Day 16: The End of the Kingdom of this World

The End of the Kingdom of this World

Rev. Trey Everett, artist

The image below is a Holy Doodle called The End of the Kingdom of this World.

Each Holy Doodle is an image that came to mind from meditating on scripture passages, books, past events, conversations with friends and family, and from simply trying to be attentive to God in my everyday life. The artwork is designed to be thoughtful, introspective, searching, and challenging. My hope is that the image will stretch your mind just enough to cause you to think more deeply about your life with God. Following the drawing is a short reflection and a few questions to ponder.

Maize (or corn, as we call it in America) is grown around the globe.  It is one of the world’s most widely used food staples. Besides human food, corn is used for livestock feed, sweeteners, cornstarch, corn oil, ethanol, alcohol for beverages, high fructose corn syrup, and so on.

Why not genetically modify corn to make it more resilient, more ubiquitous?  We can end starvation, we can change the world for good, we can bring the Kingdom of Heaven to earth! According to my friend Wikipedia, “86% of the maize crop was genetically modified in 2010 and 32% of the worldwide maize crop was GM in 2011.”   Genetic modification has become a multi-trillion dollar industry and because of it the world is being changed … for better or for worse.

As I drew this image I was envisioning what the GM world of the future might look like.  My mind creates a future where Corn has become God.  With genetic traits from giant sequoia trees, cockroaches, titanium, petunias, sharks, cancer, kiwis, coral reefs, wolverines, and many more too numerous to mention, corn now lasts for thousands of years, grows taller than any sky scraper, and is able to resist any conceivable threat to its existence. All other fruits and vegetables, crops and grains have long become extinct, but that’s okay because we are doing fine with GM corn.  In fact GM corn is so awesome that we now build our cities, go to school, and work, raise our families, worship, and live and die on these miraculous engineered marvels of human ingenuity. What could possibly go wrong?

1. What goes through your mind as you look at this image?
2. What do you think are the pros and cons of GM foods and organisms?
3. Read Genesis 1:26-30.  What do you see is our responsibility to creation?
4. John Muir said, “When we try to pick out anything by itself we find that it is bound fast by a thousand invisible cords that cannot be broken, to everything in the universe.” Do you agree with this statement?  If this quote is true, what does it reveal about how we are to work with and live in creation?
5. Are there any passages of Scripture you can think of that talk about the interconnectedness of creation?

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