Saturday, April 26, 2008

why take care of the earth when it's all going to pot anyway?

If I truly believed what my title says, I would question if I was, in fact, a child of God.

Dang, Tiff, that's a bold statement. Yes, I know it is... That's how strongly I feel about our responsibility in taking care of Creation for the redemption of the world.

Well, what is Creation? You know, when God did all that stuff in the first 6 days, like making light and forming the earth & seas and making animals (the ones Noah took on the big boat) and then making Adam & Eve. Okay, that is all Creation. It's not just you and me, which I feel is a common belief of our conservative Christian society. Well, at least in the South.

Why would God give us all this goodness and then not care if we destroyed it? And I'm speaking to Christians mostly.... because I think we have the narrowest and most unwavering points-of-view on this issue, and i hate it!

To "go green" right now is a trendy thing, and for those who hop on the bandwagons late in the game or not at all, I think you need to reconsider this one. It's redemptive. Let me repeat that, Going green is redemptive.

I can't write like this person, but I found this site on our responsibility as children of the Creator....

Genesis and the Psalms help us understand that the Creation is a gift from God. Everything in Creation is created by God and is good. That is why we, and all other parts of Creation, have intrinsic worth and are sacred. The Psalmists assume that humans have much to learn from nature and that all Creation participates in praise and glorification of God (Psalms 19, 36, 65).

.....
However, the biblical message of environmental justice is more complicated and radical than simply requiring us to manage natural resources wisely and utilize technology and laws to maintain a healthy environment. Creation plays a central role in God's covenants and in the Christian understanding of salvation.

If nothing else, the Bible is a series of stories about covenants. When God makes a covenant with Noah, for example, God also makes a commitment to Creation (Genesis 8-9).... When the covenant is broken, all parties to it are harmed. In Isaiah, we see the earth mourning and withering from the pollution that is the result of people's transgression of the laws.

The Christian covenant is consistent with the Hebraic. As God's incarnation, Jesus has the vocation to restore right relations with the land (in fact, all of nonhuman Creation) as well as to liberate the poor and suffering. (Mark 16:15, John 3:17, Romans 8:18-21.)

http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/environmental/mandates.html


A group of Christian leaders, the Evangelical Climate Initiative, has taken some action. This is from their statement...

"The same love for God and neighbor that compels us to preach salvation through Jesus Christ, protect the unborn, preserve the family and the sanctity of marriage, and take the whole Gospel to a hurting world, also compels us to recognize that human-induced climate change is a serious Christian issue requiring action now..."

What's crazy is that this group of Christian environmentalists were met with an opposing Christian force, one that agrees with the Bush's minimizing the effects of global warming.
All this can be seen in PBS' Moyers on America Series, "Is God Green?"
i just saw this documentary and couldn't believe it!
other resources i dig:

Saving God's Green Earth: Tri Robinson
my first practical eco-friendly book
interview with Michael Wittmer, author of Heaven is a Place on Earth
Engaging God's World: Cornelius Plantinga, Jr.
who killed the electric car? i just saw this documentary and couldn't believe it!
10 practicals
reusable bags
The Great Warming : haven't actually seen it, but it sounds better than An Inconvenient Truth (it has live testimonies from people being affected right now)
treehugger: be the change
stop global warming
National Resources Defense Council


Well, there are so many more that I like, but I'm tired of writing.

I do have some final words: I'm a passionate person, but I don't mean to point fingers at any person more than myself. This post is meant to enlighten and make aware and inform and offer resources. We are all pieces of the puzzle and can take 1 or 2 small steps at first to conserve energy, gas, water, trees and to 'keep Creation.'
I'm simply trying to use fewer limited resources and face my own materialist tendencies head-on (some days more successfully than others!).

No comments: