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This article is from
Creation 17(1):21, December 1994

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Islands promote Genesis

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The Republic of Palau, also spelled Belau or Pelew, is an islands nation of 15,000 people, located 800 kilometres east of the Philippines and 1,000 kilometres north of West Irian. It has its own Constitution, elected President, and Legislature. About 25% of the population is Protestant and 40% is Catholic. A further 28% are followers of the Modelene movement—a syncretism of Christianity and magic.

Palau Stamps

Reproduced with permission.

The stamps shown above were issued by the Palauan Postal Service on June 5, 1992, to commemorate the United Nations Earth Summit Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 1-12, 1992.1

The focus of attention on God as the Creator of the world in these stamps is a needed balance to the emphasis of many scientists and politicians today who say that it is the Earth and its animals which are in grave peril, rather than mankind. Mankind, contrary to the tenets of evolution, is a spiritual being, made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27) and responsible to his Maker for all he does and says, and to whom he will one day have to give an account (Revelation 20:12; Matthew 12:36). God's perspective with respect to animals is that no sparrow falls to the ground unbeknown to Him (Matthew 10:29). His perspective with respect to human beings is that it was for sinful humanity in rebellion against God that Christ died on the Cross and rose again from the dead.

The Bible has little to say about environmental pollution, as this is very much a derivative of the industrial revolution and the rise in urban populations over the past two centuries. However, it does refer to three acts which cause a land to be polluted. These are murder (Numbers 35:33), idolatry (Ezekiel 36:18), and adultery (Jeremiah 3:1). The emphasis of the Bible here is on the spiritual rather than on the physical, and on how the spiritual affects the physical.

The Palauan creation stamp issue is thus a very timely reminder of what is essential to and what should be of primary concern for mankind above all other issues—the need for each one of us to be reconciled to God and then to live in a right relationship with Him.

Footnote

  1. The stamps were designed, with the approval of Palauan authorities, by American artist Neil Waldman, in a style consistent with Palauan culture and traditional arts style. Thirty thousand sets were printed by The House of Questa, London, England. Information kindly supplied by Pauline A. Cianciolo, Inter-Governmental Philatelic Corporation, 460 West 34th Street, New York, NY 10001, USA, to whom requests for copies of stamps should be sent, if unavailable from local stamp dealers.