Nature and Man: the evils in both

(or: Another reason for not believing in a Christian God).

IT seems to me that many Christians have the view that nature, by default, is good and humans, by default, are evil - at least in comparison to nature. Undoubtedly, this comes directly from the bible. When God created everything (including plants and animals) he proclaimed them good. But after the whole Eden fiasco with the snake and the fruit and everything, Man became evil (for the feminists out there - that includes womyn who, according to the bible, are more evil than men).

NOW, its my belief that there is not evidence to indicate that Man is any more evil than any other creature in nature. In fact, nature is built on the same principles that we abhor in ourselves and thus, we are no more evil (or good) than nature- simply part of it. This also suggests to me that the Christian God cannot exist, at least in way the Christians believe (all knowing, all powerful, all good…). Either that or It’s views on good an evil are vastly different from ours. But it that is true, then (religiously speaking) how did our morals arise and why bother worshiping such a being anyway?

SO what happens in nature that is so “bad”? Well, pretty much everything that a “good” Christian is taught to hate. The simplest one is greed. Many people (not just Christians) complain of the human nature of building fences around things, of claiming territory as our own, keeping others off of “our space”. They say who can own the Earth? In an ideal world this is true and hopefully it will be one day when we truly overcome our natural instincts. And consider that territoriality is very natural. Our best and closest friends of the animal kingdom - our pets, dogs and cats - everyone knows to be territorial. It is well known that their urinating in specific locations is a marker of their territory. It is amazing to me that basically everyone knows this and yet very few equate it with the similar characteristic in ourselves. We have opposable thumbs and advanced tool use so we build fences, they have advance smell and full bladders :-) and so mark their territory in such a way. In both cases the reasons are fundamentally similar - a warning to keep “them” out so we can protect what’s “ours”; a fundamental definition of greed, possession, ownership.

ANOTHER favourite target of Christians are homosexuals. Perhaps Christians can argue that the bible commands us not to, but they cannot argue on a natural basis. In the last decade many examples of homosexuality have been observed in the wild; in deer, cats, fowl. In fact, one case of homosexual necrophilia has even been reported in ducks.

AT least one example of “slavery” has been long been known in the nature. Namely, the Aphids and the Ants. Ants keep Aphids as a kind of cow, watching them closely, herding them, milking them. One could argue that the ants are simply more advanced and thus the Aphids may be cows to them. However, if we, as good Christians, believe that all creatures are basically “animals” then it is difficult to justify the act in any other way than slavery.

MURDER has been well documented at all levels of the wild kingdom. Matricide, patricide, regicide, (husband)-icide, even infanticide are very well known. To clarify, I’ll define murder as killing one of your own species, since many animal have no other way of getting food than to kill their prey - a fundamental and very violent feature built into nature (by a caring God?) As a few examples: the Black Widow spider routinely eats her husband (literally bites his head off) after sex (hence her name), the preying Mantis has similar behaviour. Another example is in certain great cats. The older, more powerful cats have a harem with several wives and children – younger cats form gangs to take down the “king” and kill all the young, thus destroying his line. They then force themselves on the females in order to sire their own young (note that this could be considered a form of rape). The females give themselves to the young males knowing that it is the only way to ensure their survival and the survival of their future offspring.


WARS seem to be a bit less common on the large scale in nature, however I believe their have been documented examples of primate tribes warring with each other. Of course, it is also very well know in the insect worlds with bees and ants when the hives split for example, the new queen and supporters are driven into exile.

SO, with these few examples, it is clear to me that nature is every bit as “nasty” and “evil” as humanity. In fact, I believe we share that same traits and it is my belief that the examples I’ve outlined highlight the fact that human behaviour is based on that of the animal kingdom, has originated from such and, unfortunately, has not really advanced beyond it. Furthermore, since God was supposed to have been the creator of the whole system and, according to the bible, evil didn’t enter the picture until Eden and then only to infect humans, how could such a vile and uncaring, dog-eat-dog system be produced by a caring creator?

ON the other hand, it could be suggested that God only created Eden and the rest outside was chaotic life. However, if that is true then how powerful is God in reality? He only created a small oasis amidst vastly greater chaos? That wouldn’t seem to be “all powerful” to me.

Either way, I can see no reconciliation of the facts. An thus, the Christian God cannot exists. For if It cannot exist in the form worshiped by Christians than even if a God exists, it cannot be the Christian God.

Void Surfer