Christian Environmentalism

Yeah. You probably had the same thought that I had when reading the title of the post. That is largely 'gag me', followed closely by a 'border-line pantheism'. Or at least that has been my frame of reference for many years.  Admittedly, Christian environmentalism conjured up more than just tree huggers for me. There was a little more depth to it, in that I thought all Christians should care some what about taking care of the earth, because we are to be stewards of it.  After all, God did give us dominion over what He created:

And 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 heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. - Genesis 1:28

However, I still find this view lacking. Especially in light of love. My mentality was "take care of the earth because we are to be good stewards".  My mentality is now "take care of the earth because people live on it." You see, there is a slight change in perspective.  If I am called to love my neighbor as myself, then I am bound to do what is in their best interest.  I conserve water because other people need that water as well. I use reusable grocery sacks so that "paper or plastic" becomes neither.

Our environmental concerns should not be spurred by a sense of duty as much as a sense of love and genuine interest of those around us.

3 comments:

  1. God created us from the dust and to dust we will return. So much philosophical and theological thought is spent to explain the image of God in mankind and how God breathing into us made us living souls, but we are also children of the earth. We are the dust that God shaped -- with this in mind, maybe, just maybe, we should care about the earth a little bit more.

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  2. Why juxtapose love and duty? One can have both. I pray to God, because I love Him. I also pray to Him, because He is a sovereign King, and it is my duty. Both can be equally valid. In fact, the two need each other (how can someone love something without having duty to it?).

    There is a fourth reason for Christian environmentalism (including Dann's): that is that the world itself must be sanctified. It is in our nature to rule nature and shape it. Sanctifying it, rather than defiling it, also sanctifies us. The reverse is also true.

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  3. I love this line of thought. Something I had not taken into consideration. Thanks!

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