I was listening to my favorite radio station the other day. You guessed it, I was listening to Sonlife radio, and well, I thought I would try and get some feed back to see what you other fine people out there think. The topic for the day was environmentalism. They began the discussion by speaking as if they were going to expose the heresies of modern protestant Christianity. Their reasoning was this, why is the modern church preoccupied with things like the environment, when it should be concerned only with "the cross of Christ." They spoke very condescendingly of Christians who fell for the trap laid by people trying to distract the church from what it is meant to be.
They continued by saying that the scriptures do not say that we are to take care of the environment. Scripture, according to them, states that we are to worry about humans first since God gave the earth to humans to rule over. In short, a Christian is not to be concerned with taking care of the environment, only preaching the "cross of Christ."
Now, here are my questions: first of all, can we really say that we are in tune with the Spirit of the creator God while at the same time disregarding the very creation of the creator God? Since when have we dichotomized the salvific work of Christ on the cross? Does all creation not groan with humans for redemption? I have to believe that the very fact that creation is groaning for redemption implies that creation can be somehow redeemed. I am not equating a tree with a human, don't get me wrong. But what if the salvific work of Christ includes more that just one's "soul." What if while on this earth, we understood that our entire body was in need of redemption? (One look at most televangelists shows that they are not concerned with the redemption of our physical bodies.)
Many that are reading this are probably aware of the work that Dr. Cheryl Johns from the Church of God Theological Seminary has been a part of. She was a part of several evangelicals that signed a document on creation care.
Christianity Today has also had an article appear on the topic of Global Warming and a Christian's response. By posting this, I am not advocating that one take a position on Global Warming, you can work out your own salvation with fear and trembling regarding this. However, I am asking that we consider our actions toward the environment as Christians, regardless of global warming. In other words, I don't want to be concerned about the environment simply because something bad could happen to it. I want to be concerned because I am in awe of the creator God that created all things. My response to God's presence then, should be an attitude of reverence and desire to care for that which emanates from God's own being. I am tired of the dichotomization of salvation. God's salvific work is not only for the soul, but for the WHOLE PERSON! Likewise, God's salvific work is not only for humans but for all of creation. The choice that we have in interacting with each other, as well as the environment, is in reality a choice of participating with God in the salvific work of the cross that is actualized through the Holy Spirit being present in our actions.
6 comments:
(This is actually Peter Zefo, posing as Joel W. Clackum III)
After reading this post I emptied all of my aerosol hair spray cans outside. I am trying to create a hole in the ozone directly above my home.
Yeah.. I've tried to wrap my head around Global Warming and such, but I really have no idea, so I won't bother.
However, it's interesting that the CoG is in on this movement with Dr. Cheryl. How do we reconcile preserving or protecting or 'stewarding' the earth, honestly, when everyone in the leadership has a lincoln or an SUV? When we clear out a swath of land to build a mega-huge church?
Or mail out useless mass-communicating flyers for a special service about hell?
You hippies are all going to hell.
I think most churches probably teach that the earth is disposable. We teach that one day we will all leave this place (this world is not our home). God is going to burn it all up anyway, might as well trash it.
This thinking is tethered to the way we treat our bodies as well. We destroy our bodies because we know they are temporary and we will be getting a new one one day.
It's tough to overcome that thinking.
I grew up in a small Southern Baptist church and believed much the way Sonlife is represented as believing. At 17 I got Spirit Baptized and life began to change. Slow at first, and the in larger chunks. All I can offer here is my testimony that as I grew closer to God and developed a more intimately Spirit-led life, I began to see creation as valuable. God built that in me.
There is however a larger question. If humanity is to concern itself with humans and not with the environment, resulting from our dominion over creation, doesn't this make us MORE responsible for the environment. If we destroy the environment doesn't it cause human suffering? If we pollute the streams and lakes of Alaska, for instance, won't the people of Alaska who depend on fishing and hunting for their livelihood be injured? If we create vast desertification problems, won't humans suffer as a result? I have lived through sandstorms in China that were the result of increasing desertification and I promise they cause damage and pain. No, to show utter disregard for the environment shows an utter lack of respect for the creation which God said was "good." We must, rather, do what we can to preserve and to protect this creation. God may give parents dominion over a child but God does not desire that they ignore that child, allowing it to become dirty and diseased, no matter what other tasks they may have to address.
A comment: Although it is tempting for new Christians who have hooked up with the power of the universe to start thinking that it's all a big party and we'll get a new earth to start over again, why would you be invited to the next party if you trashed the house where the first one was held?
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