Last week I stumbled into another Al Gore environmental concern: A Call for 100% Renewable Energy within 10 years. It wasn’t a direct address to Christians, but I’m sure he had us in mind.
Should Christians really listen to Al Gore since the Bible says that God has subjected the creation to futility (Rom 8:19-21) and that the earth is wearing out like a garment (Heb 1:11)?
Here’s my take: As Christians we should honor those laws to keep our environment clean, but we should also keep in mind that this world of ours is headed for 100% Renewal.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. (2 Peter 3:10-13, TNIV, emphasis added)
I say Al Gore needs to put this passage in his environmental pipe, and smoke it! 
I see that you didn’t take NT Wright to heart…
Al Gore is a pompous energy hog. While he’s been flying around the world (burning our precious natural resources at an alarming rate) performing his duties as High Priest of the Church of Global Warming, I have purchased a hybrid auto (Camry – 38 MPG at 40k miles) and put tint on my home windows to reduce incoming heat from the sun (I live in Florida) cutting my home energy usage. My wife drives a Civic and gets between 35 and 40 MPG.
And yes! I’m ready to go off on the next person that tells me how it’s conservatives like me who are destroying the planet.
Deep breath…
Let’s go nuclear. If France can do it, we can do it.
El, what the world in going to eventually look like in the end, I believe Wright and I are in agreement. But on the details of who we get there, I believe we differ.
Stan, you and your wife are doing your part, but I’m wondering in light of Scripture, if it’s worth it.
TC,
Call me a capitalist pig but I’m saving quite a bit of money.
There is something to be said for having a clean environment, but what do the Church of the Global Warming congregants think we currently have here in America? Anyone been to Lima, Peru lately? Try breathing the air down there, expecially with asthma. I would take Riverside, CA any day over Lima.
Let me share my own non-scientific study comparing the air quality in Riverside, CA and Lima, Peru. Following is the amount of time in each city before my asthma was aggravated to the varying levels:
- Riverside, CA: 10 months until I had to limit time outdoors; controlled with meds
- Lima, Peru: 24 hours until major asthma attack; not relieved by inhaler and other meds
FYI, Riverside, CA is consistantly at, or near, the top of the most polluted cities in the USA.
Thanks for the info, Stan. You and I know how the story is going to end. All I’m asking is if this enviromental craze is worth it?
I agree with Stan- Nuclear energy is the way to go. Clean, cheap, safe (now anyways).
As a Recreation, Parks,and Tourism major- I have a great love for the outdoors. I think we should heed a call to environmental stewardship- although, I find Gore to be a quite the hypocrite. For me, it’s a matter of recognizing that the earth and all thereof is God’s- not ours- and so we should be stewards of his creation. Especially because it proclaims His glory. Pollution and the like do not proclaim the glory of God- but the superiority of man. It says that its our earth and we can do with it as we wish.
At the same time, we need to guard it from being about the earth- like some sort of New Age idea or pantheism. We should take care of the earth because it belongs to God, and proclaims aspects about Him- not because it is him. We also should keep in mind that, yes, there is a new heavens and new earth coming- but we don’t know when. I don’t want my kids living in a devastated environment. I want them to experience the joy of the outdoors, immersed in God’s beautiful creation.
Of course, this is all my personal conviction about things. I try to not get too bent out of shape about disagreements
Don’t get me wrong Bryan and Stan! I’m all for a cleaner environment for our enjoyment and our children’s children, but where is the biblical mandate? I understand the arguments from biblical categories. But that is just what they are, biblical categories.
I don’t want to get bent out of shape either. But I tend to wince at all the rhetoric.
Let’s see how this argument goes. Our baby will die one day, and (if s/he’s been saved) will get a new body from God. Therefore while we ought to obey the laws that are in place for their good, it doesn’t actually matter if we try to make them as safe and happy as possible. Is that a fair analogy, and if not, why not?
BTW I’m not a Gore fan, or a tree-hugger. i just think your argument’s a misuse of eschatology. Get back to work you lazy Thessalonians and all that.
To some extent it’s a fair analogy, but there’s a slight difference. We’re told in Scripture to love ourselves and not to destroy our bodies, which are God’s sanctuary, but I do not find the same for our physical planet.
We have to build such arguments from biblical categories, and in the end, that might work. But there’s only so much that we mortals can do. It’s like we’re trying to buy time.
How is it a misuse of Eschatology? I’m willing to learn on this one.
Oh, I definitely agree that the rhetoric is absurd.
For me the Biblical mandate comes in God giving us dominion over creation- yet reminding us over and over that it actually still belongs to Him.
Though, environmentalism is not the purpose of the parable of the talents, I believe that the principle (read: general teaching as opposed to specific content) that lays behind the parable can apply. This is why I tend to speak of stewardship instead of Environmentalism (big “E”).
That’s where it is for me anyways- Hey! Creation proclaims my glory, as well as other things about me. Don’t trash it. That destroys the message it is sending out about me. Also, it’s mine to begin with.
Also, as an aside, it seems to me that a good way to usher in the truth of the new creation into the present is the testimony of how we treat creation now. This is, of course, a substance different from regeneration, because that actually does bring the future new creation into the present, as did the resurrection of Christ. What I’m saying is, my stewardship reflects the truth of the future new creation.
I believe we need to care for the environment, but the Bible says that it has been subjected to futility by God himself.
On the contrary, I believe the devastions to this planet, whether manmade or natural, all point to the new creation. Our universe is groaning in pains of childbirth; it’s longing for that liberation.
WARNING: Disciples of Al Gore may be offended by the content below.
TC, I planned to address the economics of the environmental craze but thought I had said enough.
Economics is the study of the production, conservation and allocation of resources in conditions of scarcity. Scarcity being the key word.
Gore and his disciples apparently have the idea that there are unlimited resources available to fight global warming, clean Mother Earth, etc.
Side note: It is supreme arrogance to think that we can actually do anything to significantly (or marginally for that matter) to change the temperature of the earth. We can’t even accurately measure the temperature. Variability is apparently a foreign concept to many of Gore’s disciples.
Economics 101 from Proverbs 14:4
Where there are no oxen, the feeding trough is clean, but an abundant harvest is produced by strong oxen.
Oxen are essentially tools. A tool is a device or a piece of equipment which typically provides a mechanical advantage in accomplishing a physical task, or provides an ability that is not naturally available to the user of a tool.
With an ox, we are able to produce far more had we tried to do the work ourselves. Of course, with an ox the feeding trough is going to be dirty )pollution). Without the ox we’ll have a clean trough (little, if any, pollution) but will not have an abundant harvest.
Modern farm equipment (such as tractors which use fossil fuels) is far more efficient tools than are oxen. Sure, you have to change tires occasionally. You burn fossil fuels. You have to change various parts and the tractor eventually breaks down and ends up in the junk yard. Pollution. However, the food it would have taken to feed the oxen (or people) to do the same amount of work would have been enormous. Also, the food used to feed the oxen (or people) to do that work could not be used to feed other people (scarcity). Oh sure, there would be less pollution from the burning of fossil fuels but there would also be more people starving to death. Also, scientists tell us (not that we can trust everything they say, of course) that cows passing gas is quite a pollutant. Using tractors reduces the gas produced by oxen working in the fields.
Nuclear fuel increases the efficiency exponentially.
I could go on. This should suffice for most.
The short version of all that is: No. All this money and effort spent on the environmental craze is NOT worth it.
I had no idea my previous post was going to end up that lengthy. I will not be offended at all should you decide to delete it.
Sorry about that.
Stan, length is not offensive at all.
I’m really grateful for what you have to share on the matter of the environment. I still learning on the matter.
I believe we need to be responsible stewards of our environment, but it’s only so much we can do lest we find ourselves fighting against God, yes, fighting against God.
I think there are some flaws in your logic.
While God may indeed create a new heaven and new earth we really have no idea when or how that will work.
Climate change will disproportionately impact the poor. Based on the consistent theme of justice for the poor and oppress in the wisdom literature and prophets I’d say we are expected to act responsibly. What are the weightier aspects of the law?
We should care for the environment because we need it.
The other side of this issue is peak oil and resource scarcity. We should reduce our dependence on oil and natural gas because they are finite resources. As their production peaks we will see huge increases in price. This too will disproportionately impact the most vulnerable.
Leighton, I’m neither and economist nor a environmentalist. My approach is mostly biblical. While I applaud the efforts of both the economist and environmentalist, I have to let Scripture provide the true sense of reality and where we’re headed.
Eschatologically speaking, there’s going to be a discontinuity and continuity to this creation as we know. Yes, we have to be good stewards of it, but Scripture says that like a garment it is wearing out (Heb 1:11), so only so much we can do to save it.
Pingback: An open response regarding Christian environmentalism : He is Sufficient
I’m not going to argue this out, T.C., because you are undoubtedly better informed than I.
I find it interesting that, given your disagreement with me on the subject of rapture, that one of my points on my post a few weeks ago on rapture (quoting Wright, which I believe you’re reading right now?), was precisely that the rapture encourages this ‘misuse of eschatology’ as Doug calls what you’re saying here.
I think (as I said, you’re undoubtedly better informed than I) that the main flaw I see in your thinking is in what you last said: “Yes, we have to be good stewards of it, but Scripture says that like a garment it is wearing out (Heb 1:11), so only so much we can do to save it.”
Yes, it is wearing out, but our purpose here isn’t to save it (only God can do that), it’s to look after it as best we can until He does do that.
Damian, we’re essentially in agreement. Examine my comments and you’ll see that. I just don’t believe in making people overly hyped about the environment.
Even those who are overly zealous about the environment are inconsistent: do they use electricity, do BBQ and so on…
This can get really ridiculous when you think it through.
Stan’s the man! Did you see my recent post on the Mathematical proof there is no “climate crisis”? (http://sunestauromai.wordpress.com/2008/07/20/yet-again-more-on-politics/).
I am with you to an extent TC. To me, “saving souls” is our prime directive (cf Matt 28:19-20). At the same time, that does not preclude irresponsible stewardship of the creation. Throwing your garbage out the window of your car should prick your conscience. I also think how the environment is treated in the larger scheme of things (e.g., corporations dumping into lakes and rivers and oceans, etc.; the extensive logging world wide and esp in the Amazon to name a couple of somewhat weak examples) is largely inappropriate and should be curbed as much as possible.
But I am also with Stan – just go to another country, especially in the Southern Hemisphere, and you’ll come back home appreciating the EPA, FDA and other such government groups.
Ridiculous indeed!
Brian and Nick, I saw this Campolo book at a used bookstore: How To Rescue The Earth Without Worshiping Nature: a Christian’s Call To Save Creation. I think I’m gonna get it tomorrow.
TC: Do let me know how you like it. It’s not a topic that I’m the least bit interested in so I couldn’t see reading about it.
Yeah, I’ll post some stuff.
Sorry, T.C., you’re right, you were more clear in your comments than in your initial post – my apologies.
And yes, you’re right about the inconsistencies, but nevertheless, I believe it should be talked about.
Your argument is no different than “well this car is going wear out eventually so I don’t need to change the oil.”
Because the environment and resource scarcity is a justice issue it factors heavily in biblical reality. Mat 23:23.
Imagine this conversation with the people of Tuvalu. (An island country threatened by rising sea levels.)
I’m sorry that you had to evacuate your country. I know I could have switched to wind power, but coal was cheaper. It would have cost me an extra $27 a month on my power bill. God says the world is wearing out so something like this is inevitable.
Damian, and do not believe one bit that we should neglect our environment because of our eschatological bent. We should be good stewards, but the Bible still has the final word on its destiny.
Leighton, in Scripture, esp. in the minor prophets, “Justice” had to do with taking care of the poor among you and so on. The word was not about the environment.
We need to take care of our surrounding, but at the same time expect the coming of Scripture and the consummation of all things, even the renewal of this creation. That’s Scripture.
I rather like your blog and I see that you care a great deal about biblical translation, interpretation and application.
I don’t think it is a stretch to take the universal principle from which we get the prophetic call to justice in the minor prophets and apply it to our context. If unsustainable living and environmental destruction causes harm to the poor then it is a justice issue.
The expectation of the renewal of all things can give us hope, but it should never give us an inch of freedom to rationalize behavior that harms other people. There is no “but” to taking care of our surroundings.
Leighton Tebay,
If unsustainable living and environmental destruction causes harm to the poor then it is a justice issue.
That’s a pretty big IF.
Where is the unsustainable living and environmental destruction taking place?
Leighton, I think it is a stretch, because not only the poor but all will be affect, unless the rich relocate to the Moon or some other planet.
So here is my question.
If we believe that protection of the environment is not an important aspect of Christianity how do we combat – the command in Genesis 2:15 to tend and keep (“serve and preserve” in the original Hebrew), what do we do about Romans 1:20 supported by Psalms 19 that tells us God’s invisible attributes are seen in His Creation (i.e. 2,900 species of creation go extinct each year because of mans pollution – if God is revealed in His Creation as He is in His word this is liking taking the last Bible on earth and ripping pages from it). What do do about Isa 5:8-10 telling us that building house upon house is sin, or Jer. 2:7 saying we defile God when defiling creation, or Isa. 24:5 the earth mourns our pollution, or Jer. 12:10-11 where God curses those who trample the land or Dt. 29:22-23 that tells us the result of our sin in polluting the land or Prov. 12:10 telling us to care for animals, or Noah’s covenant that God made with ANIMALS as well as Noah, or 1 Kings 4:32-34 where we find that the Wisdom given to Solomon was about God’s creation.
Also what do we do about all the scripture in the word that shows us that Jesus didn’t just die for us! John 3:16 – God so loved me – no God so loved the World – or Col. 1:19-20 – by Him and For Him – He sustains all creation we most certainly have to get rid of Mark 16:15 – preach the gospel to ALL creation (what was Jesus thinking) Do we eliminate Genesis 1 and God’s pronouncements that He finds all creation good.
No we can’t do that – we need to take the scriptures for what they say – we need to look at the whole picture. Rom. 8 tells us that Creation is groaning, suffering awaiting its redemption. God did subject creation to futility – in hope. But why did He subject it. Did someone sin? Yes, we did. It is 110% OUR FAULT that the earth is in the state it is. Yet, Romans 8 says something else, verse 14 states that we are adopted as the Sons of God and oddly in verse 19 it tells us that we are just what creation is waiting for. God subjected creation in hope – hope that the Sons of God would redeem it.
We must look at each of our actions and determine if they are actions of redemption of the creation that God so loved or something else (stealing, killing and destroying).
Much of the environmentalist movement in the US is upside down – we talk about our carbon footprint, but what we should talk about is the source of the problems – CONSUMPTION (otherwise know as greed).
Haiti has cut down 99% of their forests, Ethiopia 98%; 20,000 acres of Amazonian rainforest (and its human and animal counterparts) are cut down each year – all to feed the need for cheap beef for fast food restaurants.
We as Americans cannot stand to have pollution on our land we outsource it to china (take a look at the cloud over Beijing – ever seen a produce made in China?). We don’t want to have our trees cut down so we pay the haitian poor to cut their’s down. We want cheap electronics so we support child slavery in the Congo mines that produce coltran which we need to make our playstations and cell phones.
So what about the people who starve, face untold diseases and are held in slavery around the world to feed our greed. Are those to in futility? Or is someone responsible?
I wonder would Jesus want a cell phone if he knew that a small child was stolen from their village and held as a slave in order to mine the metal needed to make that phone.
We need to wake up, wake up to the fact that we serve a loving, merciful God and that what we are doing is killing those things that are “by Him and for Him”. Will Jesus be OK with what we have done – or will we be like Adam and hide ourselves when He comes asking for an account of our stewardship for His things.
Will we be like those in Revelations 11:18 – who are destroyed because they destroy the earth?
There is plenty of evidence in the Christian tradition to suggest that environmentalism is part, and even necessary, to the Christian view, and is well integrated into the culture and history of Christianity. There is also plenty to suggest that to believe that the world is going to end, so we should do nothing to help save it, is in fact the work of the forces of evil. You need look no further than St. Francis of Assisi if you are a Catholic.
If you are a born again, or of the newer protestant churches, there is plenty to suggest that to be green and to be a benevolent shepherd of God’s domain is to live as He intended.
Here is an overview of what different branches of Christianity are doing in terms of the Christian environmental awakening:
http://getsustainablenow.org/edu/christ.html
If you are a born again, or of the newer protestant churches, there is plenty to suggest that to be green and to be a benevolent shepherd of God’s domain is to live as He intended.
Jonah, I’m beginning to embrace and appreciate the earth because it is going to be renewed. The reversal of the curse has already on its way.
Jonah,
Being good stewards is something we can all agree on. If that’s what you mean by green I have no problem.
But that agreement will stop (at least with me) when it comes to fairytales like “global warming” which is becoming (if it hasn’t already become) “global cooling” and both of these have repeated themselves a couple of times in the past 100 or so years. Now, as a result of the confusion, they want to call it “climate change.”
We can’t let the environmental “scientists” become the high priests of how the church should treat the earth.