Caring for the Environment

It is easy to be put off by the secular humanists and their worship of nature and the environment to the point that we reject the idea of caring for nature and the responsibility of stewardship  that God has given us as caretakers of His creation, but we should not do this.

Having grown up in the Boy Scouts, and in a setting where I spent a lot of time hunting, fishing, camping and enjoying the outdoors with my family has made an "environmentalist" out of me (we used to call ourselves "conservationists" but I guess that wasn't dignified enough for today's crowd).

In my post of March 29, 2014 entitled "The Environmental Crisis", which I invite you to read in its entirety, I wrote the following:

"I believe that we have been, and continue to be, poor stewards of our planet’s environment . . . I believe that when God said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it.” (Genesis 1:28), it was a responsibility that was given us. It was our first job assignment from God. The first assigned duty of mankind was to care for the earth. It is unfortunate that the words often translated in describing our relationship to our environment in Genesis 1, such as “subdue” and “dominion” carry with them a negative connotation. I believe that God is simply telling us to take charge, and be the caretaker. No one likes an abusive person in charge of anything. We are to use and to manage, not to abuse it. The unfortunate truth going forward is that we have abdicated our responsibility to manage, and have degenerated into exploiters of our environment or at best, indifferent to what is going on around us.

In the New Testament we are told that the fall of mankind also resulted in the corruption of the remainder of creation. We are further assured that the redemption of mankind will also bring about the redemption of creation by the will of God:

"For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subject to [depravity], not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself would be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now."       Romans 8;19-22 (ESV)

I am writing this today for two reasons. First, it is becoming clear that the protection of the environment is diminishing in its prominence as a national issue. I am not sure that this is a bad thing. We have certainly had a one-size-fits-all approach to the environment in recent years that has come down from the top; from the federal level. I believe that the states, and the local governments are in a much better position to determine and act upon their local concerns than someone in Washington, DC, who has never operated in these local environments. We have often assumed as well that the local governments would be negligent in their care for the environment, and would let economic issues override environmental issues. I believe that this is a false presumption.

Second, I have both met, and heard people in recent weeks who have expressed a failure to understand the importance of this responsibility to care for the natural world in which we live. Indeed, we frequently hear the phrase "job-killing" applied to environmental protections.

It does not help this cause that many so-called "environmentalists" have shown a propensity to go overboard in ways that have polarized the situation. Al Gore and the "climate change" folks being a case in point.

As we said above, this is a responsibility that has been given us by our Father, God, and He has not lowered His expectations to match our immediate economic needs. I am a firm believer that if we forego economic advantage to do the right thing, He will provide for our needs.

In the process of preparing this post, I came across these two passages that tell of perhaps a similar problem in attitude toward the environment that ancient Israel had,  which may parallel some of our attitudes today:

"How long is the land to mourn and the vegetation of the countryside to wither for the wickedness of those who dwell in it? Animals and birds have been snatched away because men have said "He will not see our latter ending"         (Jeremiah 12:4 NASB)

"Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard; they have trampled down my portion ; they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. . . The whole land is made desolate, but no man lays it to heart."          (Jeremiah 12:10-11 ESV)




Let us all resolve to be good stewards and to be true to God's first assignment and care for this world of which He has left us in charge. I believe He will hold us accountable for this, don't you?

Pray for the peace of Israel.

Thanks for sharing this moment with me today.