Would you burn a Bible?

Would you burn God's Word? Would you take a pen and scribble foul words all over it's pages? Would you defile it?

For most people the answer would be a clear resounding "No!"

But what about His Creation?

The Bible is quite clear that Creation is also His. He created it, loves it, owns it, sustains it, values it, and redeems it. It is an incredible gift he has given us! And like His Word, we should hold a certain reverence for it.

Creation testifies of God. Martin Luther understood this when he wrote, "God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on the trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars." John Calvin also echoed this point in his Commentary on Genesis, “The creation is quite like a spacious and splendid house, provided and filled with the most exquisite and the most abundant furnishings. Everything in it tells us of God.”

Would you burn God's Word?

And yet, that is exactly what's happening. Everyday, thousands of acres of His Rainforest are burned. Toxic chemicals are poured into His oceans. His animals are treated cruelly and hunted to extinction. Creation is being defiled, and we are the problem.

Would you write foul words on the pages?

In a single hour Americans throw away approximate 2.5 million plastic bottles… they take 400 to 1000 years to degrade. In the US over 20 million TV’s are trashed every year, over 156 million computers are dumped, and 126 million cell phones don’t get recycled and go to the landfills.

Would you tear out entire books of the Bible?

The Earth has lost more than 300 million acres of forest in the last fifteen years. That deforestation causes more carbon pollution than all the cars, trucks, ships, and planes in the world combined. Each year some scientists estimate that as many as 50,000 species disappear.

I am reminded of a verse: "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." (Psalm 19:1-4; cf. Psalm 97:6)

I don't know a single Christian who could passively watch a Bible burn and not do something. But as for Creation, sadly we are sometimes willing accomplices. Lord Forgive us and help us to put down the matches!

By: Chalie Dean

I know there's a cold front on its way, but for the last couple of days at least spring is in the air. You can hear the birds chirping in the morning and my tulips are starting to push their way up from the places where I burrowed their bulbs last fall just before the first frost. So, of course, my thoughts have begun to turn towards my vegetable garden. Actually, my thoughts have been on my garden for some time. Throughout the winter I've thought, planned and schemed. This - our third year of gardening - will be another ambitious year. In addition to growing our staples - corn, green beans, bell peppers, jalapenos, cucumbers, zucchini, onions, tomatoes, cantaloupe, watermelon, basil, & thyme, I just picked up my asparagus starts at the local seed store and will put them in the ground in the next week or two, as soon as the next cold spell moves on. And I'm getting earnest about my plan to install a raised bed strawberry patch. And there's still a slight possibility that I'll be planting a pair of peach trees later in the spring.

But before I get to the actual gardening, there's a question that's been rattling around my head about why I garden. I've heard reports that gardening is the new "thing." Apparently lots of people my age and younger are starting gardens. In fact I heard recently that the largest demographic starting small farms are people under 40. Surely I'm not gardening because I've subconsciously tapped into a new fad! Ugh! So, I've been asking myself the question, "why do I garden?" There are a lot of good reasons that people grow their own food.

Some do so because of environmental concerns, because they believe that our food supply is hopelessly tainted by chemicals and pesticides. They believe that growing their own food has a less harmful environmental impact than driving to the grocery store and buying "fresh" fruits and vegetables that were grown hundreds - sometimes thousands - of miles away and doused with chemicals and pesticides to keep them "fresh." And I while I think this is generally true, it's not why I garden.

Other people garden as a hobby, as a way of getting exercise out in the sunshine. They grow their own food for the sense of accomplishment that comes from pouring your blood, sweat and tears into the dirt that will produce the food that you eat. They garden because when they walk back into the house after a long afternoon in the garden - scratched, sweaty, and with lots of dirt underneath the nails - there's a certain euphoria. And yes, this is true for me. There is a great sense of satisfaction I get when I step into the shower and the water looks like chocolate milk for the first couple of seconds as it washes the dirt away. But again, this isn't the real reason I garden.

And I'm sure that some garden simply because it's the thing to do, or for a variety of other reasons. But I garden because, for me, there's something spiritual about the act of growing food for our family (and friends, when the harvest is exceptionally good). Over the last couple of years, I've told several people that I don't know exactly how to put it into words except that there is something spiritual about the act of walking across the yard, kitchen shears in hand, and clipping a couple tomatoes, some basil, and maybe a few jalapenos. Then, walking back across the yard and smelling those ingredients as I walk back to my kitchen where I take those fruits and vegetables, that until minutes before had been growing out of my soil, and I work them into a beautiful pizza that I throw onto the grill.

I've pondered this over the last couple of summers and I wonder if this feeling of spirituality that I feel while gardening is somehow connected to the creation account in Genesis 1-2. My best understanding of those two chapters is that the two creation accounts serve to inform us that in the creation, pre-fall we were made to live in harmony with God, and with each other, and with the creation itself. And this is what I feel when I work the soil, tend the plants, and reap the rewards - harmony. I feel like there's a reciprocal relationship between myself and the soil - that I take care of it, so that it produces for me - both of us doing what we were made to do.

During the summertime, when we pray before meals, I try to model this idea for my four boys. I don't know that they'll ever grow up to plant their own gardens, but I do want them to grow up understanding the deep connection between humans and the soil. I want them to understand the food doesn't come in a box, or wrapped in cellophane. And so we pray, "Thank you Lord, for the sun and the soil and the water that makes the plants grow that produce the vegetables that are on our plates. For the food we are about to eat, we thank thee."

So, while I believe that gardening is better for the environment, and while I get huge satisfaction from spending time on my knees in the dirt, and while there's simply nothing better than real, fresh produce, the main reason I garden is that it connects me with the way I believe I was created to live - and that is spiritual.

Charlie Dean is the pastor of Imago Dei Church in Peoria, Illinois.

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If one million Green Christians gave $1 to Charitywater.org over 50,000 of the worlds poorest could be given access to clean drinking water, and thousands of lives would be not only saved, but enriched.

If one million Green Christians banded together to talk to their churches about environmental issues and our role as stewards of God's earth, people would listen.

If one million Green Christians got involved in local conservation efforts, the beauty and majesty of Creation will be preserved for future generations.

If one million Green Christians sent one million letters to congress, they would listen.

So join the power of a million. Take a step because God is Green.

A 1,000 mile Journey begins with one feeble step.

From the onset looking out it looks very far to reach the goal if you pay attention to the news you hear: 'There are almost 1 billion people without access to clean drinking water or proper nutrition'... 'Americans are just 5% of the worlds population and consume 30% of it's resources'... 'The Earth has lost more than 300 million acres of forest in the last fifteen years'...'Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour. They take 400 to 1000 years to degrade'...

The bad news seems endless. It appears the world is getting more and more polluted, hungry, thirsty and unemployed, and it is like we are on the onset of a 1,000 mile journey. We have to set out if we are going to get anywhere, even if that means joining another '1,000,000 [insert group of people]' facebook group. The point is you will never go a thousand miles in one step, but you take another one by engaging your minds and learning about the issues, and another by talking to your church, and another by looking at your life.

You keep taking steps. Only then you start moving.

So join the facebook group and talk to your Church!

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The Bible has a lot to say about creation, and it all has extreme relevance for today. This is a short walkthrough, in which I have try to intersperse with some modern examples of how we are falling short as well as a bunch of quotes from great Christian thinkers throughout history to demonstrate that there is a Christian tradition for this type of thinking.

“Let everyone regard himself as the steward of God in all things which he possesses. Then he will neither conduct himself dissolutely, nor corrupt by abuse those things which God requires to be preserved.” John Calvin, Commentary on Genesis

Dare I say it, “Green” is Biblical.

In fact, throughout most of Christian history, the church has been—dare I say it—“Green.” But what does it mean to be “Green”? It’s a word that gets thrown around a lot these days. I think of Green as movement wrapped up around an adjective. Green means “environmentally sound or beneficial” or as dictionary.com puts it:

Green — adj: concerned with or relating to conservation of the world's natural resources and improvement of the environment: green policies ; the green consumer; the Green Christian.

"We must be spokespeople for an ecological ethic that reminds the world that it is not ours to use for our own convenience. It is God's gift of love to us, and we must return his love by protecting it and all that is in it."

By: the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I

The following is excerpted from a speech given at a symposium on the environment held at the Santa Barbara Greek Orthodox Church in Santa Barbara, Calif., on Nov. 8, 1997.

Our sin toward the world, or the spiritual root of all our pollution, lies in our refusal to view life and the world as a sacrament of thanksgiving, and as a gift of constant communion with God on a global scale.