The main tenants of athiests today boils down to everything being random and that there is no order. If there is no God, and evolution is the dominant theory, then we are just a random accumulation of atoms in a universe of randomness. And if everything is random, it really has no purpose. So can we prove something in this world beyond this randomness theory?
Let’s examine one of the most hot topics in our culture today: carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide was first discovered and defined in the 18th century, and has since been the hot button for a number of geopolitical agendas. As a greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide allows the earth to retain the heat absorbed by the sun, and does not allow it to escape back out into space. An extreme case of this can be observed on Venus, where a high build up of greenhouse gases in its atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide, basically cooks the surface of the planet to up to 700 degrees. There are those on this planet who are afraid that the build up of carbon dioxide on our planet due to industrialization will lead to a similar fate.
Despite the calls to reduce carbon dioxide, there is a fundamental problem with this: human beings. You see, all humans produce carbon dioxide as a by-product of breathing and exhaling. We breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. Therefore, with more than seven billion people on the planet, humans are a huge source of carbon dioxide production. If we really wanted to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the obvious solution would be to get rid of people. Of course, one cannot advocate the position of genocide politically, so the pundits push other less effective solutions to drive their agendas.
However, most people do not see that there is another side to the equation. As stated previously, humans take in oxygen and produce carbon dioxide. Is there something here on the planet that does the exact opposite? Yes! That would be trees. Many trees absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. If trees did not exist, the carbon dioxide build up on earth would be much more significant and problematic. Therefore, trees play an important role in the balance of the earth’s ecology. Despite the fact that trees are not like humans, trees and humans have a direct symbiotic relationship and neither would exist for very long without the other. So is this symbiotic relationship just a random coincidence as athiests would have us believe, or could there possibly be a design behind it?
In the Bible, trees are mentioned before humans are. In Genesis 1:11 (CSB): “Then God said, ‘Let the earth produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.’ And it was so.” And in the garden of Eden in Genesis 2:9 (CSB): “The Lord God caused to grow out of the ground every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden, as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Therefore, trees are identified from the beginning as life and providing nourishment for humans. Throughout the Old Testament, the health of a tree was typically used as a symbolic means of the relationship between Israel and God.
As we move into the New Testament, Jesus assumed the role of the tree in many of his teachings, and by following him, we can have blessed lives. In John 15:5 (CSB): “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.” In Matthew 7:17 (CSB): “In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit.” And the tree of life is mentioned for the first time since the book of Genesis. In Revelation 22:2 (CSB): “The tree of life was on each side of the river, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations.” And in Revelation 22:14 (CSB): “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates.”
Therefore, people in Biblical times understood the symbiotic relationship between humans and trees. How is it possible that the Bible knew this, over 2000 years before we figured out the scientific relationship between humans and trees? Once again, is it just random coincidence, or was it God’s plan all along? Ponder that the next time you observe buds on a tree.
