Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." (NASB)Or I guess you could say I am a “subdue-er.” That does not mean destroy or waste. The earth is not god but it is God’s and I am responsible for how I use it.
I try to be open to ideas that make sense in that stewardship. One of the good inputs from the Greenies is a concern for the toxic materials in batteries. All you need to do is read the labels to be concerned: Alkaline, cadmium, lithium, etc., don’t sound like healthy things to have in quantity. I keep a container to put them in and when I have enough I drop them off at a local library that has a box for old batteries.
There should be a rational, balanced way in which we can all acknowledge a concern for the environment. We need to start by recognizing the different foundations we come from. Whether they are aware of it or not, the extreme environmentalists worship the earth and nature as a god. They view it as sacrilege to do anything that would damage the perfect balance of nature and they look at man as a pollutant as well as a polluter. If the choice is between a human and a redwood, the redwood wins.
As a Christian I view the earth as a creation of the eternal God, not a god itself. It is only a part of the whole. When God made man, He designed us with an awareness of the world we were put into. That world has built in safeguards that allow for us to flourish if we simply accept our responsibility as the pinnacle of creation. Just as reasonable people don’t trash their homes and neglect their families, so we don’t mistreat the world we live in. Like a home, the world is here for our use and enjoyment. We are not pollution, we are people.
homo unius libri
Well said.
ReplyDeleteI assume that means you don't feel like pollution either.
DeleteGrace and peace.