Dear Friends of the Kolbe Center,
Pax Christi!
One of the many terrible effects of the widespread belief in theistic evolution is that it erodes or destroys our ability to interpret the signs of the times and to see the link between our obedience or disobedience to God's Will and corresponding changes in the natural world. No one who takes the Bible seriously can fail to see that God blesses obedience to His Will with favorable weather and fruitfulness and punishes disobedience to His Will with natural disasters and inclement weather. It is not always clear whether these changes are entirely the result of a supernatural divine judgment or blessing, as in the case of Noah's Flood or the miraculous provision of food during the Exodus, or simply the natural consequence of the disorder that occurs when the human will defies the Will of God. In either case, disobedience to God's Will produces disorders in nature, while obedience to God's Will engenders harmony.
One of the most beautiful passages in the Bible on this theme can be found in Deuteronomy 11, where God speaks to His people through St. Moses:
Therefore love the Lord thy God and observe his precepts and ceremonies, his judgments and commandments at all times. Know this day the things that your children know not, who saw not the chastisements of the Lord your God. his great doings and strong hand, and stretched out arm, . . . Your eyes have seen all the great works of the Lord, that he hath done, that you may keep all his commandments, which I command you this day, and may go in, and possess the land, to which you are entering, And may live in it a long time: which the Lord promised by oath to your fathers, and to their seed, a land which floweth with milk and honey. For the land, which thou goest to possess, is not like the land of Egypt, from whence thou camest out, where, when the seed is sown, waters are brought in to water it after the manner of gardens. But it is a land of hills and plains, expecting rain from heaven. And the Lord thy God doth always visit it, and his eyes are on it from the beginning of the year unto the end thereof.
If then you obey my commandments, which I command you this day, that you love the Lord your God, and serve him with all your heart, and with all your soul: He will give to your land the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your corn, and your wine, and your oil, And your hay out of the fields to feed your cattle, and that you may eat and be filled. Beware lest perhaps your heart be deceived, and you depart from the Lord, and serve strange gods, and adore them: And the Lord being angry shut up heaven, that the rain come not down, nor the earth yield her fruit, and you perish quickly from the excellent land, which the Lord will give you.
It is clear from this passage and from many other similar ones throughout Holy Scripture that the first concern of those who seek to preserve and protect the environment should be to ensure the observance of the natural law and of positive divine law throughout the world. It should be obvious that abortion, contraception, pornography, child abuse, and euthanasia are a much greater threat to the environment than plastic - as serious a menace as plastic can be as a physical pollutant on land and sea.
One of the main reasons why theistic evolution tends to blind us to these realities is that it denies the original goodness - and what St. Thomas calls the "first perfection" - of the first created world. One of the most important presentations at our recent leadership conference by Fr. Chad Ripperger addressed this error by reminding us of the important but much-neglected metaphysical doctrine of "the integral good" which explains why the creation before the Original Sin had to reflect the perfect character of God and could not be characterized by death, deformity, extinctions, and disease. You can order Fr. Ripperger's talks and all of the conference talks as recorded by St. Joseph's Communications at this link for only $60 for the complete set of audio CDs and $100 for the complete set of DVDs.
Finally, I want to give all of you an update on the DVD series which many of you have so generously supported during the last year and a half. I regret to say that we are still not finished, although in the long run I think that we will be vindicated for expanding the series to 16 segments and extending the production time-line -because there was additional content that simply had to be included to thoroughly make the case for the traditional Catholic doctrine of creation and against any kind of "Theistic" or atheistic system of molecules-to-man evolution.
Unfortunately, the expansion of the content to 16 segments and the expansion of quite a few of the original segments to make them more complete has increased the anticipated cost to finish the project by about $30,000.00. If you would be interested in seeing some of the work that has already been done, I would be happy to send you a few private links. I think you will be very impressed with the quality of the work, both in appearance and in content. If you would be willing to make a donation to hasten the completion of the project, that would be a huge blessing for us just now.
Yours in Christ through the Immaculata,
Hugh Owen
