Green Plus Christian Isn't New Math
Jonathan Merritt, author of Green Like God, R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Cal Beisner, national spokesman for the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, discuss how concerned Christians should be about environmental care.
Creation Care: As Much as God Is
Jonathan Merritt
If we are concerned about the gospel, we should be concerned about the environment. While the two issues might not immediately strike one as connected, I have come to believe they are inextricably so.
Creation care is a launching pad for the gospel. I correspond with missionaries around the world who are glad to see American Christians championing "creation care." In many foreign countries, missionaries don't begin with Jesus, an unknown, when witnessing to others. Rather, they begin with creation and the Creator, who is clearly evident to all (Rom. 1).
Creation care strengthens our gospel witness. In Western countries like ours, where we see a growing sensitivity to environmental problems, people view environmental stewardship as the mark of a "good person." When people see Christians selflessly caring for the planet and advocating for those who depend on Earth's resources, our gospel message becomes convincing. That's why church planters across the United States are beginning to incorporate environmental stewardship practices into their congregations' DNA.
Non-Westerners carefully observe the historically Christian West and form opinions about our faith based on our lifestyles and practices. For example, Americans make up only 5 percent of the world's population, yet consume over a third of Earth's paper products. How does this influence the gospel message in countries like Nicaragua, Honduras, and Ecuador, where deforestation causes so much suffering and injustice?
Living out the gospel includes caring for creation. It is inappropriate to claim that creation care—or any social issue—composes the foundation of the gospel. But the gospel calls us to a radically sacrificial, compassionate lifestyle. Jesus commands us to "make disciples of all nations" and teach others to "obey everything I have commanded you" (Matt. 28:19-20). This includes the commands to love our global neighbors, care for the least of these, and uphold the creation care mandates throughout Scripture.
Ignoring environmental problems heaps shame on the gospel. Part of missional living is telling the truth. That means we must be honest about our world's problems. When we blindly follow Christian lobbying groups and "alliances" that ignore global injustice, the gospel suffers. Augustine cautioned against this in The Literal Meaning of Genesis: "If [non-Christians] find a Christian mistaken in a field which they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books [Scripture], how are they going to believe those books?"
I could offer more reasons Christians should care about creation: because the "earth is the Lord's" (Ps. 24); because it reveals the attributes of God (Ps. 19; Rom. 1); because God asked us to care for it (Gen. 2:15); and because Christ's death began a process of cosmic redemption in which we are called to participate (Col. 1; Rom. 8; Rev. 21). But more than any of those, we must care about creation because we want the kingdom of God to reign on earth and the gospel of Jesus Christ to take root among all people.
Creation Care: No Less Than Stewards
R. Albert Mohler Jr.
Concern for the environment is one of the most controversial issues facing Christians today. On the one hand, we confront an environmentalism that is often deeply rooted in a naturalistic worldview, sometimes wedded to pantheistic or panentheistic spirituality. On the other hand, we face a painful legacy of silence, apathy, and unconcern among evangelicals.
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steve sylvester
I pray that many of you will not continue to exempt yourselves from engaging in discussion about issues important to Christians because you can't stop seeing baby killers and marxists/communists behind every God created tree. And how can we ignore that Jesus "was in the beginning with God, that through him ALL THINGS were made"? Jesus is not some 2nd and 3rd act spiritual butler for the (human only) afterlife. And creation is more than a proving ground for salvation.
A Hermit
As human beings, we are biological beings as well as spiritual. Our biological human life comes from the 'environment'. We need water; we need food that comes from the plants and animals, that are themselves dependent on creation/earth/environment. Caring for the earth is caring for ourselves. While God provides for our needs through the earth, he doesn't supply our material greeds. Greed is one of the seven deadly sins. We can preserve the legal right of babies to be born, yet allow destruction of the life that sustains us all. The animals that we depend on for food can become extinct; water can be polluted (causing cancers and disease) or used up; trees and minerals on which our livelihood can be used to exhaustion. Caring for creation/environment is not an optional 'issue'.
A Hermit
Roger McKinney- We cannot 'use what God has given us' without creating 'pollution'. In nature, there is natural regrowth and recycling. That is what allows forests and marine life to continue for millenia. As man's numbers increase and his material desires have multiplied, with our economic 'consumption' we have gone beyond many ecosystems ability to regenerate the losses of life (trees cut down, for example) and take care of the wastes our 'economy' produces. God's creation can supply our needs-not our greed. Research indicates the Mayan culture fell because its farming techniques exhausted the soil and could not longer support the population. As to private property, all creation is God's. All of man's 'property' comes from God. Private property is a human convention. Read Acts; when individuals joined the early Christian community, they sold what they had, gave it to the Apostles, who then distributed it according to need.