On Saturday November 5, a total of 40 people joined us for all or part of a hike, potluck supper and presentation by Dr. Iain Provain. Those who arrived in the afternoon hiked the King Mountain trail in Gatineau Park. With the leaves off the trees we had excellent views of the Ottawa River Valley as well as downtown Ottawa and the National Capital Region.

Following a potluck supper, we listened to Dr. Provain speak on the topic Am I my Brother’s Keeper? And What about the Planet? Using scripture Dr. Provain critiqued Lynn White’s thesis that biblical Christianity is destructively anthropocentric. He also illustrated how White’s claim that “no item in the physical creation had any purpose save to serve man’s purposes” is not consistent with scripture. Dr. Provain explained how the way we treat other people is interrelated with our care of creation. For example, he quoted Hosea 4:1-6 “There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Because of this the land mourns, and all who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the fish of the sea are dying.” He concluded with the prophecies of harmony between humans and animals as presented in Hosea 2:18 and Isaiah 11:6, “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat.”

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Upcoming Events in Ottawa

  • Saturday Jan 7, 2017: Paul Heintzman will be speaking at Dominion Chalmers United Church’s Church Café on the topic of Caring for the Environment: From Parental Influences to Bill Mason and A Rocha
  • Saturday Jan. 28: A Rocha Ottawa Event – Winter Activities, Potluck Supper and Talk by Dr. Steven Bouma-Prediger on Ecological Virtues
  • Sunday Jan 29 and Monday Jan 30, 2017: Dr. Steven Bouma-Prediger will be speaking at Veritas Forum events at the University of Ottawa
  • Saturday May 20, 2017: A Rocha Ottawa event with Leah Kostamo (Co-founder of A Rocha Canada)