Part 1: Environment: Who Cares?
Part 2: Environment: Who Owns it?
Part 3: Environment: It is Good
Part 4:Environment: The Ball’s in Our Court

Today, we deal with two doctrines that are absolutely at the core of Christianity – the doctrines of the fall and the end times – and show that a good understanding of how these two doctrines interact can be a spur to care of creation.

In Genesis Chapter 3, humanity rebels against God. One of the consequences of this is that creation is affected by humanity’s sin. In Genesis 3:17-19, God says that creation will bring forth thorns and thistles, and that working to produce food will, from this point onwards, be hard work – rather than just work. In short, creation is no longer unambiguously good. However, this spoiling of creation is only temporary. Ultimately, when Jesus returns, the Earth will be reborn as God creates new Heavens and a new Earth (Revelation 21-22).

This latter point is a matter of some controversy – the language used in various Bible passages could be interpreted either to mean that the Earth will be completely destroyed and replaced with a new model, or that it will be renewed and transformed into a state that is better than it was in the beginning. There isn’t space to go into the evidence here, but my understanding is that renewal does better justice to the overall teaching of scripture than does replacement.

So how does this understanding that creation has been corrupted and will either be renewed or replaced impact our relationship with the environment?

Firstly, we need to understand that Christians are as much a new creation as the New Earth will be (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). We are called to pray and work towards seeing God’s kingdom (or rule) on Earth (see, for example, the Lord’s Prayer – Matthew 6:9-13). If our approach to doing so is to ruin, rather than care for, creation, then we are not reflecting God’s ultimate plan for the universe. We are, instead, reinforcing the curse that came with the Fall.

Secondly, it means that we have a model to look forward to. Yes, there are indications that the New Earth will be very different to the current one in ways that we cannot entirely understand – Revelation 21:4 says that death, mourning, crying, and pain will be things of the past. But it won’t be entirely dissimilar. There are several references to eating and drinking there, for example. Although the Bible does not elaborate on the details, it is fair to say that CS Lewis’s conception of heaven/the new Earth in his Narnia books – that the real world is like a shadow of heaven – is a good illustration.

Thirdly, it means that Christians do not need to worry about environmental destruction. I have demonstrated in this blog series that Christians do have many reasons to take action to preserve the environment, and to encourage others to do so, and I stand by that. But knowing that the planet will either be restored or replaced means that we need not feel worried or depressed when we discover the level of damage that humanity has done to the planet. We can rest assured that the Earth will be restored to its full glory, even if our attempts to, for example, prevent climate change ultimately fail.

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But before we begin, here’s a list of links to the rest of the series:

Part 1: Environment: Who Cares?
Part 2: Environment: Who Owns it?
Part 3: Environment: It is Good

At the end of Genesis chapter 1, the Bible says:

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 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.”

In the past many Christians have interpreted this passage to mean that we can do whatever we like to the planet and the life that exists upon it. And whilst it may seem, reading this in isolation, that it is a valid interpretation, I don’t think that it remotely reflects the relationship God intends us to have with the rest of creation.

The main point of this passage is clearly that human beings are made in the image of God – and this has to be the context in which we interpret God’s command to humanity that we should be in control of the rest of nature. The question of what being made in God’s image means is far too big for a single blog post to adequately cover – especially as it would be a digression. However, one thing it must mean – according to this passage – is that our relationship to creation is to mirror God’s.

So how does God rule over creation?

Firstly, He delights in and enjoys it. This is evident from the way He talks about creation in, for example, Genesis 1 or Job 38-41. I covered the implications of this in the last post in this series.

Secondly, He cares about it. Jesus, whilst explaining why His followers need not worry, said this:

“Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ” (Matthew 6:26-30)

If God’s style of ruling over creation is to take care of it, then surely a care for creation should characterise our attitude to it. The way modern society subordinates care for creation to the “need” for more resources to fuel our capitalist, consumerist lifestyles is light years away from the sort of attitude to creation that reflects the image of God.

Our Responsibility

Authority comes with responsibility. Knowing that God has given the human race collective authority over the planet, we also need to realise that He will hold us collectively and individually accountable for exercising that authority wisely. This is the principle of stewardship. It is best illustrated by a story Jesus told that is usually referred to as the Parable of the Talents, found in Matthew chapter 25.

The story goes that a man went away on a long journey, entrusting three very large sums of money (measured in talents – hence the title) to his servants. Two of his servants used the money they had, invested it wisely, and had twice as much when their master returned. The third servant buried it in the ground, squandering the responsibility entrusted to him. The first two servants were rewarded, but the third was punished.

In its context (it is right in the middle of a section dealing with being ready for the second coming), this passage clearly shows that God will hold us accountable for what we did with the things He has given us. This holds true for our skills and abilities, as well as for our material possessions, and our collective ownership of the Earth. God has given us custody of the planet Earth and all the species that live upon it. The principle here is clearly that God will hold us accountable for whether we look after it wisely or foolishly.

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Part 1: Environment: Who Cares?
Part 2: Environment: Who Owns it?

One thing that the Bible teaches again and again about creation is that it is good. God said that every part of it was good when He was creating it in Genesis chapter 1, the Psalms are full of verses about nature, and God spends several chapters at the end of Job describing how awesome creation is.

This is something that everyone, not just Christians, can agree with. We’ve all seen pretty flowers, amazing sunrises and sunsets, spectacular mountains, impressive animals, vast oceans, and the like (if you haven’t seen them in person, then you’ve probably still seen them on TV). Such things are self-evidently good. If you can’t see that, then you urgently need to see a psychiatrist.

So, having established that the environment is good, what does that mean for our attitudes towards it?

The first thing it means, is that we can enjoy it. Although I live in a city and work in an office, I can still admire what plant and animal life there is, as well as the skies above me. I can still find ways to get out into the countryside every so often, and I love seeing lots of it every time I take a train journey. Also I can – and always do – praise God for it, ensuring that my enjoyment does not turn into idolatry.

The second thing it means is that it is worth protecting. If you have something good, you don’t want to let it be damaged, because you want it to remain good. Applying this to the environment, by living a consumerist lifestyle we damage it unnecessarily.

Thirdly, the reason that God made creation good was to display His glory. The fact that creation is good shows us something of what God is like. By damaging the environment, we obscure some aspects of God’s character. We make it more difficult to understand what God is like – both for ourselves and for others.

For all these reasons, Christians should choose to live in environmentally sustainable ways whenever they have the option. Not out of a sense of obligation, but instead out of a desire to continue to enjoy things that God has made to be good.

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The question of how the universe came into being should have major implications for how we approach it. What we think of our place in the universe is vital to our understanding of how we relate to it. To take one example, a Young Earth Creationist should be far more concerned about the extinction of a species (as he or she believes it to be irreplaceable – apart from divine intervention), than somebody who believes we got here via evolution (as he or she believes that species extinctions are part of the way the world works).

As a Christian, my understanding of where everything came from begins with the first words of the Bible – “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth”. For Christians, everything has – ultimately – been made by God. Those Christians who believe that God used evolution and those who believe in Intelligent Design or various forms of Creationism share this same perspective that God created it all.

This has two main consequences for the way Christians should think about the world around us. Both of which, ultimately, should lead us to be concerned about environmental issues.

The first consequence is that creation is not God. Unlike pagans, Christians do not consider the environment something to be worshipped. We can – and do – admire its wonders. We can – and should – fight to protect it from harm, but it is not something that we should make ourselves slaves slaves to.

The second consequence is that creation is not ours. Ultimately, the environment belongs to God and not to humanity. Therefore, we have a duty to take care of it. I currently live in a rented flat. That means that I do not have the freedom to do whatever I want with it. Yes, I can do whatever I like with the things in it that I do own. But I can’t change the carpet, knock down a wall, or put up shelving without my landlord’s permission. In fact, I am far more careful of the things owned by my landlord than I am of the things I own.

A Christian attitude to the environment should be similar. Because the environment is God’s and not ours, we should ensure that our lifestyles do the minimum possible damage to it. Just as I wouldn’t intentionally spill paint on my landlord’s carpet, Christians shouldn’t live the sort of lifestyle that causes large amounts of carbon emissions unless we absolutely have to. Wherever there is a practical and affordable eco-friendly alternative, we should take it. And if there isn’t, we should support efforts to create one or go without.

Although these two truths may seem at first glance to be in conflict, I believe that they both point us in the same direction. Most of the environmental damage we see today is driven by the ideologies of materialism and consumerism, both of which are – essentially – the worship of parts of creation. By rejecting the pursuit of more and more material goods and the drive to ever more excessive levels of affluence, all of us (Christian or not) will inevitably become more eco-friendly and act in a way that is more in keeping with the idea that the Earth is somewhere that we live as (hopefully responsible) tenants, rather than owners.

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The key to overcoming such objections is to persuade people that it is actually a moral imperative to care for the world around us. Our beliefs about who we are as human beings and how we should, as a result, relate to the rest of the universe are the key to motivating ourselves to do our part in caring for the planet. Obviously there are many who live in ways that do not reflect their stated beliefs, but this is often because they do not realise the implications of those beliefs.

This post is the first in a series which seeks to address the fundamental reasons why Christians should care about the environment. I’m writing this with two distinct audiences in mind. Firstly, the Christian who wants to know what the Bible says about the environment. Secondly, the Green activist who wants to be able to persuade Christians that they should care. If you’re in either of those categories, or are please read on.

For a Christian, the core reasons for caring about the environment are rooted in the doctrine of Creation. The word “creation” is the nearest Biblical equivalent to the modern word “environment”. Whilst it is a much broader term (the sun, moon, and stars are part of creation, but are not the environment), it usually refers to the same things (the Earth and everything that lives on it).

Therefore, a Christian response to environmental issues depends fundamentally on our understanding of our place within creation. A wrong understanding of this doctrine will produce a fundamentally unChristian approach to the world around us.

The most prominent Biblical reasons for caring for the environment are that it is God’s and not ours and that God gave the whole of humanity the task of looking after it (both of which I will expand on later in the series). However, the reason that many Christians find most compelling is the link between poverty and the environment.

The Bible again and again talks about the need to care for the poor. To pick a verse on the subject at random, Proverbs 14:31 says “Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honours him”. Christians who have the right attitude to the poor are halfway towards really caring about environmental issues.

The link between poverty and environment is well understood by those who work amongst the really poor. On the local scale, attempts to help subsistence farmers out of poverty must ensure that they take account of the environment in which they live. It is no good teaching a farming method that produces higher yields in the short term if it destroys the soil quality. This is just common sense, but it doesn’t require any substantial impact on the way those of us in the rich world live.

What does require such an impact is the big global environmental issues. It is pretty universally accepted by scientists that human-caused climate change will lead to a significant rise in sea levels as a result of melting Antarctic ice. The brunt of the human impact will be borne by those living in poor countries. Bangladesh, one of the world’s poorest countries, will see millions of people lose their lives and their homes under most models. As with all natural disasters, the rich will be able to escape the worst consequences, whilst the poor will be more likely to lose their lives, their homes, and their livelihoods.

If Christians have any love for the poor, then we must take action to substantially reduce our own carbon emissions, persuade others to do the same, and lobby our governments to take effective action via legislation – something about which much is said, but little done.

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