St. Augustine and Sustainability

Yesterday was the birthday of St. Augustine (354 CE).  I remember laughing out loud when I came across this in his “Confessions” (ca. 400 CE) in a “History of Philosophy” class in college:

 ‘What did God do before he made heaven and earth?’ I do not give the answer that someone is said to have given, evading by a joke the force of the objection: ‘He was preparing hell for those prying into such deep subjects.’  I do not answer in this way. I would rather respond, ‘I do not know.’

I’m with you, Augustine.  I think it’s up to all of us to figure out what’s going on here – including the notion, for those who believe in the Supreme Being, of what a loving God asks from the race of people He created.  I happen to like what a friend of mine told me recently: “I view God, the Creator, as the Supreme Artist.  How can we expect Him to regard humankind, defecating, as we are, on His artwork?”