Re: [asa] Organic farming article

Hello all,

Loren writes:
"> > I haven't heard that argument before in the
> context of organic farming,
> > either. I have heard it before in the context of
> not buying health
> > insurance, not taking vaccines, not taking
> medicine when sick. (Many
> > decades ago, it was used by some people to argue
> that we shouldn't worry
> > about farming practices with accelerate soil
> erosion, since taking care of
> > the soil which the Lord put in place was Lord's
> work.)
> > So organic pest control might or might not be
> good practice, but this
> > particular type of argument has a long, bad
> history."

That thought occurred to me as well. As much as I
admire what they're doing with their environmental
stewardship, their line of reasoning troubles me too.
It seems to me that such a conclusion inherently
condemns the use of any technology which seeks to
"control" or "modify" something because should we not
"trust" the Lord in everything? I'm reminded of the
recent PSCF article "Thinking Critically & Christianly
about Technology", where instead of avoiding the use
of technology, we see technology as an opportunity to
utilize our reason to understand when the use of
technology is appropriate and when it is not. To
refrain from using (appropriately) the
tools/technology that God has given to us simply
because we are "trusting" God seems to me almost
tantamount to "testing" God.

Michael--I totally agree.

In Christ,
Christine

--- Michael Roberts <michael.andrea.r@ukonline.co.uk>
wrote:

> There is a middle way looking for more friendly
> pesticides.
>
> In Wales the National Trust use a substance banned
> by the EU for pest
> control as it is cheap effective and harmless. it is
> dilute washing up
> liquid and is effective at killing aphids . But it
> is illegal.
>
> Pyrethrum based pesticides are better and we can go
> on.
>
> How do you control caterpillars on cabbages?
>
> The logic of the "leave it to the Lord" approach ,
> is not to practice good
> husbandry which is the essence of all farming etc.
> Do we keep pigs in
> squalid conditions and rely on the Lord to prevent
> diseases. There are
> enough hints in the OT to counteract that
>
> Michael
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Loren Haarsma" <lhaarsma@calvin.edu>
> To: "_American Sci Affil" <asa@calvin.edu>
> Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 2:13 PM
> Subject: Re: [asa] Organic farming article
>
>
> >
> >
> > On Tue, 18 Sep 2007, Christine Smith wrote:
> >
> >> I found this article very interesting :)
> >> http://www.enn.com/lifestyle/article/23143
> >> "But because we're organic we can't poison bugs
> and
> >> we're dependent on the Lord," he said, as
> chickens
> >> clucked nearby and a rooster crowed. "There's an
> >> aspect that we trust the Lord to take care of
> >> things.""
> >>
> >> ...
> >>
> >> The second point of interest--their justification
> of
> >> organic farming practices as an expression of
> their
> >> trust in God, and their characterization of
> >> non-organic practices as humanistic because it's
> about
> >> control. I've never heard this argument in the
> context
> >> of organic farming practices before....
> >
> >
> > I haven't heard that argument before in the
> context of organic farming,
> > either. I have heard it before in the context of
> not buying health
> > insurance, not taking vaccines, not taking
> medicine when sick. (Many
> > decades ago, it was used by some people to argue
> that we shouldn't worry
> > about farming practices with accelerate soil
> erosion, since taking care of
> > the soil which the Lord put in place was Lord's
> work.)
> > So organic pest control might or might not be
> good practice, but this
> > particular type of argument has a long, bad
> history.
> >
> > ----------
> >
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> > "unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the
> message.
> >
>
>
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Received on Tue Sep 18 13:04:53 2007