Live your theology.

Hooooooooo!

In elementary school I was taught that it was my responsibility to love & care for the environment almost as often as I was instructed the ins and outs of addition and subtraction.  I heard about the rapid loss of the Amazon Rain Forests — worrying that’d we’d run out of air to breathe.  I could tell you all about spotted owls & manatees.  I tried to convince my Mom that it wasn’t sharks who were a danger to us… it was man who was giving the sharks a bad time.  I reveled in the environmentally themed assemblies we’d be treated to, eagerly repeating Trash Toad’s admonition to “Rethink. Re-use. and Re-cycle-ycle-ycle!”  And while the the letters WWF will always bring to minds the heroic exploits of Hulk Hogan and the Junkyard Dog, I knew about the other Panda-protecting WWF too — and all this before reaching 5th grade.  I  don’t think I”m alone in having a childhood like this.

I’m all grown up now & my views on the environment have grown as well.  A lot of folks want to turn it into a political issue – something you’re for or against.  Some folks take on the environment as an idol and worship it in kind.  Others seem to delight in disregard for the environment all together.  I’ll leave the politics at the door, because R’s & D’s don’t influence how I live my life as a Christian.

But the environment is an issue for Christians, too.  There’s even a special Green Bible with all the passages about earthly stewardship written in green.   I think the best way to go about tackling environmental issues is something of a  middle road for followers of Jesus.  We’re certainly not to glorify the creation above the Creator — but we’re also not supposed to go about abusing what we’ve been entrusted to maintain (Genesis 1:26).

Here’s how I do it.  Whenever an environmental issue comes up I test it against Genesis 9:1 – And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.”

That’s my metric.   How will this effect my ability of the ability of my offspring to follow God’s command to be fruitful & multiply.   I’m against dumping toxic chemicals into water supplies because I believe it may well prevent future multiplication.  I’m against restricting any and all development because it often prevents our ability to be fruitful.

Arbitrary enough for you? How do you come to environmental conclusions?  How do you live your theology when it comes to the environment?