The Good Life on God's Good Earth

Such a good conference!

It's now a week and a half since I got back from my whirlwind tour to Winnipeg. I had such a good time! The conference consisted of a number of keynote and plenary sessions with more on the Biblical basis for creation care - they touched on Genesis and Revelation and everything inbetween. I wish I could convey everything that was said, but I think that would make a rather long post. :) Instead, I think I will split it into a few posts over the next week, starting with this little tidbit:

Revelation 21:1-5
Then I saw a new (kainos) heaven and a new (kainos) earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new (kainos)!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

You'll notice the word kainos in the above passage behind 'new.' In the original Greek, there are two different words we translate as 'new' in English, but these words have slightly different meanings that the English translation has a hard time capturing:

NEOS means new in time. It represents something that is chronologically new, and just came into being. It is generally used to show that something is more recent than that which began at an earlier date.

KAINOS denotes that which is qualitatively new or different. It denotes that which is not necessarily new in time, but that which has existed for some time and then underwent a change in its quality or character, however slight, that makes it different from what it was before. In other words, something could be a hundred years old and acquire a new and different quality, and it would be considered new in the sense of KAINOS.

When this understanding is brought to the Revelation passage, it's as though God is saying that heaven and earth will be renewed, and that the old earth will not simply be destroyed. Things like this really make me wish I knew Greek and Hebrew - I can't help but wonder how many other passages there are where our English translations fail to convey the whole picture...

Coming up soon: more practical advice and ideas for changes we can make in our personal lives, as well as a description (and photos!) of the A Rocha Pembina Valley field site.