Christians Have a Moral Obligation to Conserve Creation





Historically, Eastern Christianity taught that the final resting place for believers shall be in the New Earth---which they have always interpreted as the restoration of this world. Especially for those who advocate this position, I think that this post will be relevant to them. 
C. S. Lewis once said that Medieval people cared more for the earth than no modern people. Of course, to many evangelicals the importance of what the New Testament says on this subject is more important than Medieval practice towards creation. While Monks and Kings in the Middle Ages did much to preserve forests and other aspects of creation, we need to all be familiar with Early Christian thought on issues pertaining to the climate. For more information on the Medieval view of nature, check out the following link:

What were the practices of Early Christians towards the Environment? Did they believe that Christ would soon come and rapture them out of this world and that they had no need to take care of it? Did they see the issues of climate as far insignificant to other pressing matters such as those typically considered sinful by many evangelicals today?
In short, Early Christians understood from Romans 8 that they were called to be stewards in this world. They never expected some sort of rapture to float them into the sky so that only God would be accountable for what happened there. 
Perhaps you see the issue of the Environment as a small or insignificant issue but you actually sin when you neglect taking care of creation. This is confirmed in Genesis 2: 15, Numbers 35:33-34, Jeremiah 2:7, Psalm 24: 1, and Revelation 11: 8. 
The Israelites were told not to pollute the earth as God instructed in Numbers 35: 33-34. 
In Genesis 2: 15, God told the man to take care of the garden. The principle of conserving the garden, however, is something that has been inherited from Adam towards the entire earth as implied in Scripture.
In what ways are you helping the current Environment? Are you throwing out trash with no care of how it pollutes the earth? Are you planting trees to help preserve life, not just for us, but for the generations after us? 
In Revelation 11: 18, God says lists the destroyers of the Earth as His enemies. From this passage, it seems hardly a small sin to pollute God's earth. Not only does God see polluting creation in Revelation 11: 8 as undesirable or even sinful, but it is the mark of an unbeliever. This is not confirmed alone by the claims of Environmentalists, theologians, or church leaders but more importantly--- by God's own words from the Holy Scriptures. 
In Romans 8: 18-27, leading world New Testament scholar N. T. Wright argues that Romans 8 has been largely misunderstood. In Surprised by Scripture, he elaborates on how much of the chapter this been misunderstood. I suggest you read it and see how it connects to this present discussion as well. 
 With all of the information shared above, it should make us wonder if we are doing more to preserve our environment or doing more to hurt it? How often are we planting new trees on our land to promote good health? Furthermore, do we care for our own bodies (1 Corinthians 4: 2). The care of our bodies goes hand-in-hand with our care for the rest of creation. 
It should always be remembered that we sin anytime that we don't obey God. That is the very Biblical definition of sin. Scripture doesn't have to articulate an exact sentence saying that it is sinful to do a certain thing. Sin is already implied in scripture when we don't do what God has commanded us. In this case, it's actually sinful to not care for creation. 
Taking care of the environment is clearly a Christian issue. Whatever we think about sources of oil, electricity, or nuclear to help our current methods of travel---are our economics of more value to us than being good stewards of creation. Scripture, for example, never promotes us hoarding all the money that we can get. It does, however, teach us to preserve the Environment. Tragically, selfish ambitions are the inspiration for many who are only looking out for what is beneficial to themselves. 
Being Christian is not being selective with the passages of the Bible that we want to keep and neglecting the parts that we don't like. Many American conservatives are guilty of using scripture to justify war and certain issues of doctrine (especially against the atrocity of abortion) but in what ways are they looking at what Scripture says about the world that God gave us to preserve? Indeed, even more, important than our planet is the generations who will be coming after us who need a clean earth. Preserving our Environment should be for the generations to come. Certainly, we should care more for human life than that of trees and plants, but the issues of the earth go far beyond preserving the plants and animals around us---it also concern the future humans who will be living in the world that we left them. Likewise, we should care for creation because God has told us to do so in Holy Scripture. 
Far too often, many American conservatives treat the issue of preserving the Environment as a liberal and progressive issue. However, if we truly believe that Christ is going to renew creation in the New Heavens and New Earth (Revelation 21:1), then we have a moral obligation to preserve the earth in which God has placed us---and prepare for His Second Coming. Caring for creation is a conservative value and more importantly---a Christian one. Not addressing the need to preserve creation, though, has been a major failure of many American conservatives.
More could be said on this topic. I encourage the reader to take time and think about these things. This is my first of several posts concerning the Environment. I've only just begun to discuss this loaded topic and how Christians should do more to preserve our earth for the eternal kingdom that awaits us. 

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