Green Evangelicals
Will Evangelicals Help Save The Earth? runs the subheading of this story from the Natural Resources Defense Council.
It’s an interesting question, and the article/column is excited about a February ‘06 statement by Evangelical leaders called the “Evangelical Climate Initiative”, which you can read about at www.ChristiansandClimate.org.
In the Bible (Genesis 1), “God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” That was the first recorded command to humankind, right after God created and blessed them. (The second chapter of Genesis does give us the story of God’s command to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which may, chronologically have occurred first, but I mean, here, that it is not the first-mentioned command.)
Clearly God gave the authority to “fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion [...] over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Rather than see that as a blank check, however, I believe that the God-given authority comes with responsibility. We (human beings) are to responsibly exercise our dominion over this world.
I’m all for a healthy environment; I have/get to live here too. Perhaps the better question than, “Should I, as a Christian, be pro-environment?” is to ask, “How are we to care for this world that God has entrusted to us and balance that with being fruitful and multiplying?”
My brother (Ben) highlights a call in the Washington Post to stop stereotyping evangelical Christians. The Post column rightfully points out the role of Christians in the promotion of social justice, because of “a love for their neighbor.” It does sound like evangelicals are working to “save the earth.”
Social justice is not all that Christians are called to do, of course. There is Jesus’s essential call to “make disciples of all nations.” And I neglected to point out, above, that the human responsibility to manage the earth is truly a job of management. God does not say “the whole world is yours.” On the contrary, the Bible often says that the earth is the Lord’s. We are stewards.
Clearly, Christians should not and do not want to see the climate entrusted to them ruined. Perhaps that should be another reason to not stereotype. Not everyone agrees on how far or where to go in caring for the environment. But regardless of what we think about global warming, let’s ensure that we don’t forget about how we handle the gifts we have been given:
Share ThisFor it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sowed and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (Matthew 25:14-30)
December 11th, 2006 at 11:00 am
hey wacka,
here’s a thought about atheism as a faith system of its own: “religion” is an unavoidably vague term. should religion be confined to the worship of a deity? if so, then what of buddhism? should it be confined to those epistemologies that support certain types of morality? if so, then is satanism an anti-religion? and what of atheism, as an epistemology with no deity, but not necessarily devoid of moral content? or what of agnostics who still conduct their lives within certain moral parameters without really knowing why? with respect to the international community (United Nations, etc.) the working definition of “religion” is “convictions based upon metaphysical assumptions.” they use this rubric of a definition when trying to decide to which groups various human and corporate rights should be extended. to me, that is the most inclusive definition, especially when it is tempered by limiting clauses in most pertinent international human rights documents which say that the manifestation of one’s religious beliefs cannot infringe upon the inalienable rights of others (thereby restricting what the social majority would conceive of as “immoral actions.”
no conclusions, just what popped into my read as i read your post. hope all is well, Wacka.
December 13th, 2006 at 12:38 am
I understand what you’re saying about the term “religion”, but what about the definition of atheism? Atheism might fit in the UN’s definition of “convictions based on metaphysical assumptions”, but many atheists will hold that they have no metaphysical assumptions (as opposed to their assuming that there is no metaphysical). Additionally, is it possible to live (as a rational human being) and not make, as some point, a metaphysical assumption about the way the world works? We do that all the time, likely on a daily basis.
There looks to be a part of each human being that yearns for a knowledge of the transcendent. Thus you could say that people are all religious.
Nature of course (to tie this back, a little, to my original post) calls us to a belief in more than what our senses perceive, which is ironic because of the methods by which we perceive nature. The phenomenon is real, nonetheless. Just another reason why we should care for nature.