Earth Day (April 22) isn’t normally considered a Christian holiday.
I think it should be.
The Bible starts off with “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
Unfortunately, the Christian world has spent way too much time and energy arguing the specifics of that creation, and too little time caring for it.
Did God create everything in a literal seven days? Or was each day symbolic of a much greater time period? Is the Earth a few thousand years old? Or did the universe come into being several billion years ago. Were Adam and Eve literal human beings made out of the dust of the Earth? Or did God guide evolution to create human beings?
I’m not going to answer those questions in this blog. My point is that we spend so much time arguing the specifics, that we ignore the meaning of that first verse and the implications of it.
The meaning is obvious: God created our entire Universe and it is beautiful. It is His handiwork. From the far-flung galaxies to the desert mountains just beyond our valley, God is the Creator, the designer, and the one that brought it all into existence. And it is incredible.
The implication of that truth should also be obvious. If God created the Earth and put us here, we should take care of it. We should work hard to keep the air, land, and water clean. We should set aside natural areas for future generations to see and enjoy. We should protect the animals, the fish, and the plants that God made. We should clean up our trash and remove the pollutants we’ve put in the air, in the ocean, and on the land. We should reduce our waste. We should slow down our use of natural resources so that future generations (meaning our grandchildren and their grandchildren) should still have plenty. We should support government and community solutions to clean up rivers and oceans, to reduce carbon in the atmosphere, to reduce waste, to recycle whatever we can, and to promote sustainable solutions for energy and the environment. We should minimize our footprint so that the handiwork of God can be more clearly seen.
Maybe we should stop arguing whether-or-not mankind is having a negative impact on the Earth and the weather. It has become obvious to any one that wants to take a hard look at the Earth that we have too much garbage in the ocean, too many pollutants in the soil, too much carbon and soot in the atmosphere, and too many chemicals in our air.
Why argue about how much of an impact it is having?
If it’s polluted, let’s purify it. It it’s dirty, let’s clean it up. If we made a mess, let’s restore it as best as we can to the way it was.
Does that sound like an environmentalist?
It should.
Because I am an environmentalist.
Not in the sense that I worship the Creation. I don’t. I worship the Creator. And since it is HIS creation, I feel a strong sense of stewardship for the Earth and everything in it that God has created.
I am an environmentalist. A Biblical Environmentalist. Because God created our environment.
