God has created time on the first day of his creation. The condition of chaos and disorder before creation has been changed to cosmos and order through the existence of time. The basic unit of time, i.e. the regular circulation of day and night, made ...
God has created time on the first day of his creation. The condition of chaos and disorder before creation has been changed to cosmos and order through the existence of time. The basic unit of time, i.e. the regular circulation of day and night, made it possible. Other units of time-months, seasons, years-have also the same function. These time units are all embedded in the (rhythms of) natural world. Therefore the created time is essentially natural time or ecological time. It consists of the rhythms of day and night, the seasons, the ebb and flood of tides, the cycles of the moon and planets, life activities of animals planets, and so forth. Ancient Israelites walked in relationship to this natural time. They recognized the nature of time and tried to live in accordance with that time. Their calendars and festivals show that their lives were oriented to the natural time. On the other hand, they believed the created time has an end. The judgment oracles of the written prophets proclaimed that God would make an end of time with environmental disorder and confusion of natural time. But not that all. Their salvation oracles prophesied the restoration of natural order and regular time sequence. Apocalyptic literature also proclaimed the end of time. But its message was different from that of the written prophets. It emphasized the coming of entirely new cosmos, new heaven and new earth. Many people on modern times have tried to realize that new cosmos with the power of human reason and volition since the Enlightenment. It is true that the scientific and technological development made our lives abundant and convenient. However, it also caused many harmful effects on the natural environment. It is no exaggeration to say that current environmental crisis is the result of our improper use of technology. Due to that crisis, the strong human-environment relations have been increasingly broken down, and we cannot scarcely find natural time in the environment because the clock time of industrial society controls the natural time. In other words, natural time has been gradually replaced by managed clock time. The biblical texts, however, offer hope beyond our human failures. Because it is based on the premise that God is the creator of environment and time, the Bible includes the hope that God will redeem us and the rest of the world in a new creation. To experience that hope realized in our lives, we humans must keep in mind the basic biblical worldview that both humans and nature are dependent upon God for existence, and humans are ultimately bound to nature. Furthermore, we must care for the natural environment in anticipation of God`s coming redemption of creation. Because human actions that are in accordance with the order of creation result in the flourishing of creation and the restoration of natural time, we must try to develop Ecologically oriented life models and to live in harmony with natural environment.