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!