May 2, 2007...12:27 pm
God’s Little Bullies?
Christians have been blamed recently, and maybe for a long time, of not caring for the earth. In truth, we’ve done a lot to earn the blame — call it the “I have more power than you and the earth is going to be incinerated anyway” mentality. We read the passages in Genesis that communicate a clear hierarchy in the created order; we see that God put us at the top of that order (under Him); He gives us the charge to have dominion over it. We interpret that as “subject everything to yourselves.” And we never look back. God’s (self) righteous little thugs. It’s more of an evolutionary world view when you consider it — survival of the fittest equals do whatever you want to other species of life and whoever comes out on top wins.
Speaking as an evangelical (it’s a loaded word, but one hopefully we can reclaim as a being a good thing), some of us who claim to follow Christ are beginning to look back and understand our role on the planet a whole lot differently — maybe even Biblically.
People have gone ’round and ’round about what it means for humanity to be created in the image of God. Souls? Reason? Self-awareness? I find none of these completely convincing. As I read the Biblical account of creation, it seems to me the only thing different about how God created humanity is that he charged us with the responsibility of caring for the rest of created order. We’re on top of the hierarchical order because we are responsible for the well-being of the rest. The image of God part? He charged us to act on his behalf: Here’s the signet ring from the king himself, what you do bears his mark.
Do we force creation to bow before us because we bear the ring and we have the power, or do we extend a kind hand because of the one who owns it?
An environmentalist or animal rights supporter needn’t be a Christian. One needn’t believe the words of the Bible nor proclaim a belief in God to feel it’s important to clean up pollution or eat eggs from free range chickens. But, the disassociation does not work equally in reverse. Biblical Christianity must include environmentalism and support the humane treatment of animals. Can Christians really *not* engage in responsible practices in these areas and still claim a desire to honor God in how we live?
3 Comments
May 2, 2007 at 6:41 pm
Good post. You know, I often hear Christians accused of not caring about the earth because, “What the heck, it’s going to be incinerated anyway.” Yet, I’ve never really heard a Christian hold anything close to that kind of thinking. I mean, yeah, we believe that when Jesus returns that we will be transported to some kind of Paradise and the earth and everything in it will be destroyed (see 1 Peter), but we don’t know if that will be today or in 10,000 years. Besides, most sane Christians that I know believe that we have been given a command to care for the earth. And on top of that, until Jesus comes we would like to have clean air, water, etc.
Yes, Christians should be environmentalists and be humane… I just wonder if there are many Christians who disagree with this.
May 3, 2007 at 11:14 am
Sprocket, with all the free time you have in the next couple weeks with moving and all (!), mess around with a word study using the Greek words translated “to burn up” and “to be destroyed” in Peter. They don’t occur a lot in the New Testament in that form and I’ve often wondered if maybe we’ve misunderstood the intent of those passages. Fire can be a cleansing agent and the word translated destroyed can also mean “set free.” Maybe earth isn’t going anywhere and instead, God is going to complete the redemption of all creation instead of destroying it… that would seem more like God to me. (Yes, I know, very non-mainstream of me).
May 5, 2007 at 5:31 am
Actually, I agree completely: I think that our Paradise will be on Earth, or some Earth-like setting. Isaiah has so many images of a redeemed creation, the lion and the kid, the wolf and the lamb and all that. Romans speaks of Creation groaning to be redeemed, and Rev. 21 describes a new heaven and a new EARTH. If you notice, the New Jerusalem comes down OUT of heaven to the new earth. So yeah, that’s why I think that we will be living on an earth-like world in the way that God intended it… back to the Garden of Eden in other words. That sure beats floating around on a cloud. That’s why I was careful to say “Paradise” instead of heaven. This earth will be cleansed, even destroyed, but there will be a new, restored earth in its place, to the best of my reckoning. We ought to be worried about global warming, but not from carbon emissions (though we need to look into that too), but from God! 2 Peter 3:10-13
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
NIV
Love your blog!
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