“Now the doctors from Oxford say cells came by chance,
As Christians, we often focus on Christ’s love of us and His personal sacrifice for us. This is only part of the story, however. The Bible describes a much broader and all-encompassing redemption. Christ’s blood shed on the cross is for the restoration of his entire creation. This broad view of redemption is clear in Colossians 1:15-20. —Tim Keyes
By Tim Keyes
God, the extravagant Creator. Why, for some unfathomable reason, does He see the need for somewhere between 400,000 and 8 million species of creepy, crawling beetles?... Long ago, when a clergyman asked British naturalist J. Haldane what can be learned of God through the study of creation, he replied, “God has an inordinate fondness for beetles.” God has an inordinate fondness for life, too, which is all around those who have eyes to see it.
Some time ago I entered Middlebury College enthusiastic about my Christian faith, ready to make it something truly my own, and also ready to embrace the stunning natural world surrounding my Vermont campus. To me, these two passions were intertwined. My love for God was strongly linked to my love for His creation, the physical landscapes as well as their diverse inhabitants. I immediately joined a Christian fellowship group, as well as the Mountain Club and another environmental group on campus.
I quickly discovered that my Christian friends were often deeply distrustful of the environmentalists, characterizing them as either leftists or pagans. My friends in the environmental community were equally suspicious of the Church, often blaming it for our current ecological crises. I quickly discovered that my Christian friends were often deeply distrustful of the environmentalists, characterizing them as either leftists or pagans. My friends in the environmental community were equally suspicious of the Church, often blaming it for our current ecological crises.
While I have encountered a few Christian environmental organizations (A Rocha, Au Sable, Evangelical Environmental Network), I’ve seen this tendency of environmentalist antipathy to the Church and Christian apathy towards the environment play out again and again. Clearly, each group starts with a different worldview: Christians—God created all things and we are to be stewards of the created order. Non-believing environmentalists—all matter is eternal and equal. But the more I study both the natural world and the Bible, the more I long for an integrated Christian environmental worldview...
Understandably, Christians often distrust the environmental community’s association with big government politics and eastern, pagan philosophy. But it’s harder to understand how these legitimate political and philosophical concerns have overwhelmed the basic value of creation, which we are told “pours forth speech day after day and proclaims knowledge night after night” (Psalm 19).
Even if we are convinced that many of the ecological crises are not real, or are seriously exaggerated, we must address the apathy/antipathy gap. At the very least there are people who, because of their perception of the Church’s environmental record, turn a deaf ear toward the gospel. And it is quite possible that Christians have overlooked an important responsibility toward the rest of God’s creation.
By loosely following the main stages of the biblical story—Creation, Fall, and Redemption— we will see the prominent role of creation throughout the biblical saga. First, we begin with God’s rightful ownership of creation. You can read the rest of this stimulating article here…
This excerpt was quoted from “The Earth is the Lord’s” by Tim Keyes and published at ByFaith Online.
Related: Biblical Creationism 
In case you missed it, you may be interested in reading my post, “Creation Science: Q&A Top Ten Countdown.”
Just For Kids: Watch this multimedia dynamation, “The Watchmaker” from Kids 4 Truth.
From Goo down to you, in a beautiful dance.
What’s wrong with their thinking to have such odd notions
That cells could just happen from dirt and warm oceans.”
—Kids 4 Truth
What are your views on environmentalism?Photo Credits: Bob Loco, Intruder, lilmisspriss (Flickr)
18 COMMENTS:
This is a great post. I like what he says.
We recently started watching the "Earth" series on DVD from Netflix. It is so amazing to see God's hand in every detail of life.
Hm, very interesting article. I like that Tim opens up the conversation between Christians and environmentalists.
I so agree with the Scripture passage you have at the beginning of the post. I think we really need to take care of our environment.
First we have to open our eyes and truly see all the beautiful things God created around us-beetles included :)
I do try to do my little part. I do not use plastic bags going to the store--I bring my own. I do not liter, even pick up some liter...My car has low gas-mileage (believe me if possible I would ride the bus to and from work)...I know there is probably more that I could do...
Thank you for sharing a thought-provoking article.
Blessings to you and yours.
I agree. God put us in charge of taking care of the earth, and we need to do it. I'm going to be doing a unit on environmentalism with the boys this year because I want them to understand that we have a responsibility to care for our environment.
BTW, I just got back from the Creation Museum. Absolutely amazing and well worth the trip!
amen! the earth is the LORDS and the FULLNESS thereof! i believe with all my heart that God is longing to restore the hearts of men and ALL of creation to himself. May His kingdom come and HIS WILL be done on earth as it already being done in heaven!
God bless YOU!
I agree with Ruth and the others.
Thanks for posting this. It's funny: this environmental stuff (global warming, et al.) is getting a lot more billing, but it's so tied into people's politics too.
We just often don't get much practice having to live with and interact with people who are truly different than us. It's far easier to just stereotype and hide.
Andrea: Someone else mentioned the "Earth" series recently... sounds great! I'll have to check into that on Netflix, thanks. :~)
Eph2810: Yes, beetles included! God is a spectacular artist, in my opinion. You do many helpful things for the environment, which usually turn out to make good economic sense too. :~)
Jana: What curriculum are you using with your boys? Is there a special unit on environmentalism? I look forward to your thoughts about the Creation Museum. What a blessing!
Ruth: Amen sister. You preach it! And God bless YOU! :~)
debd: Thanks for stopping by. :~)
laura: You raise an important point. Politics do play a role when it comes to how people view environmentalism. I like the fact that this author tries to bridge the gap between Christians and secularists. Often though, these two groups sit on opposite sides of the political fence. :~)
Should we not be good stewards of all God has given us to use? Everything actually belongs to God in the first place. It's really His world on loan to us to use for a time. I've always been convicted to care for it well, but not at the expense of the people who inhabit it.
I'm not sure that makes sense.
Do you think the conflict exists because Chrisitians get tired of environmentalists lack of recognition for the Creator and environmentalists see Christians as hypocritical?
I tend to roll my eyes a bit at environmental proponents because they are so fanatical and some of their ideas seem very impractical. Do you suppose they think the same of Christians?
To be honest! I have never really put to much thought into this question.I love nature and being outside. I love all the beautiful things that God has given us to see, smell and taste. I guess I would say I have to think on this one for a while before I could really give you a good answer.
I use Konos, and the Stewardship section has an entire week on environmentalism and conservation. I'm trying to plan out our first six weeks of school or so right now so I'll have less work later!
My meme is up. I'll be posting about the museum probably on Thursday.
Here's my one weight loss post, and then there's this more recent one. Enjoy!
I asked a question about this on my blog recently.
To be honest I don't know whether global warming is 100% true or not. However, I really do believe that we should be good stewards. I believe that we should recycle, God's earth isn't our rubbish dump. We should cut down on emissions from manufacturing and from cars/planes and energy usage because it clogs up the atmosphere and makes the place unhealthy for us and our children. So global warming or not, it makes sense to care for our environment.
I do think that we should not become too obsessive though and worry about it too much. Peter describes in 2 Peter 3 what is going to happen to the earth and the heavens - at God's command. Man will not end the world, God will.
Until then I believe we should care for the beautiful animals God created for us to care for (and the beetles!), enjoy and care about the beautiful trees, forests, jungles, landscapes, seas...etc that God created and to try to keep them as wonderfully beautiful as He created them. To keep the world as beautiful as God created it requires some effort and responsibility on our part.
Look at creation and marvel at the wonder and power of our Creator. Instead I think sometimes we trample all over creation as if it doesn't matter to us or God - if it didn't matter why such amazing diversity and beauty and function?
Great post E-mom - hugs.
e-Mom, As always great stuff to ponder and pray about. Interesing how the enviornment is a topic in the blogosphere of late.
Hope all is well with family. I am heading up north to deal with similar issues. Love you, me
Carol: Perfectly good sense. Right, we're to care for God's possession, the earth, but not to the detriment of human beings. :~)
Tami: Sure, that's a good analysis. Both sides tend to focus on the negatives of each other's cherished beliefs.
Your second question makes me chuckle. You're probably right. Thankfullly, the Lord is gracious to us all! :~)
Lori You've given a perfectly good answer, just as it is. :~)
Jana: You're a dedicated homeschooling Mom. And you obviously love what you're doing! Thanks for the info and the links. I'll check them out. I'll be over to look at your post on the museum too. Hugs!
Sarah: I totally agree: So global warming or not, it makes sense to care for our environment. You raise an excellent point with this too: Man will not end the world, God will. God's creation does indeed matter, and as the quote at the beginning of the post so aptly states: Jesus came to redeem the entire creation, not just sinful humans. I can hardly wait for the renewed heaven and earth. Won't that be glorious! {{{Hugs}}}
Lynn: I pray your journey north to visit your family is a success. We're headed north this week too--waaay north! Love 'n hugs.
Glorious indeed emom!!
sarah: Indeed!
I live on a lake in Georgia where we cannot eat many of the fish because of mercury contamination. Many of the people who eat these fish don't speak much english and are poor. these contaminated are especially dangerous to developing fetus's. Also this lake supplies Atlanta's drinking water. The cause of the contamination is coal burning power plants. People want cheap electricity because they waste it. This is just one issue to which I would ask, wwjd? What I mean by wasting energy is a two story foyer in your 3,000 sq. foot house that you have because the government gives a tax credit on mortgage interest. Christians should be examples of righteous living to the world. Because of the environmental issue, I cannot vote republican.Because of the abortion issue, I cannot vote democrat. What does that make me? Christian.
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