The Theology of Wasps

The Ranger asks if the existence of wasps might be a subject for theology. Finding a wasp beginning to devour the eyes of a newly dead greenfinch yesterday gave the question a fresh impetus. Beginning with the theology it will depend what sort of thinking about God goes on. If it starts with the suggestion that God made a perfect world wasps present a problem as will crows ripping new born lambs to bits or any other part of the natural world which rangers and the rest of us are dedicated to conserving. No one can doubt that the natural world keeps going by a complex process of predation, destruction and reproduction involving pain and fear. If God made it like a vast lego assembly creating wasps and disease bearing bacteria specifically for the purposes we see as so disturbing he (or she) wouldn’t be an attractive object for worship.

It the theology begins with different sorts of questions – why do we think that wasps eating greenfinch’s eyes is bad and then, by extension, What are we here for or even What is the meaning of Liff the discussion takes a different form where the issues are about love and hate, good and bad, right and wrong, truth and falsehood. Ideas of God then needn’t begin with discussions about creation and a confused shouting at one another by two different disciplines but with how humans and human communities can be loving, foster goodness, right and truth and avoid their opposites. This allows the possibility of full appreciation of the natural world including gratitude for the way in which, for instance, the theory of the evolution of species brings understanding of the way we are, pleasure in the brilliant stripes of wasps at the same time that we keep on pegging away at trying to be better people including those who find answers in God who is the expression of perfect love.

A Hampshire Ponderer.

Wasps are great - they continued pollinating flowers when the honeybees went down with varroa mite, they rid my veg patch of caterpillars, and their appearance at picnics - well, it's all part of The Great British Summer, isn't it?

I have a question - not a comment.
My neighbor and I are having a friendly debate over hornets. I have three hornet nests just underneat my house eaves - way too high for me to reach them. They never bother me. In fact, I never see them around. They pretty much stay in their nests.
I see no point in killing them, just because they are hornets. My neighbors says she is "highly allergic" to bees (this from a woman who has every ailment unknown to man)
and she is TELLING me to kill them.
I see no point. They've been there for a year and have bothered no one.
Am I being silly?
Jan

Hi Jan! I'm about to post an article about hornets on the Wildlife Garden blog with my thoughts on why they seem to scare the living daylights out of everyone. Hornets are uncommon,and they are more docile than wasps. They occasionally come into my house and I just catch them against a window with a glass and a piece of paper and release them outside. Seeing as they are so high up in your eaves, and minding their own buzzness (sorry), your neighbour has more chance of stepping/sitting on a bee than being attacked by a hornet. I would feel privileged to have them. Live and let live - you're not being silly!

I like Wasps, I can catch them in between two cups and release them into the wild.

When God created everything in the beginning (about 6,000 years ago and in 6 days - see Genesis 1), everything was very good. There was no death, no suffering, no pain. There was no bloodshed, no flesh-eating. Lions, tigers, and bears (oh my!), and even T. rex, ate plants (Genesis 1:30)! If by chance you think that sharp teeth means an animals eats meat, consider the teeth of the fruit bat, the panda, and the Langour monkey.

In response to the question about why God made wasps, They are helpful pollinators for many plants. Their stings would not have been harmful prior to the fall of Adam. When Adam and Eve sinned, the whole creation was cursed. God is just and must punish sin. Now in this world, we have death, disease, pain, sorrow, and bloodshed. Everyone since then has been born a sinner, doomed for everlasting punishment in hell (Romans 5:12). But God has made a way of salvation. If you are interested in learning more about the creation viewpoint, check out www.drdino.com and www.answersingenesis.org, and if you would like to know how you can be saved from the penalty of your sin, contact us at drdino.com.

The Ranger responds: what about lice? what did they eat?

All evidence from wasp behavior, biology, genomics, etc. points to only one purpose for wasps - to make more wasps. They have no other reason for existing and have been well designed for this one purpose.

The Ranger responds: assuming one agrees that they need to have a purpose - and that they need to be designed...

Why should everything on the earth have an exact purpose, you could argue what purpose humans have. I find wasps very annoying as most people do, I was attacked on the neck once, the little bugger snuck up behind me I didn’t even hear it coming. I’ve always known they are helpful to plants to pollinate in some way. As for being trained to smells that’s a very interesting idea. I fear that could even be made into a weapon somehow. The army drops a ‘smelly bomb’ on their target then sends in the wasps.

OH! I love wasps!
they are lovely creatures, very colourful
I have a colleague at work who catches them with
2 cups and release them into the wild, whenever one flies into the office.
He is such nice guy! never want to kill life.
Wasps is a form of life too..

I too agree that we should not kill wasps!!

We should all learn the technique of capturing wasps in cups and releasing them into the wild.