Who does land belong to?

[Roots]

I cant seem to comprehend that some people think land belongs to people. Land belongs to God. Water belongs to God, minerals belong to God. Animals belong to God. Humans belong to God.

God put all these things on earth to be used as resources, for all mankind. I can not understand why some people think they own it.

Just because man pays money for something doesnt mean he owns it, because it can be taken away from him any minute.

I wish people would just accept that when they die it is no longer owned by them. So, whats the point of all the bickering about who owns what.

[cutethang]

i absolutely agree with you.nobody owns anything on this earth and nobody ever will because God made all that possible. God is just letting you use it. it is not your life, you do not own it! God owns it, he is just letting you borrow it. and when you die you are giving that life back to him for someone else to borrow. that is how i see it.
-cutethang

[vyfbop]

What if you're using a piece of land, that you borrowed from God, and someone else came along and decided that he/she could have a better use for the land (in their view) and took it away from you to use for their own purposes.

So now the borrowed land is being borrowed by someone else.
Wouldn't you feel sad?

[vyfbop]

And what if you assumed it's not being used and took control of portions of the land only to find out in 100yrs time that it was in fact being used and the original owners want it back?
Now you're dependant on the land, and the original owners have need for it as well. So then problems arise.

[vyfbop]

Did you say "it's probably not being used" ?

So did the settlers probably wait off the coast for a few years to see if the land was probably being used whilst dying of scurvy, watching the unplanted seeds whither and their food supply diminish.

Who decides on the timeframe for how long the land must appear to be unused?
Who decides on how the land must appear to look if it is being used?

Answer is simple... whoever owns the biggest knife. Truth hurts.

According to the history books, hundreds of years ago the settlers made an "arrangement" with the natives (though at first they didnt speak the same language and there was no possible way of making such an "arrangement") which led to the natives giving up their land. Guns were bigger knives than spears afterall.
Today, Mugabe is amending the initial "arrangement" cos in Zimbabwe he has the biggest knife.
Lets just hope that Mbeki doesnt do the same.

[SultanHaluk]

And by extension - who really owns anythings at all. Ownership is a convenient concept for keeping track of responsibility first and foremost. Unfortunately once greed is involved it becomes seriously damaging.

I'm sure though, if those voortrekkers could have imagined it would cause so much trouble they would have stayed at home.

[werner_za]

SA would belong to the Khoi and San who the racist Bantu and trigger-happy Europeans slaughtered. The Khoi and San inhabited this whole area but the Bantu came and ate them because they thought that they were just apes. Dont beleive me, it happened in the "Democratic" Republic Of Congo this year. They were pulling pygmies out of trees and eating them.