| Green is Biblical |
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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. Ok, so I added something to the definition. Green Christian— noun: ‘a Christian who is concerned with being a good steward of God’s creation and caring for it in a way that pleases Him.’ Unfortunately, I sort of made that up, because Christians have been all too happy to pick and choose which parts of the Bible they would like to obey and which they would rather not. But, there is a movement growing of people who are looking at the Bible and seeing an important message that we some how missed: God is Green. God cares about the world because he created it. And so should we. “And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.” And it was so, God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.” Genesis 1:24-25 God saw that it was good. Great, even non-environmentalists think that creation is a good thing. But here’s where people get confused: “God blessed them, and 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 air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.” Genesis 1:28-29 He gave creation to us. This God is like a ‘loving Father who gives good gifts to his children.’ And yet, many Christians have read into the words translated here as “subdue” and “have dominion over”, as God say to us, “it’s ok to trash the place.” Having dominion over the fish in the sea, means we can fish them to extinction! Subduing the earth means we can cut down forests until there are none left! Having dominion means we are like a king, we can do what ever we want.
I’m reminded of a quote by Cheryl M. Walker, “Anyone who has ever had "dominion" over anything or anyone, whether as a parent, or a boss, or a king or queen knows it means that you are responsible for the care and well-being of those over whom you have "dominion." You are responsible for making sure that they are healthy and fed and well-tended.” Do you find in the scriptures that just because parents have dominion over their children that are allowed to do whatever they will with them? No. Do you find in the scriptures that because a King has dominion over his subjects that he is allowed to do whatever he pleases to them? No. In fact, he is bound by God’s law, and the Bible is full of wicked kings who didn’t follow his will, and rather reveled in their own power. And so it is with the Genesis text. And this how Christians understood it for a long time: that we are Stewards of the earth. Great Christian thinkers and preachers throughout human history have seen the importance of creation. They felt a profound reverence for it: “It would go a long way to caution and direct people in their use of the world that they were better studied and known in the creation of it. For how could man find the confidence to abuse it, while they should see the Great Creator stare them in the face, in all of every part thereof?” William Penn (1644-1718) ‘“They shall take dominion (v’yirdu)” The Hebrew connotes both “dominion” derived from radah) and “descent” (derived from yarad): when humanity is worthy, we have dominion over the animal kingdom; when we are not, we descend below the levels of animals and the animals rule over us.” Rashi (1040-1105) “An error about creation also leads to an error about God.” Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) “God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.” Martin Luther (1483-1546) “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.” John Calvin (1509-1564) Genesis tells us that we are responsible for the health and well-being of this creation. We may cultivate the land that feeds us, but we may not do so in a way that destroys the other creatures who inhabit it. If we have dominion over all of earth's creatures then we have a responsibility to all of them. “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in and asked him, `What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.' … Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?” -Jesus cited in the Gospel of Luke 16:1-2,10-12 NIV Bible When I think about that parable, a couple of other verses come to mind: "The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it." Psalm 24:1 "The earth and its fullness are the Lord's." 1 Corinthians 10:26 "You shall not pollute the land in which you live... you shall not defile the land in which you live, in which I also dwell." Numbers 35:33-34 When I think about this parable, I also think about the verses above. We are stewards of this planet and he has given it to us to live in it and marvel in the wonder of His creation. Green is Biblical. Think about it. So what does all this mean for us? For those of us who believe that the Bible is the Truth, we need to rethink how we look at the world. We need to make sure we are being fully shaped by God’s Word, and not the other way around. The Bible has a powerful message for the earth and it couldn’t come at a more needed time. The thing is that we are being dishonest managers. We are not living the way that God wants us to live. Did you know that the US has only 3 percent of it’s original forest left?
Did you know that the seas are being overfished, and that Bluefin Tuna may become extinct in as little as ten years? God also blesses the fishes of the seas saying “be fruitful and multiply.” (Genesis 1:23) Did you know that England with one of the world’s highest rates of Atheism in the world, is also one of the most industrialized? Hills, mountains, fields and valleys all cry out as a testament to God’s name! I imagine that growing up in a poor area of the sprawling city of London and living in an environment with rows upon rows of houses looking the same, with an ASDA (Walmart) on the corner, with endless parking lots and man made things, with the smog and soot, with the pollution… in that kind of man-made Environment who’s to blame them for not seeing the glory of God. According to the Children in Nature website, "Children can identify up to 1,000 corporate logos, but fewer than 10 plants or animals native to their backyards." C.S. Lewis writes, "What we call Man's power over Nature turns out to be a power exercised by some men over other men with Nature as an instrument. Because God created the natural--invented it out of His love and artistry--it demands our reverence... Nature never taught me that there exists a God of glory and infinite majesty. I had to learn it in other ways. But nature gave the word glory a meaning for me. I still do not know where else I could have found one." Did you know that every year in the U.S. we pave over roughly 1.3 million acres of formerly unpaved land? That’s almost twice the size of the Hawaiian Islands! As Christians, we are called not to belong to this world, but when it comes to basics such as how we treat our environment and our animals… we very much need to change. Ironically, the world wants you to not care about the world. Those words are a little confusing. But creation, and the views on those that don't know Jesus are two entirely different things. As Christians we need to wake up. Green is biblical. It’s not liberal, and it’s not conservative. It’s God’s will, not the will of the worldly that matters. Too often we forget that. We get caught up in buying a new TV even though our old one works just fine, and even though for as little as a $20 donation, we can give an entire family access to clean drinking water. Jesus said, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." (Matthew 19:24) Now, I don’t want to make you feel guilty. But I do want to challenge you to think about the environment in a different way. I want you to see how the system we are living in, is not taking care of God’s creation; it's wasteful and toxic. And I believe we are called to do something about it. God has a plan. I pray that Christians everywhere will realize that environmentalism is not just about our relationship with trees. It’s about our relationship with God. Christ be with you! |
“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
Did you know that there are almost a billion people in the world with out access to clean drinking water? And that a large reason for this is pesticide runoff from crops that stock our supermarkets?