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| J. I. Rodale looked like the brooding prophet of organic gardening. |
In my previous gardening post, I called inorganic fertilizers the high fructose corn syrup of growth.
When I began studying gardening at the Midland Library, I had the opportunity to read all the best books, a combination of traditional gardening books and a large share of the Rodale organic gardening publications. J. I. Rodale made himself famous through his never-broadcast interview on the Dick Cavett show. He declared he would live to be 100 and died while another guest was being interviewed.
The Rodale material fascinated me because the books advocated using what was already in the yard or near it, from leafy food scraps to leaves and grass.
At the same time, the traditional books scoffed at manure and compost for having low NPK values (nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium). Modern agriculture practiced using inorganic salts for getting better crops.
The difference? - organic methods build up the soil at the foundational level, but fertilizers boost the growth of plants while eventually harming the soil. Fresh fertilizer has organic salts in it (boo - buy the boxed stuff instead). But commercial fertilizers are inorganic salts.
Doubtless my chemistry is too weak to make a case among scientists, but carefully mixed organic substances will compost themselves by God's own design, through His well organized creatures. But - an overdose of fertilizer will burn your precious roses to death. The salts reverse the osmosis and pull moisture out of the plant until it shrivels up.
An overworked and overdosed farm field--with too many helpings of fertilizers and pesticides and herbicides--will die and blow away.
Means of Grace Comparison
Likewise, all the denominations and generic churches are in a panic to speed-grow their enterprises with the latest thientific methods. As one WELS leader said, "We cannot give up the data from all the Fuller Seminary research. We need their studies."
God has designated the invisible Word of teaching and preaching, the visible Word of the Sacraments, to be the instruments of His grace. That truth is clearly established in the Scriptures and clearly taught in the early centuries of the Church. When rationalists began their inroads during the Reformation, the Sacraments were tossed out, or faintly praised as ordinances.
Today we have everyone talking about God's grace without knowing how to obtain this grace. Untalented howlers of narcissistic songs claim they will bring the youth back to church, but the youth largely scoff at the pretentious mockery. And the songsters charge $3,000 just to show up. Means without grace.
Offering treats and yummies on the about page of a church will certainly bring people in, and the congregation will see remarkable results in a short time, visible results, measurable results.
