Question
Why should Christians care for the planet?
Response
If the planet is one day, maybe quite soon, going to be burnt to a frazzle, why should we put effort into caring for it? Isn’t it more important to bring people to Christ while there is still time?
Similar thinking led DL Moody to say, “I look upon this world as a sinking ship, and the Lord has given me a lifeboat, and told me: ‘Moody, save all you can’.” In this view, the only thing that can be retrieved from the wreckage of the world is individual souls; the earth itself is beyond redemption.
But such an attitude is hard to square with the overall message of Scripture. The Bible’s view is that the earth is less like the Titanic, doomed to ultimate destruction, and more like the original Queen Mary, sailing into the distant sunrise where it will be rebuilt yet more gloriously.
Throughout much of the 20th century, the environmental flag was flown mainly by the Green movement. Christians have largely distanced themselves from environmental issues, partly because of a Titanic-style view of the earth and partly because Green agendas often had overtones either of pagan nature-worship or of New Age religious views.
Yet from a Scriptural perspective, Christians should have been leading the environmental agenda. The very existence of the universe is the result of God’s creative activity. And its ultimate destination, redeemed by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, it to be renewed along with all believers to the eternal glory of God.
Reasons to care
The Bible gives three mains reasons why we should care for the environment.
First, God Himself says that His creation is very good. The material world matters to God; He sustains it all the time and without Him it would fall apart (Colossians 1:16-17). So if we neglect, abuse and spoil the environment, we are damaging something that is precious to God.
Secondly, we should care for the environment because God specifically commanded humankind to do so (Genesis 1:28, 2:15). He told us to take care of both the living and the non-living creation. We are to work at ruling and ordering creation as good stewards without abusing it for our own selfish ends. By caring for the earth properly, we enable it to be fruitful and to play its intended role in giving glory to God. That is part of our proper worship of God.
The third reason is that one day the cosmos will be renewed and recreated as the “new heavens and new earth”, to which both the Old and New Testaments look forward (Isaiah 65, Revelation 21). That will bring the fullness of life that God intended and purposed for His creation: a place where people will truly be at home, where God will dwell with His people, and both they and the whole creation will worship Him and give Him glory.
So how we treat the environment now ought to be a preview – a practice run if you like – of what we will do in the new creation. The certain hope of a renewed future creation is not a licence to abandon care for this one. Rather, the opposite is the case: there is every incentive to foster and to use the innate goodness and fruitfulness of this material world to do what is pleasing to God in our time and place. As Luther is supposed to have remarked, “If I knew Jesus would return tomorrow, I would plant a tree today.”
Practical things
It is increasingly clear that our use of oil and gas in the West is driving rapid climate change in the whole world. It may not have much effect on us in the short term, other than maybe giving us longer and hotter summers in the UK, but the consequences in other parts of the world could be devastating.
One quarter of the planet’s population lives in poverty and is extremely vulnerable to changes caused by drought or flooding, to the failure of agricultural crops or to rising sea levels. If we take caring for our global neighbours seriously, we need to consider the impact of our lifestyles on them.
Those of us who live in the high-income nations with standards of living purchased through extravagant use of natural resources have a particular responsibility in our stewardship. We have an imperative to care for those elsewhere in the world marginalised by global climate change. Our decision to drive a big car, to fly to Paris for the weekend or to turn up the heating rather than put on a sweater will have a direct impact on someone already living on the edge. Once we are aware of that, how can we ignore it?
Of course Christians will want to do all they can to tell others the Good News of Christ, but we also need to model it by caring for the world God has entrusted to us.
Key Bible Passages
Colossians 1:16-17
Genesis 1:28, 2:15
Isaiah 65
Revelation 21
The Bible's view is that the earth is less
like the Titanic, doomed to ultimate
destruction, and more like the original
Queen Mary, sailing into the distant sunrise
where it will be rebuilt yet more gloriously.
This response has been adapted from an article by Bob White. The article originally appeared in the Evangelical Alliance’s Idea magazine. Copyright © 2006.
Ruth Valerio, L if for Lifestyle: Christian living that doesn't cost the earth (IVP:2004)
FAQ Disclaimer:
FAQ responses are designed to promote clear biblical thinking about subjects that are often difficult and confusing. The responses are all considered to be compatible with the Evangelical Alliance’s basis of faith but beyond that should not be assumed to represent the Evangelical Alliance’s ‘official standpoint’ on any particular doctrine or issue.
