Christian Environmentalism - Why and How

Nature does not speak for itself. It is like a witness at a court trial who testifies about what someone else has done.

Before the Fall of humanity (Genesis 3), nature mirrored (reflected) two realities about God.

First, nature reveals testimony about God's glory.

"The heavens keep telling

the wonders of God,

and the skies declare

what he has done."

(Psalm 19:1, CEV)

When humanity rebelled against God, that rebellion resulted in two more kinds of testimony.

Is there anything we can do about this?

Second, creation reveals testimony about God's nurture - He provides everything that his creation needs:

"All of these depend on you to provide them with food, and you feed each one with your own hand, until they are full."(Psalm 104:27-28, CEV)

God cares for his world, so his world reflects this care in giving us the food we need to survive.

First is the testimony of penalty:

"Cursed is the ground because of you." (Genesis 3:17)

Natural disasters, droughts, earthquakes, and floods, all reflect that fact that we as human beings are rebels against the Creator. Life is not safe.

God had provided everything that creation needed to survive.

Human rebellion was reflected in nature, because nature would now only feed us if we worked hard to make it produce.

This is the work of "reclamation," reclaiming our role as God's children, who care for God's creation rather than destroying it.

Several types of testimony are possible.

Johnson's Landing slide, B.C., July 12, 2012

The next testimony is "precariousness," meaning that the creation is dangerous.

Adam and Eve were safe in the Garden, but in our fallen world, nature tells us all the time that life is dangerous.

Christian Environmentalism:

Why and How

Christianity has not had a good reputation in addressing environmental issues.

It means that nature reveals what we do to it

You will find any number of Christians who describe environmentalists as radicals.

Several of the strongest voices denying global warming have been Christians.

It means that we are back in the Garden and have returned to our first purpose:

"The Lord God put the man in the Garden of Eden to take care of it and to look after it."

Genesis 2:15 (CEV)

Why is this the case?

Some Christians believe that paying attention to environmental concerns takes time away from evangelism and spirituality.

What does it mean to say that "nature is only a mirror?"

Some believe that environmentalism is mainly controlled by Eastern religions and so is unChristian.

Why should any Christian care about the physical environment?

Some are guided by the thinking in the lines of a hymn: "This world is not my home. I'm just a-passing through."

It means that it is our privilege to care for creation so that it can be a mirror of the fact that we have ended our rebellion and are children of God once again.

Since the problems in the physical world are reflections of our rebellion against God, the solution is to receive forgiveness through the blood of Jesus, and once again become a child of God, like Adam and Eve before they rebelled.

Second, it is the home of our children. To care for them, we must preserve their environment.

First, it is our home. We take care of our own bodies (which will one day die), so why would we not care for our environment?

Now let's look at a concept that was first stated by James Houston of Regent College:

"The basic dilemma with nature is that it is only a mirror that casts a reflection of what is projected upon it."

- I Believe in the Creator (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980), 30-31.

Third, Christians believe that the environment is God's creation every bit as much as human beings are God's creation. If the environment is important to God (because he made it) the environment must be important to us.

What does this mean for Christian environmentalism?

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Fourth, the Bible teaches that human beings were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-28).

You might think that this is a spiritual or theological answer, but the Bible make it clear that it is also an answer to the future of the natural world.

Part of being created in God's image is being given a command to rule. In Genesis 1:28, God says, "And let them rule [over creation]."

This is not the power to destroy but to preserve and care for the world God made - Genesis 2:15:

"The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it."

Creation does not want to suffer (be confused and groan), but this has happened because it is a mirror of our rebellion against God.

If we can, through the blood of Christ, become God's children once again, then creation has a hope of being released from its suffering.

Romans 8:20-22 (CEV):

"Meanwhile, creation is confused, but not because it wants to be confused. God made it this way in the hope that creation would be set free from decay and would share in the glorious freedom of his children. We know that all creation is still groaning and is in pain, like a woman about to give birth."