SENTINEL WATCH August 26, 2002 Issue

For the good of the whole

By Margaret Rogers

Yogurt  is a staple at our house, but I recently learned that some of the cartons it comes in aren't being accepted at recycling centers. In the United States, plastic containers that are recyclable are marked with a numbering system, 1 through 7. Because there isn't sufficient demand for containers marked 3 through 7, however, most of them end up in landfill waste-disposal sites. Now, whenever possible, I buy cartons labeled 1 or 2.

What does a decrease in the amount of waste put into landfills have to do with the increase of spirituality—the goal this magazine holds as most important to human progress? Perhaps the Bible points to an answer when it says that "we are members one of another." The full verse reads, "Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another" (Eph. 4:25).

The Scriptural meaning of being members one of another goes beyond the biological sense of interdependency between animals, vegetables, and minerals. But those relationships symbolize a deeper truth—the unity and harmony of a purely spiritual creation. This spiritual creation is real and is the only creation of God, and it depends wholly on the Supreme Being for life. Simply put, God is Life. We are members one of another because divine Life created and sustains us all.