With this month’s synchroblog being on green spirituality I though it might be appropriate to share a few thoughts from a passage which has heavily influenced my thinking about the environment over the years, and which I take as a manifesto for an environmentally conscious Christianity. The passage is Romans 8:18-25:
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
This is a passage of hope, and more, of a hope that encompasses the entire creation. It includes a sober assessment of the frustration and decay that the environment now suffers, but says IT WILL NOT END THERE. Paul’s words here are light years away from the prophetic speculations of some Christians who think that the world will one day be “Left Behind”. No, the apostle Paul here counsels that the reign of God includes the renewal of creation, its rebirth.
This naturally leads to the question, so what does that mean for me here and now? My response is, if God does not consider the earth to be disposable, should we?
But there is more. Buried within this passage is a veiled reference to Genesis 3:19, where God warns Adam, “Cursed is the ground because of you” because of human sin. It suggests that environmental degradation and human sin are inextricably linked. Should it surprise us then, that we are now being told that human exploitation, indifference and greed has led to global warming, desalination of the land, pollution, mercury poisoning and all sorts of environmental problems. This is sin coming back to bite us.
So the environmental challenge is an ethical challenge. But you know, I would say the problem is even deeper than this. Here’s another passage, this time Habakkuk 2:18:
Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it? Or an image that teaches lies? For he who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.
Our environmental challenges are also inextricably linked with out economic challenges, and the question I ask here is, have we turned our economy into an idol? In our cost benefit analysis of environmental issues, where do non-economic issues come into it? Should we bow down to market forces when it comes to how we treat each other and God’s earth or should we challenge the sovereignty of Mammon? I ask a rhetorical question of course. It’s obvious what I think I should think.
For more synchroblogger thoughts see:
Is it All About the Green? by Phil Wyman
Rediscovering Humanity's Primal Commission by Adam Gonnerman
Turn or Burn? A New Liberal Hell? by Cobus van Wyngaard
Little Green Man by Sonja Andrews
Bashing SUV's for Jesus by David Fisher
Saints and Animals by Steve Hayes
When Christians Weasel Out by KW Leslie
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