The Gulf Oil Spill and the Creator

As radical environmentalists shook their heads and hands in horror, and liberal entertainers, quite hypocritically, called for the death penalty for BP execs (Morino, 2010), the oil leak was finally capped in the Gulf of Mexico. The official government estimate: 4.9 million barrels of oil were released into the Gulf, compared with 257,000 barrels in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill (“Oil Disaster…,” 2010). For the atheist and evolutionist, such doomsday announcements are frightening. After all, they do not believe in the God of the Bible, nor do they believe the Earth was created by Him. They do not believe that the planet was specifically designed to serve specific purposes intended by the Creator. They do not believe that the creation possesses inherent resiliency and self-perpetuating variables. They certainly do not believe that the entire Universe is sustained and held together by Jesus Himself (Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:3; 1 Corinthians 8:6). Hence, in harmony with their naturalistic theory, they think it is up to humans to “save the planet” and prevent “planetary emergency” (Gore, 2006, p. 8).

As unnerving and unfortunate as the Gulf oil spill may be, yet, once again, more evidence has “surfaced” that divine design regulates the planet. Microbiologists and microbial ecologists report that oil-gobbling bacteria are “flocking to the…crude in droves” (“Bacteria Are…,” 2010, 329:1005). Scientists say the oil has degraded at a rate “much faster than anticipated” due to a “newly-found and unclassified species of microbes” (Kuo, 2010). Scientists are astounded that, not only do the bacteria break down and disperse the oil particles, they do so without significantly depleting the oxygen level in surrounding seawater. Researchers conclude that the bacteria play “a significant role in controlling the ultimate fates and consequences of deep-sea oil plumes in the Gulf of Mexico” (Hazen, et al., 2010).

If the God of the Bible exists, wouldn’t we expect Him to make the creation resilient, hearty, and generally able to take care of itself? Wouldn’t we expect Him to embed within the environment those features that would be necessary to perpetuate human life until He brings all earthly existence to an end? Yes, we would. And that is precisely what the evidence consistently demonstrates. Yes, humans can inflict damage—but no ultimate harm that would endanger the divinely intended purpose of the environment. Atheistic evolutionists, and their environmentalist protégés, cannot be trusted to provide realistic reactions to oil spills and other manmade mistakes. The sobering perspective that ought to characterize every human being is reflected in the questions posed by God to Job and Jeremiah:

[W]ho shut in the sea with doors, when it burst forth and issued from the womb;
When I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band;
When I fixed My limit for it, and set bars and doors;
When I said, “This far you may come, but no farther, and here your proud waves must stop!”? (Job 38:8-11).
“Do you not fear Me?” says the LORD. “Will you not tremble at My presence,
Who have placed the sand as the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass beyond it?
And though its waves toss to and fro, yet they cannot prevail;
Though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it (Jeremiah 5:22).

REFERENCES

“Bacteria Are Gobbling Gulf Oil” (2010), Science, 329:1005.

Gore, Al (2006), An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming (New York: Rodale).

Hazen, Terry, C., et al. (2010), “Deep-Sea Oil Plume Enriches Indigenous Oil-Degrading Bacteria,” Science, August 24, http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/sci;science.1195979v2?maxtoshow=&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=Terry+Hazen&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT.

Kuo, Vivian (2010), “Newly Discovered Microbe Helped Disperse Oil, Study Finds,” CNN, August 25, http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/08/24/gulf.oil.study/index.html?iref=allsearch.

Morino, Mark (2010), “Brad Pitt Unleashes Anger at BP in Spike Lee Doc,” CNN Entertainment: The Marquee Blog, August 23, http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/23/brad-pitt-unleashes-anger-at-bp-in-spike-lee-doc/?iref=allsearch.

“Oil Disaster By the Numbers” (2010), CNN, http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2010/gulf.coast.oil.spill/interactive/numbers.interactive/index.html.

Published October 3, 2010

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