The Talking Earth

Perhaps one of the most insightful passages of scriptures is the description of the conversation that Enoch had with the Lord after he and his city was taken up into heaven.  In that dialogue we see that the Lord weeps because of the wickedness of the children of men.  Towards the end of the interaction between Enoch and the Lord, Enoch looked back down upon the earth.  We read, "And it came to pass that Enoch looked upon the earth; and he heard a voice from the bowels thereof, saying: Wo, wo is me, the mother of men; I am pained, I am weary, because of the wickedness of my children. When shall I rest, and be cleansed from the filthiness which is gone forth out of me?  When will my Creator sanctify me, that I may rest, and righteousness for a season abide upon my face?  And when Enoch heard the earth mourn, he wept, and cried unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, wilt thou not have compassion upon the earth?" (Moses 7:48-49)  This is a fascinating description to me, largely because it is not clear whether this is a personification of the earth or whether the passage is suggesting that the earth itself actually has a spirit.  It likely is the former, but at the same time the text could certainly be interpreted as being literal given how matter of fact are the words spoken by the earth.  It is interesting that the earth has had a symbolic baptism of water when it was cleansed in the days of Noah, and it will someday have a baptism by fire at the Second Coming when the world will be burned with fire.  It will then "be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory" and will be in a "sanctified and immortal state" (A of F 10, D&C 130:9).  What exactly it means for the earth to receive such sanctification and paradisiacal glory I'm not sure, but clearly the wicked will be cast away so that only righteousness prevails upon it.  

Given the intense focus that many of our society today place on the environment, our care for the earth, and man's use of fossil fuels, I think it is interesting to see what the earth would actually say if it could talk.  Much of the talk of today is centered around whether or not we should limit our usage of fossil fuels and involvement in other activities that may in their view negatively affect the environment.  We hear others condemn those whose activities cause some kind of pollution in the earth or have harmful effects on Mother Nature.  Surely such discussion has its place somewhere, but it is not what the earth itself—according to Moses 7—is most deeply concerned about.  The earth lamented that it was not "cleansed from the filthiness" of the people of the earth.  It was not talking about the physical garbage or pollution that is associated with human activity, but rather the earth was speaking about the behavior and obedience of the children of men.  The earth if it could talk to us today would not be most worried about problems of climate change or deforestation; rather, it would be distraught about the immorality and the secret combinations and the violence that are rampant across the earth.  As usual the world focuses on the wrong problems and doesn’t have any solutions to the ones that really matter in eternity.  Elder Maxwell put it this way: “Do not expect the world’s solutions to the world’s problems to be very effective. Such solutions often resemble what C. S. Lewis wrote about those who go dashing back and forth with fire extinguishers in times of flood.” Our primary concern should be to make sure that we rid ourselves spiritually of pollutions and wickedness and evil, and then spread the message of the gospel to those who will hear it, if we want a place upon that glorified and immortal earth in the Millennium.