The Works of God or the Works of Man?
Posted on Sep 22, 2012 by Trevor in Religion
A thirty minute drive outside of Ponferrada, Spain in the northwestern part of the country will take you to a beautiful national park called Las Médulas. It’s an eye-popping display of lush green vegetation set against bold orange rock. The curious formations, tunnels and gullies almost evoke the scenery of Zion National Park. As a missionary, I was able to make an excursion to visit this fun location. It made a strong impression on me.
Afterwards, back in Ponferrada, I was talking to a local man about our trip to this magnificent site. “Ah, the marvelous works of God!” I cheerfully declared.
Amused, the Spaniard amiably corrected me. “Actually, Las Médulas is categorically a work of men. Of the Romans, to be precise.”
He then explained how the site used to be the Roman Empire’s most important gold mining location. The Romans, exploiting slave labor, brought huge amounts of water to the area via aqueducts. They would abruptly open the aqueducts and channel the water into depressions in the soft soil at high elevations. The torrents of water would tunnel down into the ground and shoot out of the mountains at a lower elevation in a explosion of loosened rock and mineral-heavy sediment.
So, yeah, this was very much a work of man. And an unintentionally beautiful one, at that.
Ever since this incident I have pondered the implications of seeing God’s hand in everything, even if it turns out he’s not actually involved in everything, and what the pros and cons of making such an assumption are.