A Christian Response to Earth Day

I wrote and posted this last year and thought it was worth repeating.

Today is Earth Day.  But, what does that mean for Christians?  The responses by evangelicals vary widely.  From bashing Earth Day by celebrating the consumption of fossil fuels, rebutting global warming claims, and (my personal favorite, though I doubt the guy was serious) holding a tree hostage and committing to cutting it down unless a ransom of $1000.00 is paid to embracing Earth day wholeheartedly and jumping on the climate change and man-made global warming bandwagon.

I’ll not pontificate here about what position you should hold in the global warming debate because I think that your position is of little importance when compared with our understanding of who is ultimately in control.  The Bible clearly presents to us a picture of a sovereign God who is in total control of His world and of human beings who are clearly responsible for their actions.  Keeping these two things in mind, I believe that there are several things that we, as evangelicals, should consider regarding Earth Day.

1. God alone is worthy of our praise and is ultimately in control of his earth and its climate (we did learn as children, He’s Got The Whole World In HIs Hands).  Any observance of Earth Day should be only for the purpose of bringing glory to God by being faithful stewards of the earth over which he has given us dominion.  We do not belong to the earth, we belong to God (as does the earth) and we are responsible for its good stewardship.  As such, reducing pollution and working to provide clean drinking water for developing countries are examples of good things that Christians can do in honor of earth day while still giving all glory to God.
2. The earth is not to be worshipped, only God is to be worshipped.
3. Any initiatives aimed at “helping” the earth should consider man first and earth second.  As such, if environmental standards will put unbearable economic hardships on “the least” among us, the well-being of mankind always trumps environmental stewardship.  One example where Christians should be mindful is in the push by many toward ethanol based fuels instead of fossil fuels.  This emphasis, though well-intended, has served to drive the price of corn and other foods through the roof, thus making it even more difficult for “the least” among us to eat.  Even if man-made global warming were a proven fact, I doubt that hungry children in developing countries (and even in our own) are as concerned about rising sea levels as they are about declining nutrition in their own bodies.
4. According to God’s word, the earth exists for man and not man for the earth.  The earth is our home, we should treat it as such, not abusing it, but using it to it’s fullest capacity.
5. The political nature of environmentalism must be rejected by the church.  The separation of church and state is not first and foremost a political decision, but is a church decision and we as evangelicals must work to maintain that separation.
6. The eschatological aspects of our sin-infected world must be realized and proclaimed.  As Christians, we believe God’s word and trust that when it says God cursed the earth (and the rest of creation) as a result of Adam’s sin that he actually did curse it.  We live in a sin-scarred world and our earth bears the marks of mankind’s sin.  That is a spiritual reality long before it is a physical reality.  We know that we cannot cure the sin problems of our world and of God’s creation, but we do know that when all things are made new (see Revelation), there will be a new heaven and a new earth that will not bear the stains of sin and the marks of God’s curse.

I’m sure that there are many other things that could be said and I would love to hear your responses and additions to this short list.