(This subject sparked an interesting conversation. As a result, this is the third blog about the environment. You can also read Kelly's and Chris's thoughts on the subject.)
My wife has been going through a
Bible Study called The
7 Experiment by Jen Hatmaker which has really engaged many of the ladies of
my church. The next part of this
particular study is all about tree hugging and not throwing away your napkin
after you use it. Again, let me
reiterate, my concern with any of these areas is: “What does the Bible actually
say?” That should be a key for us in any
subject we tackle in the Christian faith.
Our perspectives and attitudes should be informed by Scripture and then
we need to align ourselves with it where we differ from God.
THEOLOGY OF WASTE (THEOLOGY OF THE ENVIRONMENT / CREATION CARE)
I can remember being in 4th
grade and learning that if you squash a styrofoam cup at a BBQ in your back yard that CFCs
would be thrust into the air and blown all over the Earth and eventually be
collected over Antarctica where they CFCs burned a hole in the Ozone layer and would
catastrophically cause harm to all life on Earth. That was the beginning of my education in
caring for the environment. I am pretty
sure I did a speech on it and had note cards and a poster board. I also did some reading for this blog and it
seems that the dire hole over the mostly-uninhabited continent is actually getting
better. Whoohoo! Now I can go back to squashing Styrofoam cups
at the BBQ.
When looking at any of these
issues in the 7 Experiment Study, my sole purpose is to look at what the Bible
says. Does the Bible say anything about
caring for the environment? This is a
big issue for many people. Even the Pope
gets involved. Pope Benedict XVI (the
one that just left) was considered the “green
pope” and stated:
“In
its Feb 13 newsletter, the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change highlighted
Benedict's reaffirmation of many traditional ecological church teachings,
including "the giftedness of creation, the vocation of stewardship and the
universal destination of created goods." They also cited his advocating on
issues such as an international climate treaty and renewable energy
technologies, as well as attention to environmental refugees.”
Basically then, the Catholic
Christians among us believe the environment to be an issue. Based on a light reading, it would seem that
this concern is based on the fact that God gave Creation to human beings and we
should manage it well.
Chris Cadenhead, Senior Pastor at Bayshore
Baptist Church,
NBCC’s partner in this particular study also weighed in on creation care
(that’s where I got the name for this thing… I don’t know where he got
it). If I read him right, he would see
“Creation Care” as a spiritual stewardship issue and would reject my half-joke
about “Who cares? Jesus blows it all up in the end.” He emphasizes that Creation Care helps the
poor who are affected when the trees are all cut down or the fish all die. That, to be honest, is a perspective I had
not considered until now.
So, what does the Bible say? Unlike LOLology, the Bible does have some things to say about the
environment, but the Bible is not as specific as one might think. You can look up key words such as: creation
(25x), Creator (11x), creature(s) (119x), land (1462x), vegetation (6x), PETA
(0x), recycle (0x),
weather (1x), flood (33x), trees (137x), animals (145x), earth (738x), and the
list goes on and on.
Below are some Bible verses to
get us started. I want to throw in a
caution here. I looked over many Bible
verses that people use and interpret in this area (note the hyperlink to
“recycle” above). I found that the
majority of them are taken out of context. The majority of them, when taken in context, are talking
about neighbors, family, armies, pottery, and other issues that are not exactly
the environment. I will do my best NOT
to do the same. As far as I can tell,
these verses below DO refer to the environment and our responsibility (or lack
thereof). The amount of verses I could
find are limitless that talk about animals or things of that nature (pun
intended). So, I limited my verses to 7
(that’s a good Biblical number):
Genesis 1:28-30 (echoed in Genesis 9:3): “God blessed them and said to them,
"Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule
over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living
creature that moves on the ground."
29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant
on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.
They will be yours for food. 30
And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the
creatures that move on the ground-- everything that has the breath of life in
it-- I give every green plant for food." And it was so.
Genesis 3:17-19: “To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your
wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of
it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will
eat of it all the days of your life. 18
It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the
field. 19 By the sweat of
your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it
you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."
Deuteronomy 22:6-7: “If you come across a bird's nest
beside the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting
on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young. 7 You may take the young, but be
sure to let the mother go, so that it may go well with you and you may have a
long life.”
Psalm 24:1-2: (echoed in countless verses) “The earth
is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; 2
for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.”
Isaiah 24:4-6 (echoed in Romans 8:19-22): “The earth dries up and withers, the
world languishes and withers, the exalted of the earth languish. 5 The earth is defiled by its
people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the
everlasting covenant. 6
Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt.
Therefore earth's inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left.”
Matthew 10:28-31: “Do not be afraid of those who kill
the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy
both soul and body in hell. 29
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?
Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your
Father. 30 And even the very
hairs of your head are all numbered. 31
So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
Revelation 8:7-12: “The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail
and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of
the earth was burned up a third of the trees were bruned up, and all the green
grass was burned up. 8 The second angel sounded his trumpet, and
something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of
the sea turned into blood, 9
a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were
destroyed. 10 The third angel
sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky
on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water-- 11 the name of the star is
Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the
waters that had become bitter. 12
The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a
third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned
dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.”
What is a proper theology of the
environment based on these verses? I
think there are some solid principles that we can draw from these seven
passages from Scripture that are important as we try to wade through any talk
about recycling, waste, politics, and the environment. I will try and note the above verses where
they fall into these thoughts below.
#1a God
made the Earth and gave it to human beings to rule, as the crown (top) of His
Creation. Period. No animal, weather pattern, or pile of trash
is more important than other PEOPLE.
Thus, if you are on a beach and you see a person drowning and a beached
whale [pause for the joke]… you must choose to save the PERSON and let the
whale expire. That may seem like a silly
example, but not for some environmentally sensitive people. Animals are
not more important than people. If you can’t pay your bills, get rid of the
dog, don’t feed your children less.
[Genesis 1, Genesis 3, Psalm 24,
Matthew 10]
#1b People
have rule and dominion (two different Hebrew words in Genesis with the same
basic idea) over Earth as God’s crown of Creation. This means we (human beings) can use the
Earth as we like. We can farm. We can fish.
We can mine. We can pollute. We can cut and smash. We can trash and trounce. It is in our best interest not to totally
trash the place because if we do that, we will have destroyed our means of
food, air, and shelter. Here is where it
gets a little tricky with “Creation Care” / theology of the environment. We are allowed to fish for food, hunt for
clothing (alligator skin boots), drill for oil, cut down trees for housing and
paper, and anything else we wish to do.
We are allowed! We are even
allowed to totally kill all the Dodo birds and eat them or kill all the Panda
bears for furs, but such actions come with warnings in Scripture. If we do such things, suffering and shorter
lives are predicted.
[Genesis 1, Genesis 3,
Deuteronomy 22, Isaiah 24]
#2 Sin
affects creation. I by no means
think exactly like Pat
Robertson, but there is a connection in Scripture between sin and the
environment. The land does suffer because of the sin of
humanity. The Earth does not produce
what it should, look like it could, or endure all that it could because of our sin. That is simply Truth. We live on a planet that will suffer because
of human beings. In the end, all the
trees, fish, plant life, stars, and everything we see around us will be gone
because of sin and will be made new. All
the saved whales will die. All the
planted trees will be burned up. In the
end, all things will be made new.
[Genesis 3, Isaiah 24, Revelation
8]
So, what is a proper view of the
environment? I’m not sure what Jen
Hatmaker said in her study, but I believe a proper theology about the
environment all boils down to this (and because I am a half-empty pessimist I
will phrase them as “don’t” statements):
Don’t let your sin destroy
the environment or cause suffering for your neighbors.
Don’t choose the
environment/animals/etc over people… ever.
Don’t feel bad or guilty about
using the environment and enjoying it.
Okay okay… I’ll phrase them as “do”
statements for you “half-full people”…
Do mind your life, attitudes, and
actions and your effect on the environment.
Do what you can to aid the
environment and totally love your neighbors.
Do use the AC, fireplace, and
crush a styrofoam cup for fun to enjoy what God has given.
In the end, I guess I’m still
working on this one…
Maybe I’ll print this out a
couple dozen times and look it over.
Troy Borst
Associate Minister
Up Next…
