William Shatner, formerly of Captain James T. Kirk fame, wandered through the woods and fields while a woman’s disembodied voice – calming and soothing – explained to him the facts of life. No, not those facts of life . . . though, actually, in a way they were: She introduced herself as Gaia, the planet Earth, and explained that all life came from clay molecules that shaped proteins into DNA. When William asked her about love, she explained that what we call love is just the attraction between atoms and molecules. This was the format for a so-called “science” special in 1991 called, “Voice of the Planet.” I don’t know what else she said after that because I just couldn’t watch any more and had to turn it off.
April 22nd was observed as Earth Day, an annual, international homage to – what else? – the Earth. It is a call on people to care for the planet, our environment, living things, and in recent years, our climate. As I briefly touched on in a previous blog (“Odds & Ends #2”), caring for the earth and all our fellow creatures is part of the charge God gave us at creation; God gave us dominion (that is, authority and rule) over his creation (Genesis 1:26-28). Part of that dominion included caring for what God had planted (Genesis 2:15) and the animals (2:19-20). God’s concern for all he created is evident in Chapter 4 of Jonah, when God points out to the reluctant prophet that by sparing Nineveh, God had saved not only the lives of 120,000 people, but also the lives of many cattle. Later, Jesus said that not even a sparrow can fall from the sky without the heavenly Father knowing it (Matthew 10:29, Luke 12:6), and reminded the religious leaders that it was proper to water their donkey (Luke 13:15) or rescue their ox from a well (Luke 14:5) – even on the Sabbath when work was otherwise prohibited.
We have a responsibility to God (as well as to each other) to care better for this world in which we live.
Yes, I agree that we have a responsibility to God (as well as to each other) to care better for this world in which we live. Too often, and for too long, we have treated our environment with contempt and disregard, killing and polluting and exploiting beyond what we need to feed, clothe, and shelter ourselves and to provide for the vital materials and energy so important to sustain human life and activity. God has blessed us with so much beauty and so many resources in this world that we should be grateful stewards of what he has provided, managing it to minimize pollution and destruction and maximize benefits and sustainability.
At the same time, I don’t go along with everything that is advocated under the “save the Earth” banner.
- I am not a “vegan” or a vegetarian (though I have started growing some vegetables and just yesterday harvested and ate my first home-grown green beans!). God gave us food to eat, including animals (Genesis 9). Further more, this was ratified by Christ in his teaching in Mark 7:19 where he declared all foods clean, and in Acts 10 when Peter is shown all kinds of animals in a vision and told by the Lord to “kill and eat.”
- I don’t believe “animals are people too.” They are animals, and though I love and care for some of my own (a cat, in spite of my allergy to its dander, and two dander-free tree frogs – scientific name: Litoria caerulea), I don’t view them as equal to humans (though the cat thinks he is). Do we treat animals humanely? Absolutely, but human life is worth far more than animal life because only humans were created in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27), and it was to save humankind that God’s Son took on human flesh, came into the world, suffered and died (Hebrews 2:16). Only humans sin, and it was for our forgiveness that Christ died and rose again.
- Neither do I believe, as some radicals do, that the earth would be better off without humans. “The animals would all get along nicely, there would be no sickness, clouds would be puffy white and the dolphins would rule the seas . . . and soft bunnies the land . . .” Ironically, there is some truth to that sentiment, in that all creation – including the dolphins and bunnies – was cursed by God on account of man’s sin. Until we sinned the earth was a deathless paradise, but now it remains under the curse so mankind’s removal from the planet wouldn’t change anything. Only at Christ’s return will we see a restored creation in the new heavens and new earth where the curse is removed (Revelation 22:3) and “the wolf shall dwell with the lamb” (Isaiah 11:6 and 65:25).
- As far as “climate change” goes, I have mixed feelings, not only because of conflicting data and political agendas, but because of recorded climate fluctuations throughout history. There were warm periods, such as the Medieval Warm Period of 1000-1100 AD, which supported greater food production. On the other hand, there were cold periods such as the Little Ice Age, which ruined crops across Europe and caused mass starvation in the 1500s-1800s. The harsh winter of 1777-78 at Valley Forge and Napoleon’s disastrous retreat from Moscow in 1812 were just two results of that cold period.
When Earth Day reminds us Christians to care for this earth which God gave us, and to improve our stewardship of what our Creator and Sustainer has given us (Colossians 1:16-17), then I’m all for it.
The problem comes when Earth Day, or any similar movement, seeks to separate us from our Creator by denying that he exists and instead lifts up the earth itself as the object of our worship.
The problem comes when Earth Day, or any similar movement, seeks to separate us from our Creator by denying that he exists and instead lifts up the earth itself as the object of our worship. The Apostle Paul wrote about this in Romans 1:18-25, in which he warned of God’s judgment upon those who “exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.” So, when the “Voice of the Planet” calls herself Gaia (after the Greek earth goddess), and marchers hold up signs saying, “Love your Mother” and “Science is Truth,” I have to part company with them, because they are worshiping the creature rather than the Creator to whom they owe honor.
I think science is awesome. My favorite subjects are herpetology (hence my frogs) and mineralogy (hence my rock collection). Recently a friend gave me a beautiful hard-bound book of space photos taken by the Hubble orbiting telescope. Wow! I can hardly wrap my head around all that has now been seen in the universe! I love how Psalm 8 praises God for this: “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?”
I see no conflict between my faith and true science because science can only find what God has created: the energy, the matter, the chemical and life processes, the earth, sky and heavens, and so on. As they used to say, scientists “are thinking God’s thoughts after him.” Unfortunately, that attitude has become uncommon. Now, too many people use science’s discoveries to deny God and the honor he is due. They take the data which research uncovers and squeeze it into preconceived notions about reality. Their research may be very precise and accurate, but their conclusion can be way off, because they deny anything supernatural, and teach that only what can be experienced through our senses and manipulated by our rational minds can be true. Their religion is naturalism, and their answer for everything is evolution.
And yet, deep down many know their answers are missing something, so they grab pagan names like Gaia from ancient mythology to find some meaning to their facts. What they are missing is knowledge of the true God, the One who created what they see. As Paul wrote in Romans 1:20, God’s “eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”
So why not go where the amazing complexity of God’s creation takes you: to recognize that what people call Earth Day is just another day the Lord has made and given us, for every day is the Lord’s Day! And discover that the love that Jesus Christ offers is much better than the “attraction between molecules” some might suggest: for Christ’s love is sacrificial, redeeming, and transforming. His love is life itself.
What people call Earth Day is just another day the Lord has made and given us, for every day is the Lord’s Day!
The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord look upon you with favor, and give you peace. Amen.
Read: Romans 1:18-25