Evangelicals
And The Enviroment
(Part 1 of 5)
Everyday we are made aware of the delicate razor’s edge that our earth is so delicately balanced upon. We are all as dependent upon our land, sea and air as the most delicate plants. Pollutants caused by industry and ignorance and down right irresponsibility must not be waved aside with a coy back of the hand smirk.
The destruction that man has brought upon nature is as real as the collateral damage following an all out war. Being a maritimer by birth I am sickeningly aware of the destruction that greedy but often ignorant businessmen have wrought upon the fishing industry. Halibut and cod and lobsters which were once as plentiful and sardines are now struggling to survive like a worm on a hook. It will be decades before these once thriving industry will be revived to what they once were. We have all heard the storys and seen the pictures of once pristine forests being raped and pillaged and left to rot with no responsibility of reforestation. Thankfully, we have learned from our short-sightedness and the pillaging of our forersts is not happening today. There are more trees in America now than there were 100 yearsago. Today, as never be for we are concerned about what is being dumped into our land fills and what is being pumped up into our ozone layer. It’s a good thing !
Religious Zealots
However, there are always those zealots who go too far. We must be as aware of them a politician reading his latest negative poll numbers. They want to promote “Earth Day“ to the point of ‘Mother Earth Savior.‘ And as usual, they feel the best place to start is in the public schools.
As Evangelicals we must stay on tip-toe alert about this pantheistic trend and ring the alarm bells loud and clear when we hear their faintest echo. India is a warning to us of how such worship of nature can become cultic. Were on a slippery slope when we begin to consider cows or mother earth more important than humans. In India, many are starving, while rats and cows are allowed to consume food needed for the people. Throughout history this age-old pantheism has never worked for the betterment of any nation, tongue or tribe. All it ever did was push man down to a lower rung on the food chain ladder and elevate the natural order up a peg or two. As Evangelicals we believe that man is God’s highest creation. Like the Sabbath day itself, nature was made for man and not man for nature.
Twisted Logic
One of the not-so-bright lights, in this movement to divine the earth is a California professor named Lynn White. He is a zealot who teaches that because we live in a post-Christian age we must discard the prevalent orthodox Christian belief that man is the center of the earth and has dominion over it; and come up with a new religion that says man is not supreme in the earth. Thankfully, Evangelical scholars have put White’s creed on the scales and it has been found wanting, and like a lost ghost is now wandering somewhere in the ‘Outback” of junk science. Hopefully he doesn’t come back.
As Evangelicals we were not on the cutting edge of society when it came to two very important issues of the past: 1 Racism and 2 Accumulated wealth. Wealth though it has the inherent tendency to make individuals and nations look away from God rather than towards God, it is not evil. It is the Love of wealth that is the root of many evils. Clearly, wealth has done tremendous good in our Western society. That being said, Evangelicals have come up with a treasure trove of ecological /theological treaties on the Enviromental issue that are excellent and being listened to.
Unlike the earth-bound opinions of atheists and pantheists here is the basic Biblical teaching regarding Enviromentalism.
- God Is The Creator Of The Earth.
The first verse in the Bible says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).
2.The Earth Is Good Apart From Man.
God said even before He created man, “It is Good…”
3. God Still Cares About This Earth.
Even though man sinned and brought the earth under a curse that does not mean that God is finished with it. He has greater plans for the future of this earth that are eye-popping. In Romans 8:19-21 we read something about these future plans to bring it back to the paradise that it was before Adam’s Fall. It’s exciting reading.
Even though God has given man ‘dominion over the earth,’ it is still His domain. He is the landowner, landlord and titleholder of every cubic foot of its land, sea and air; and we are but its vicars and vice-regents and stewards, accountable to Him.
Psalm 24:1 reads, “The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein.”
The Best Is Yet to Be!
Pastor Bryant
(Part 1 of 5)