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Day 1462 – Forgive Your Enemies – Humor Unplugged

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Welcome to Day 1462 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Forgive Your Enemies – Humor Unplugged

Wisdom – the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek! Where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your Captain on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. This is Day 1462 of our Trek, and time for a 3-minute mini-trek called Humor Unplugged. Our Thursday podcast will provide a short and clean funny story to help you lighten up and live a rich and satisfying life. Something to cheer you and give a bit a levity in your life. We are told in Proverbs 15:30 A cheerful look brings joy to the heart; good news makes for good health. We are also encouraged in Proverbs 17:22 A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength. Consider this your vitamin supplement of cheer for today. So let’s jump right in with today’s funny which is titled:

Forgive Your Enemies

In his Sunday sermon, Pastor Sam prepared a fiery sermon, “Forgive Your Enemies,” as his subject. As he was finishing up his sermon, he pleaded with the congregation and asked, “how many are you willing to forgive your enemies?” To Pastor Sam’s amazement, only about half of the congregation held up their hands.

Not satisfied with the response, Pastor Sam went back into his sermon and harangued the congregation for another twenty minutes and repeated his question, “how many are you willing to forgive your enemies?.” The response was better, but still, only eighty percent of the hands were raised. The lack of response lit a fire in Pastor Sam’s belly, and he started back in for fifteen more minutes and repeated his question, “how many are you willing to forgive your enemies?.” Thinking that they may be there all day, everyone raised their hand except for old Mr. Jones in the back pew.

“Mr. Jones, are you not willing to forgive your enemies?”

“I don’t have any enemies, Pastor.”

In a bit of a pompous tone, Pastor Sam asked, “Mr. Jones, that is very unusual. How old are you?”

“One hundred and one.” Mr. Jones replied.

Still not being convinced, Pastor Sam said, “Mr. Jones, please come down in front and tell the congregation how a man can live to be one hundred and one and not have an enemy in the world.”

Old Mr. Jones teetered down the aisle, slowly turned to face the congregation, smiled, and said, “I outlived every one of them!”I hope that brought a smile to your face today. If it did pass your smile onto some else, we all could use a kind smile each day. Our Thursday thought is, “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”

 

Here is our verse for today:

Colossians 3:13

Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.

Just as you enjoy these nuggets of humor, please encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of ‘Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.’ If you would like to listen to any of our past 1461 treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are all available at Wisdom-Trek.com.  I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day will be downloaded to you automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most importantly, I am your friend as I serve you in through this Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal each day.

As we take this Trek of life together, let us always:

  1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
  2. Love Unconditionally
  3. Listen Intentionally
  4. Learn Continuously
  5. Lend to others Generously
  6. Lead with Integrity
  7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

I am Guthrie Chamberlain….reminding you to ’Keep Moving Forward,’ ‘Enjoy your Journey,’ and ‘Create a Great Day…Everyday’! See you tomorrow for Futuristic Friday!

Day 1461 – Arguments for a Divine Council – Worldview Wednesday

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Welcome to Day 1461 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

I am Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Arguments for a Divine Council – Worldview Wednesday

Wisdom – the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek! Where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. Today is Day 1461 of our Trek, and it is Worldview Wednesday. Creating a Biblical Worldview is essential to have a proper perspective on today’s current events. To establish a Biblical Worldview, you must have a proper understanding of God and His Word. This week, on our Worldview Wednesday episode, we will continue with our study based on a course I recently completed taught by Dr. Michael Heiser. Our study is titled “Sons and Daughters of God: The Believer’s Identity, Calling, and Destiny” Throughout this multi-week course we will demonstrate that, in the Old Testament, “sons of God” and “holy ones” refers to supernatural beings whose Father is God and who work with God to carry out His will and that this divine family was present before humanity. By fully engaging with biblical texts such as Psalm 82; Psalm 89, and Deuteronomy 32:8–9, our study will show that this divine family functions as a template for God’s human family. God desires of humans, as His imagers, to participate in His council. This study addresses issues such as polytheism, the nature of the (little ‘g’) “gods,” and the uniqueness of Yahweh. Within this study, we will apply insights to the New Testament texts and shows how the metaphor of being in God’s family informs our sense of identity and mission as believers.

Arguments for a Divine Council

·      Segment 12: Polytheism: Are The Gods Real?

Denying the Reality of the elohim as gods mocks God

Now, aside from trajectories that sort of try to blunt or strip away the supernatural element of the plural elohim, the plural sons of God in the Old Testament, by making them idols or making them people, when we dispense with that, that brings us to a certain set of issues that we have to address. If it’s not those other things, then it must be divine beings. Then typically, what’s asked is, well, maybe this is just sort of imaginative. Perhaps the gods, these other elohim just aren’t real at all.

Biblical Writers Had a Supernatural Worldview

How do we handle that? Because these are biblical writers writing things about these other elohim. Now, we as modern people, we sort of reflexively go to this question, and we sort of assign unreality to these beings. A biblical writer would not do this. A biblical writer is predisposed to supernaturalism. That’s why the Unseen Realm has its subtitle: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible.

Then you might say, “Well, if you are going to say that these gods are real (and I do because the biblical writers do), isn’t that polytheism? Then what about these phrases about ‘there is no other God besides Yahweh of Israel,’ ‘besides Him there is no other,’ these sorts of phrases?” 

Denying Reality of the Elohim Mocks GodSo this is the territory that we need to cover now. What we’ve already established has God’s members of His council as spirit beings. There are other ways to discern that and discern God’s relationship to them. I would suggest this. We’ll start here: that if you are going to deny that the other elohim, the members of God’s council, if you’re going to say they are not real, then doing that actually mocks God because God is going to be described as being above these other elohim, as being the elohim of elohim, the God of gods.

If those beings don’t really exist, there is no glory for God to be had there. In fact, it makes God a caricature. These sorts of statements that God is above these gods, God is the God of gods, these kinds of statements, in the Psalms, there is a lot of them (Psalm 86:8; Psalm 95:3; Psalm 96:4; 97:7, 9; Psalm 136:2); the one I like though is in Exodus (Exodus15:11). In that particular passage, it’s right after the crossing of the Red Sea, and it’s part of Moses’s song, where he says, “O Lord, O Yahweh, who is like you among the gods?”

Well, if those gods aren’t real, what does that say? It sort of eviscerates the praise of God at that point. It’s like saying, “O Lord, who is like you among these beings that don’t exist?” Think about it in this manner. I am better than a being that doesn’t exist, and so are you. If you strip away the reality, if you deny them reality, there is no praise of God when God is compared to them. It’s comparing God to nothing or a cartoon character or some fictional entity. We are better than that as well, and so, where is the glory for God? This is why I said stripping away the supernatural ends up making God a caricature and mocks Him. I think we need to be careful with that.

Judgment Cast on Gods, Not Idols

Exodus 12:12, referring back to the final plague—and of course, that’s going to be the precursor of the crossing the Red Sea where we get Exodus 15:11—look at the language there: “For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord [I am Yahweh].”

So here, we have the death of the firstborn; this is direct and specifically (and the other plagues were as well in most cases) to the gods of Egypt—their defeat. Well, it doesn’t say much if God is defeating beings that don’t exist. Where is the glory in that? Now, we are not saying that idols don’t matter, or they are never in the picture, but idols are not to be equated with gods. We’ve already talked a little bit about that, but you can’t import idols into Psalm 82 and some of these other passages because God doesn’t work with them.Relationship between Deity and Idol in Ancient Thought

You have to understand the ancient mindset—how an ancient person thought about an idol and thought about the deity. An ancient person built an idol with the belief that after doing certain rituals that an entity, a spiritual being, a deity would come and attach itself to that object, would come and reside in that object. So there was an identification of two things: a deity that they thought was real, and an object that essentially became that deity’s domain or, again, attached to that deity.

If you smashed an idol, an ancient person wouldn’t sit there and cry or imagine that, “Oh, now my deity is dead; Baal is dead,” or whoever. They are not going to imagine it that way; what they would do is they would go home and make another one because the entity that inhabited that thing that is now destroyed needs to be reattached to it. That object is no longer fit for the deity to inhabit. So we make another one. The deity doesn’t die; it doesn’t go away. In their minds, it is real, and it’s there, and we need a place for it to dwell among us.

Summary

So if we look at it the way an ancient person does, yes, they thought (and the biblical writers thought with them) that the gods were real. They were real entities, and because they thought that, when they compared Yahweh to those other gods, they were making a theological statement that is really, frankly, more important than any other theological statement in the Old Testament.

God is the God of gods; He is the only one who deserves worship. He is the creator. He is the sovereign. He is … fill in the blank. All of these things are attributable to Yahweh alone in Israelite thinking, but if you say that these beings aren’t real at all, then He is being compared to nothing, and there is no praise in that.

·      Segment 13: The G-O-D Problem

Cultural and Contextual Problem

So let’s confront the question: Does multiple elohim mean polytheism? I’ve said repeatedly already no. What we have here, we need to think culturally. We don’t have a theological problem in Psalm 82 when the biblical writer talks about multiple elohim being in a council with Yahweh. What we actually have is a cultural and a context problem.

Modern Views on the Term “God”

I like to explain it this way: When we as modern people, modern Westerners, Christians, or just generally modern people, when we see the letters G, O, and D on a page or a screen, our brain, because of our culture, our Western culture, Judaeo-Christian culture, and our traditions, when we see those letters, our mind immediately assigns a specific set of unique attributes to the letters G, O, and D. We can’t help it. It’s just the way our mind works because of our cultural context. We see G, O, and D, and then we think of things like omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence.

Again, because of the way we are taught and raised in our culture, there can only be one of those, and so we get creeped out when you put an S on the end of that word (G-O-D-S) because our brains assign a specific set of attributes to those letters.

Elohim Not Connected to Unique Attributes

That is not what a biblical writer thought when he thought about the word elohim. Elohim does not carry with it a specific set of unique attributes. We know that is the case. Why? You don’t have to take my word for it. We know that’s the case because biblical writers used the term elohim of different entities besides the God of Israel. And when they did that, they aren’t assigning those attributes or any specific attributes that should belong to Yahweh to other entities. They are not thinking about attributes at all; that’s our problem.

When we see the letters G, O, D, our brain assigns those attributes. Elohim does not work that way. It is not about a specific set of unique attributes, and the evidence for that is really right in front of us in the biblical text by virtue of the way biblical writers used elohim of a variety of different entities besides the God of Israel. So next week, we will study how the term is actually used.[1]

That will finish our study for this week’s Worldview Wednesday. Tomorrow we will enjoy our 3-minute Humor nugget that will provide you with a bit of cheer, which will help you to lighten up and live a rich and satisfying life. So encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along with us tomorrow for another day of ‘Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.’ If you would like to listen to any of our past 1460 treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.

Thank you so much for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and, most of all, your friend as I serve you in through this Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this Trek together, let us always:

  1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
  2. Love Unconditionally
  3. Listen Intentionally
  4. Learn Continuously
  5. Lend to others Generously
  6. Lead with Integrity
  7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

I am Guthrie Chamberlain….reminding you to ’Keep Moving Forward,’ ‘Enjoy your Journey,’ and ‘Create a Great Day…Everyday’! See you Tomorrow!

[1] Heiser, M. S. (2019). Sons and Daughters of God: The Believer’s Identity, Calling, and Destiny. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

Day 1460 – All In! – Wisdom Unplugged

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Welcome to Day 1460 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

All In! – Wisdom Unplugged

Wisdom – the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek! Where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. This is Day 1460 of our Trek, and it is time for our 3-minute mini trek called Wisdom Unplugged. This short nugget of wisdom includes an inspirational quote with a little bit of additional content for today’s trek. Consider this your vitamin supplement of wisdom for today. So let’s jump right in with today’s nugget:

Today’s quote is from  Vincent van Gogh, and it is:  I am seeking, I am striving, I am in with all my heart.      

All In!

How committed are you in the various segments of your life. How committed are you to your family and preserving a loving relationship? How committed are you to physical fitness and living a healthy lifestyle? How committed are you to improving yourself mentally and intellectually? How committed are you to maintaining healthy personal and social life with others? How committed are you to be prudent and wise in your financial dealings, and staying out of debt? How committed are you to your work and career, so you are successful in whatever job you do? Finally, how committed are you to maintaining a healthy, growing, and vibrant spiritual life where loving God and loving others is your highest calling?  In all seven areas of life, to live to fulfill your God-given potential, you need to be continually seeking, to be continually striving, to be all in with all of your heart. It is then you can reflect and know that you are ALL IN! So continue on, because God is not finished with you until He calls you home to be with Him.

Philippians 1:6

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

1 Corinthians 10:31

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

That’s a wrap for today’s Wisdom Unplugged quote. If you would like free access to my database of over 11,000 inspirational quotes, the link is available on the main page of Wisdom-Trek.com. Just as you enjoy these nuggets of wisdom, encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of ‘Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.’ If you would like to listen to any of our past 1459 treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most importantly, I am your friend as I serve you in through this Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal each day.

As we take this Trek of life together, let us always:

  1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
  2. Love Unconditionally
  3. Listen Intentionally
  4. Learn Continuously
  5. Lend to others Generously
  6. Lead with Integrity
  7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

I am Guthrie Chamberlain….reminding you to ’Keep Moving Forward,’ ‘Enjoy your Journey,’ and ‘Create a Great Day…Everyday’! See you tomorrow for Worldview Wednesday!

Day 1459 – Bible Study – Its Aim Is Not Ignorance – Meditation Monday

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Welcome to Day 1459 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Bible Study – Its Aim Is Not Ignorance – Meditation Monday

Wisdom – the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before.

Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase wisdom and create a living legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. This is Day 1459 of our trek, and it is time for Meditation Monday. Taking time to relax, refocus, and reprioritize our lives is crucial in order to create a living legacy.

For you, it may just be time alone for quiet reflection. You may utilize structured meditation practices. In my life, meditation includes reading and reflecting on God’s Word and praying. It is a time to renew my mind, refocus on what is most important, and make sure that I am nurturing my soul, mind, and body. As you come along with me on our trek each Meditation Monday, it is my hope and prayer that you, too, will experience a time for reflection and renewing of your mind. 

We are continuing our series this week on Meditation Monday as we focus on Mastering Bible Study through a series of brief insights from Hebrew Scholar, Dr. Michael S. Heiser. Our first few insights will focus on study habits to build a strong foundation. Today let us meditate on…

Bible Study – Its Aim Is Not Ignorance

·      Insight Thirteen: The Aim of Bible Study is the Meaning of the Text, Not a Defense of Your View

The Bible is God’s Word—a repository of truths and information that, through human authors, God wanted to be preserved for posterity. Since the Bible is one of God’s means to transform our lives and direct our behavior, those who hold it in esteem have an emotional investment in it. They believe that it’s the expression of God’s will, not only for faith but also practice (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Given all that’s riding on Bible study, it’s not hard to see why people who engage in it seriously sometimes argue about the results. Disagreements aren’t about an intellectual victory. Right and wrong are at stake; at least that’s the ideal. Sometimes that’s accurate. Other times it’s exaggerated.

Knowing precisely what the Bible means at every turn would require omniscience. Several passages are ambiguous. God knows omniscience isn’t an attribute we possess. Consequently, assigning a point of morality to every interpretive decision is unwise. It may sound sacrilegious, but a lot of the Bible—and hence, Bible study—doesn’t have a moral issue in view.

I’ve met many Christians who are so desperate to make sure their behavior is right and not wrong that they end up becoming better at arguing for what their family or tradition tells them a verse means than actually studying the matter for themselves. I’ve seen relationships destroyed over conflicting Bible interpretations where no core doctrinal teaching was at stake. I’ve seen believers driven to despair when friends or family members make an interpretation a litmus test for good standing before them and even before God.

The goal of Bible study shouldn’t be about finding ammunition to make someone guilty or shaming someone on the other side of a disagreement. It isn’t about finding ways to crush opposition or force a spiritual submission. You aren’t the Holy Spirit. It’s often better to kindly share what you believe and its basis in Scripture and then privately take your concerns to the Lord.

·      Insight Fourteen: Ignorance Is Not a Gift of the Spirit

In this era of social media, we’ve all been exposed to people who have a knack for irritating and offending people they’ve never met. If you peruse comments on blogs or online forums to any extent, you know precisely who I’m talking about: the person who can’t seem to read anything without making sure everyone learns that they disagree and why, often in copious detail. So much for the global community.

Dr. Heiser has been blogging for years and has seen countless samples of incoherent, apoplectic ramblings. That doesn’t bother him. The dialogue he finds disturbing hits him in his soft ministry underbelly. As someone who’s spent many years in the classroom as a biblical studies professor, he cares that people want to learn Scripture. In his experience, a single overbearing spirit can poison the learning environment with disturbing speed and efficiency. The internet is the natural habitat of the “unteachable web dweller.”

You would think it would be easy for a professor to (pardon the pun) teach this type of student a lesson. This species often comes with an immunity: their appeal to ignorance as a virtue. Bringing up why the unteachable soul needs to rethink their dogmatic conclusion because of a point of Greek or Hebrew grammar has little effect when they’ve been trained to be suspicious of scholars. Appeals to Christian charity are harmlessly deflected when the target equates being uninfluenced by research with “defending the faith” (a tortured use of Jude 3).

I’m not recommending that Bible students bow to everything scholars say. For one thing, that would be impossible since scholars often disagree. For another, even scholarly conclusions are influenced by presuppositions. A committed Bible student needs to respect scholarship, not prostrate to it.

No one earns a Ph.D. without learning a great deal. That effort does indeed separate the scholar from most people. But the way to judge what a scholar says is not by extolling the virtues of ignorance. Instead, the committed Bible student will put in long hours to either confirm or critique what a given scholar says.

God doesn’t smile with more affection on someone who knows little about a subject, especially when that subject is the Bible. Willful resistance to thinking hard and long about the book we say is inspired is anything but a gift of the Spirit.

Joshua 1:8

Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.

That is a wrap for today’s meditation. Next week, we will continue our trek on Meditation Monday as we take time to reflect on what is most important in creating our living legacy. On tomorrow’s trek, we will explore another wisdom quote. This 3-minute wisdom supplement will assist you in becoming healthy, wealthy, and wise each day. Thank you for joining me on this trek called life. Encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

If you would like to listen to any of the past 1458 daily treks or read the daily Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day will be downloaded to you automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most importantly, your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this trek together, let us always:

  1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
  2. Love Unconditionally
  3. Listen Intentionally
  4. Learn Continuously
  5. Lend to others Generously
  6. Lead with Integrity
  7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

I am Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Everyday! See you tomorrow!

Day 1458 – The Future of Food 2 – Ask Gramps

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Welcome to Day 1458 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

The Future of Food – Ask Gramps

Wisdom – the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek! Where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. Today is Day 1458 of our Trek, and our focus on Fridays is the future technological and societal advances, so we call it Futuristic Fridays. My personality is one that has always been very future-oriented. Since my childhood, I have yearned for the exploration and discovery of new technologies and advancements for the future. I grew up with the original Star Trek series, and even today, while I am on my 64th revolution around the sun, I still dream of traveling in space. Each week we will explore rapidly converging technologies and advancements, which will radically change our lives. At times, the topics may sound like something out of a science fiction novel, but each area that we explore is already well on its way of becoming a reality over the next couple of decades.

To keep with our theme of “Ask Gramps,” I will put our weekly topics in the form of a question to get us on track. So this week’s question is, Hey Gramps, technological advances are moving so quickly. With the world population growing briskly, how will technology impact food in the future? 

The Future of Food (Part 2)

Last week we focused on the first part of how exponential technologies are impacting food production. This week we will continue exploring how food production is changing rapidly. I am using some of the information mentioned in Peter Diamandis’s blogs and book “The Future is Faster Than You Think.”

Could a hamburger grown in a lab from Kobe beef stem cells be cheaper, better tasting, and healthier for you?

Can you imagine a future where millions of square miles of pastoral land are reclaimed by nature, creating new forests and revitalizing the Earth’s vital oxygen making?

Last week, we discussed the hyper-efficient food production systems of 2030. This week, we continue that discussion, but from a different perspective—because by the end of the next decade, we may witness the end of industrial animal agriculture as we know it.

Through the convergence of biotechnology and AgTech, we will witness the birth of the most ethical, nutritious, and environmentally sustainable food system ever devised by humankind.

Let’s dive in.

·      Cultured Meat

Meat production is often problematic. A quarter of the planet’s available landmass is currently used to keep 20 billion chickens, 1.5 billion cattle, and 1 billion sheep alive—that is, until we can kill them and eat them. We also have to deal with all of the waste and by-products associated with the butchering of animals.

Here are some statistics that will open your eyes. One out of seven Americans will go to bed hungry tonight, yet farm animals consume 30 percent of the world’s food crops. It is much more exaggerated in most developing countries. Worse is the water involved. Meat production accounts for 70 percent of global water use. Compared to 1,500 liters required to produce a kilogram of wheat, it takes 15,000 liters to produce a kilogram of beef, meaning there’s enough water in an adult steer to float a U.S. Navy destroyer. While this next statistic may be debatable, it is projected that meat production is also responsible for 14.5 percent of all greenhouse gases and a considerable portion of our deforestation problem as land is cleared for pastures.

So what is the solution as meat consumption continues to rise throughout the world? One answer is cultured meat, which is meat that is grown from a few cells into a full-blown steak. Cultured meat is produced by taking a few stem cells from a live animal, typically via a biopsy, so the animal isn’t harmed. Feed these cells a nutrient-rich solution. Power the whole process in bioreactors. Give the industry a few years to mature and the technology a few years to shed costs, and, finally, we can produce an infinite number of steaks to feed an increasingly carnivorous population.

As with any emerging technology, there are still numerous hurdles to overcome in the process, but we are fast approaching the point at which converging exponential technologies will enable this transformation of today’s food system.Environmental issues aside, cultured meat has the potential to become far more cost-effective than conventional meat. It will soon compete with the latter on almost every market-oriented criteria in existence.

For starters, cultured meat production is mostly an automated process without much need for land or labor. Plus, it takes a few months or years to grow a cow on farms, but only a few weeks to produce a cow’s worth of steak in the lab.

It’s more than just steak. The meats in development range from pork sausage and chicken nuggets to lamb and filet mignon—it all depends on which stems cells you start with. In late 2018, for example, a company called, Just Foods announced a partnership with Japanese Wagyu beef producer Toriyama to develop cultured meat from the cells of what has long been the rarest and most expensive steaks on Earth.

What is possible with cultured meat is also true for milk. Perfect Day Foods, a Berkeley, California-based company started by two founders with a passion for cheese, has figured out how to make the animal-derived product without any involvement from cows. Combining gene sequencing with 3D printing and fermentation science, they’ve created a line of animal-free dairy products.

So what does this all mean? These food changes will bring about a fundamental reconfiguration of the way we source, consume, and pay for food, with much lower environmental costs.

·      The Benefits

Such a transformation will revamp our world in ways we have only begun to imagine.

Imagine what this will mean as the world population grows to over 10 billion by 2050, which is only 30 years from now. The reduction of resources alone is considerable. Cultured meat uses 99 percent less land, 82-96 percent less water, and produces 78-96 percent fewer greenhouses gases.

Energy use drops somewhere between 7 and 45 percent, depending on the meat involved. As an example, traditional chicken ranching is much more energy-intensive than conventional beef ranching.

If we can free up a quarter of our landmass, we will have more land available for humans. We can also reforest, providing sufficient renewable materials to support that growth.

While that’s a lot of numbers to consider, what they add up to is astounding: An ethical and environmental solution to population growth and world hunger.

It’s also a much healthier solution. As we will soon be growing steak from stem cells, we can do the impossible: Make fast food hamburgers that are actually good for you. We’ll be newly able to increase essential proteins, reduce saturated fat, even add vitamins.

Another huge win: cultured meat requires no antibiotics. Given the danger of diseases like mad cow disease, next-gen meat consumption will be far safer for humans, reducing—if not eliminating—the food industry’s industrial hygiene challenges.

Since 70 percent of emerging diseases come from livestock, by turning to cultured meat, we’re both lowering the global disease burden and decreasing our risk of a pandemic.

·      Food in 2030

Over the last two weeks, we have explored how converging exponentials will revolutionize one of humanity’s most basic needs.

By the end of the next decade, anyone anywhere will have on-demand, ultra-cheap access to lab-grown meat— far more nutritious than livestock-derived products, with a near-zero carbon footprint and safety guarantees.

As we have all had to adapt to during the Covid-19 pandemic, we may not always want to venture out to shop. The rapidly changing exponential technologies in food production will allow us more choices. The rise of vertical farming, autonomous drone networks, and last-mile delivery advancements will make food deliverable to your doorstep, sourced from a low-land use food production center. “Local foods” will be truly local. Either that, or download physiology-optimized recipes to your in-home food 3D printer. These exponential food technologies are starting to sound like the Star Trek food replicators already.

While traditional agriculture has experienced shifts and industrialization, growing food has roughly been the same since the beginning of human history.

Soon to undergo one of the most monumental technological revolutions in history, our food system is about to be leagues more efficient, ethical, and sustainable than ever before—not to mention far healthier.

In just a few years, humans will become the first animal that derives our protein from other animals, yet doesn’t harm anyone in the process. Meat miles—that is, the transportation costs involved in moving meat around—will nearly disappear. Slaughterhouses will become a story we tell our grandchildren. A planet that is already significantly strained for producing enough food under the weight of seven billion people will have a fighting chance for food abundance as we grow to 10 billion by 2050.

Even with these exciting food technologies that are coming in the next couple of decades, we know that as Christ-followers, we do not have to be anxious or worried, for God will take care of us. He may just use some of these technologies as His instruments. 

Matthew 6:25-26

“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?

That is a wrap for today’s question. Join us again next Futuristic Friday as we look at Virtual Reality – From Deceptive to Disruptive on our ‘Ask Gramps’ episode. Our next trek is Meditation Monday, where we will help you reflect on what is most important in life. So encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along on Monday for another day of ‘Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.’ If you would like to listen to any of the past 1457 daily treks or read the associated journals, they are all available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day will be downloaded to you automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and, most of all, your friend as I serve you in through this Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this Trek of life together, let us always:

  1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
  2. Love Unconditionally
  3. Listen Intentionally
  4. Learn Continuously
  5. Lend to others Generously
  6. Lead with Integrity
  7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

I am Guthrie Chamberlain….reminding you to ’Keep Moving Forward,’ ‘Enjoy your Journey,’ and ‘Create a Great Day…Everyday’! See you on Monday!