This article is about Wendell Berry and a conference he spoke at several years ago. Berry is a strong voice for agrarianism--the idea that a life lived in close connection with the outdoors is vital to true happiness and a healthy, fulfilling life. He supports smaller communities with thriving local economies and homegrown food sources. One interesting point the writer of this article makes is that Berry criticizes the Christian community too strongly for not being a resonant, zealous, and effectual voice in environmentalism. The writer does correctly assert that the church is not totally under Satan's control in this area, and that we are certainly used by God in redeeming all parts of the groaning creation (as it is described in Romans 8:22), but I believe Berry makes a valid observation in saying that Satan has and does use the church to work against the proper, godly care of our earth. As Christians, we should be the most dedicated environmentalists, because we have the greatest reason for being good stewards of what we claim to believe God has fashioned with His own hand for His own glory. We should all be reducing, reusing, and recycling. We should purchase "green" products. We should spend the extra dollar to buy meat that comes from farms where animals are treated humanely, not caged up in tiny spaces stacked on top of one another and living in each other's filth. It takes more effort to buy fruit and vegetables from the local farmer's market, and more money to buy free trade coffee that isn't grown in fields where pesticides are sprayed, killing off song bird populations. But obedience to God will always be costly, and that is no excuse to ignore His commandments.
The following is a paper I wrote and presented for my doctrine class last semester, which expands more on the above topic.
A Christian View of Creation
As a group, the response of Christians to environmental issues tends to range from apathy to fury. When the media reports a conflict between the “liberal tree huggers” and the impoverished trying to eke a living out of the land, most of the Church probably does not think twice about criticizing the environmentalists for supporting nature rather than people, if they even discuss the topic at all. But if the Scripture says that the fullness of God dwells in Christ that He might “reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven” (Colossians 1: 20), then the realm of nature must be included in this great redemptive plan as well. Romans 8 states that the creation was made a slave to death and decay at the time of the Fall of Adam and Eve, but it will be set free at the Resurrection of the Dead, when the sons of God are revealed and the new heaven and new earth are brought into being. How should Christians view the natural world then, with all its creatures? And what responsibility to the environmental cause, if any, do Christians have?
The best way to begin answering these questions is to examine Scripture and discover what God thinks about creation, starting with Genesis. God declares all of creation good, after each step in the process of creating. But the definition of “good” here does not necessarily mean “good for mankind.” God does not ask for Adam and Eve’s opinion about the goodness or usefulness of the world He has made. They are created after everything else is finished. God is the only one who makes a judgment of value, and the world is good simply because He says it is.[1] This can be seen in God’s interactions with Job, when He illustrates man’s feebleness by comparing his strength to the mighty leviathan and behemoth. Neither of these creatures seem to have any “use” to man, but they glorify God with their terrifying strength. They are proof that man cannot control and conquer everything, and he certainly cannot control God.[2] Author Edward Brown points out that in Matthew 10, where Jesus tells the disciples that the Father sees every sparrow that falls, the main point of the passage is how much God loves us, but it cannot be taken out of the context of God’s love for the sparrow. Clearly, God cares about even the smallest and most common of living creatures if He knows what each one is doing at every point in time, and thus they have a purpose, even if man cannot explicitly see it.[3]
Too often, however, man’s reaction to nature is not simply to love what the Creator loves because He loves it. Man is prone to view himself as the center of creation, and the reason for which God made the earth, forgetting that everything exists for God’s glorification alone. Therefore, man often values creation only for what it supplies him in his daily survival, and for the recreational pleasure it affords. He only conserves those parts of creation that benefit him or at least do not impede his economic progress.[4] Ultimately, this attitude will destroy the environment, because “conservation’s thrift can be made the slave of materialism’s greed,”[5] meaning that it is the selfish basis for human usage of the earth, not just the imperfect and ineffective methods, that are the problem. Furthermore, if the only factor determining what parts of creation should be protected is man’s particular enjoyment of it, then much will be thrown away simply because it is not considered valuable to people.[6] But it is valuable to God.
1 Timothy Chapter 6 speaks of godliness with contentment as being great gain. The great temptation man faces, however, is to constantly pursue more. More riches, more power, and instant gratification. But the Sabbath was not just instituted for man; it was meant for creation as well. Exodus 23 commands the Israelites to let the land lie unused every seventh year, and anything that grew on it during that time was to be left for the poor and the animals to eat. If man continuously uses the earth for his own economic gain, however, at some point it will wear out. Leviticus 26: 34-35 says: “Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate, while you are in your enemies’ land….the rest that it did not have on your Sabbaths when you were dwelling in it.”[7] There is a clear connection made between the land’s fertility, and the obedience of the people to God. The Old Testament is full of instructions about common sense rules regarding the interactions of Israel with creation, most of them establishing the need for a wise and self-controlled use of the natural resources God has placed in their way. For example, Leviticus 19 gives commands regarding trees that have been planted; the fruit is not be harvested for three years, and on the fourth year it is to be a holy sacrifice to the Lord. Only on the fifth year is the fruit to be eaten. Deuteronomy 20 instructs the Israelites not to destroy trees that produce fruit when an enemy city is conquered. Verse 19 asks, “Are the trees in the field human, that they should be besieged by you?” Needless destruction is not only unwise, since the fruit of the trees can be eaten, but it is also mindless and wasteful, and it does not reflect the image of God in man. God created man to bring Him glory through the ways he interacts with creation. True, only God makes the earth fertile. He blesses it so that it produces an abundance of plant and animal life. But God does place man in the Garden to steward it and have dominion over it.[8] The way that Christians interpret God’s command to “have dominion” over the earth and every living thing is often far from the true meaning of God’s idea of “ruling,” however. Man’s job is not to force the earth to produce as much as can be squeezed out of it—ultimately only God can make the earth fertile or desolate. Rather nature is “waiting for [man] to lead creation to its higher ends.”[9] Man is to help cultivate earth so that it brings ever more glory to Him. This can only be done if the nature of those ruling is like that of a servant. Just as Israel’s kings were to remember their status as a brother of the people, not someone who was exalted above them in greatness of worth (Deuteronomy 17: 15, 20), and just as Jesus came to make Himself a servant even as His Kingdom was being established, so man’s rule of nature is not meant to be one of destructive, selfish consumption, but one of righteous concern, care, protection, and service.[10] When being properly stewarded, creation reaches a fuller worship potential. Edward Brown explains this concept by comparing creation to a “cosmic choir” of which we are choirmasters. The longer a choir is under the instruction of a talented and dedicated conductor, however, the better the music becomes that they perform.[11] If anyone doubts that creation worships its creator, they need only search the Scriptures. Psalm 148 declares: “Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do His bidding, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds…” The earth and its creatures may not use human language, but by their very existence and all their daily activities, even those that man never sees, they glorify and praise His name.
Unfortunately, many Christians do not view the creation in this manner. Part of the problem is a mistaken view of what it means to be an environmentalist in today’s world. Some arguments and excuses that are often given by Christians for not getting involved in earth keeping are the idea that earth isn’t our home, and therefore we shouldn’t waste time trying to save it; concern for the earth brings us dangerously close to becoming New Agers; by caring for creation we might start worshipping it; only worldly people are environmentalists; and people are more important than the environment, and thus it will just have to be sacrificed. To answer these arguments, however, Christians must keep in mind several theological points. First, Gnosticism—the idea that the physical realm is evil, and only the spiritual realm is good—is heresy. God cares for the physical world, and He is redeeming all of it, including the groaning creation that Romans 8 speaks of. Secondly, God works through non-believers to accomplish His purposes, sometimes because the hearts of His children are hardened to His will. Thus, Christians are not excused from their stewardship responsibilities simply because secularists and members of various cults are working to save the earth’s resources as well. Third, worshipping creation as an idol is a matter of the heart, and not an excuse to disobey God’s commands to respect the universe He has made. And fourth, while people are indeed the only members of the earth who have a soul and the potential for a personal relationship with God, this does not negate God’s love for every other part of creation. Indeed, many human beings were killed in the Flood for their evil deeds, while every species of animal was preserved—even the ones not implicitly useful to man’s post-Flood survival.[12] Furthermore, the poor depend on the environment for their sustenance, and they are greatly affected by its destruction, as are future generations. If Christians are truly to love their neighbors, as Jesus commands, then they must consider needs other than their own. The careless use of natural resources for the pursuit of greater capitalistic gain often wreaks havoc upon those who do not have economic power.[13]
In the end, Christians are the people with the only meaningful and true reason to save the environment. Secular ethics must face the problems from an either-or perspective: either man or nature can live on a given piece of earth, and even the nature that is preserved must have a side use for man. If it is preserved on its own merit, but apart from God’s valuing, it becomes an idol. For Christians, however, there is a much greater reason to care for creation: “If God made it, it matters. If God made it to reveal his extraordinary creativity and lavish generosity, it deserves to be taken seriously. If God made it, and his Son’s death and resurrection will allow it one day to be remade in all its full and intended glory, it can scarcely be regarded as a mere sideshow.”[14] For Christians, both people and nature must be cared for, and the ways in which that can be done are simply another task for man’s great creativity to wrestle with.
[1] Fred Van Dyke, et al., Redeeming Creation (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 48.
[2] Van Dyke, 49-50.
[3] Edward R. Brown, Our Father’s World (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2008), 48.
[4] Van Dyke, 43.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Van Dyke, 44-45.
[7] Calvin B. DeWitt, “Creation’s environmental challenge to evangelical Christianity,” in The Care of Creation, ed. R. J. Berry (Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 2000), 64, 66.
[8] William Dyrness, “Stewardship of the Earth in the Old Testament,” in Tending the Garden, ed. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Pulbishing, 1987), 56, 59-60.
[9] Dyrness, 53.
[10] Dyrness, 53-54.
[11] Brown, 52
[12] DeWitt, 68-71.
[13] Stephen Rand, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” in The Care for Creation, ed. R.J. Berry (Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 2000), 143.
[14] Rand, 142.
Bibliography
Brown, Edward C. Our Father’s World. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2008.DeWitt, Calvin B. “Creation’s environmental challenge to evangelical Christianity.” In The Care of Creation, edited by R.J. Berry, 60-73. Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 2000.
Dyrness, William. “Stewardship of the Earth in the Old Testament.” In Tending the Garden, edited by Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, 50-65. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1987.
Rand, Stephen. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” In The Care of Creation, edited by R.J. Berry, 140-146. Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 2000.
Van Dyke, Fred, David C. Mahan, Joseph K. Sheldon, and Raymond H. Brand. Redeeming Creation: The Biblical Basis for Environmental Stewardship. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996.
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