Then the prayer so long and often repeated by Christ’s disciples will find fulfillment: “Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified. Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.”​—Matt. 6:9, 10.

What will it be like when God’s will is done on earth as in heaven? The Bible answers that when this divine will is done on earth, then God “will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.”​—Rev. 21:4.

But When?

However, the big question remains, When will God take such action?

His Word states the principle: “For everything there is an appointed time.” Hence, “when the full limit of the time arrived, God sent forth his Son, who came to be out of a woman.”​—Eccl. 3:1; Gal. 4:4.

So likewise today, the ‘full limit of the time has arrived’ for God to take action against all his foes, including those who ruin the earth. How do we know? Because of the fulfillment of many, many prophecies in our generation. We have seen the wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes and increasing of lawlessness that Jesus said would mark the time of his presence and the end of this wicked system of things.​—Matt. 24:1-22; Rev. 6:1-8.

No, the Creator is not going to wait until men have made this planet uninhabitable and have wiped humanity off its surface by nuclear warfare. The very fact that such things are a distinct possibility in the near future causes many people great concern. But in view of God’s interest in the earth and his concern for it, we can rest assured that he will act before that eventuality takes place.

Will You Do Something About It?

Is not the prospect of life in a paradise earth appealing to you? It is certainly within your reach. You can hope to see it​—if you do something about it! You must heed God’s counsel long ago given: “Seek Jehovah . . . Seek righteousness, seek meekness. Probably you may be concealed in the day of Jehovah’s anger.” To seek Jehovah means to become acquainted with him, his qualities, his purposes and his will for you, all of which he has revealed in his Word, the Holy Bible. To seek righteousness means to learn God’s righteous principles of justice, honesty and impartiality and to bring your life into conformity with them. And to seek meekness means to cultivate a mild-tempered, modest and teachable mental disposition.​—Zeph. 2:3.

Since the time is short before God takes action against those ruining the earth, the time is also short in which to make these changes in your life. You have no time to lose. Today is the ‘day of salvation,’ as far as you are concerned. The Christian witnesses of Jehovah in your locality stand ready to help you.​—2 Cor. 6:2.

[Footnotes]