April22nd
17 Comments
Earth Days
Posted in: Ad Absurdum
17 Comments
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Comment by Angus — April 22, 2009 @ 1:38 am
Contrary to what some environmentalists might think, God’s commission to us to subdue the earth is not a bad thing. According to the NET Bible notes, in Gen 1:28 one might paraphrase it as follows: “harness its potential and use its resources for your benefit.”
As Christians we should strive to be good stewards of the earth, yet maintain a biblical perspective that rejects the environmental extremist philosophy that sees humans as a cancer on the planet and of less value than animals.
As John Piper writes, “Since our being created in God’s image leads directly to our privilege and duty to subdue the earth, I take it that human vocation involves exercising a subordinate lordship over creation by which we shape and control it for good purposes. God takes man on as his deputy and endows him with God-like rights and capacities to subdue the world—to use it and shape it for good purposes.”
And what are those good purposes? Glorifying God and increasing our joy; providing for our needs and the needs of others; and spreading the Gospel message throughout all the earth for the increase of God’s Kingdom.
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Comment by Nabal Ben-Nimrod — April 22, 2009 @ 2:11 am
HEYYYY!- I get it…
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Comment by DaveyMike — April 22, 2009 @ 6:52 am
Let us worship the Creator not His creation.
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Comment by LaughingMartin — April 22, 2009 @ 1:20 pm
Thanks, Angus, for this bit of sanity and Godly understanding of humanity on this day of April Fools (Rom. 1:22).
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Comment by Doug — April 22, 2009 @ 4:38 pm
so you are saying that Earth Day is Biblical, right? I think the above posters didn’t get it. We as Christians should be first in line when it comes to taking care of the Earth. God commanded us to do so…
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Comment by John — April 22, 2009 @ 6:42 pm
Taking care of the planet is all well and good, and I am not against that. But all (or most) of this “go green” insanity that is being shoved down our throats has very little to do with taking care of the planet. It mostly about money and power and a government that is intruding into our everyday affairs at an exponential rate.
Just my two cents. Now if you will excuse me, I have to go turn off some lights. -
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Comment by Carol — April 22, 2009 @ 9:23 pm
It should be “Earth Daze”…
I will put in my two cents worth in this…
The only way the earth will be rid of the true “cancer” is when Satan is thrown into the lake of fire and evil will be gone!Not this new age “mother earth” worship, but when all of sin is purged and put where it belongs once and for ALL…
Until then we will be plagued with “go green”. Ugh! Man lost his ability to have dominion over the earth…We must wait for the Redeemer to truly clean up this planet!
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Comment by Nabal Ben-Nimrod — April 22, 2009 @ 9:35 pm
Hey Doug,
you must have missed my response- “HEYYY- I get it…”Dominion implies stewardship…
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Comment by Pops — April 22, 2009 @ 11:34 pm
…. rejects the environmental extremist philosophy that sees humans as a cancer on the planet and of less value than animals.
Yeah right Angus! I can not get anywhere near the price for one of my old teeth compared to what our local Rhino gets for just a bit of his horn!
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Comment by Doug — April 23, 2009 @ 10:31 am
yo Nabal Ben-Nimrod. gotcha. I was actually referring to some of the other posts, not yours.
so we should just wait for Jesus to “clean everything up,” huh? that makes a lot of sense. I guess I should just go ahead and cheat on my wife too. Jesus will clean it all up when He comes back. While I’m at it, I won’t do anything about the abject poverty and injustice that goes on in my city either. Jesus can just clean that up when He comes back.
Why is it again that He left the church here on Earth? I forget…surely He doesn’t expect us to do anything, right?
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Comment by Angus — April 23, 2009 @ 11:49 am
Doug:
I know you’re trying to make a good point, but I don’t think the first few comments you initially criticized needed correction on this point. I created the satirical “Nike” ad to point out that instead of Earth Day it should be “Earth Days,” and I subtitled it, Biblical stewardship. In my follow-up comment, I pointed out the need for good stewardship, but also biblical balance when confronting an environmental movement which is sometimes prone to nature worship and the devaluing of humanity. I thought the majority of the comments merely agreed with this, and never once inferred that we should trash the planet or let it go to seed, as you seem to be suggesting. I don’t mind your passion on this point, but please direct it at those who actually disagree with you. -
Comment by Doug — April 23, 2009 @ 12:04 pm
I agree with you Angus. I said that from my first post.
I guess it’s only okay to criticize non-Christians. My bad. I figured that the extremes on BOTH sides needed to be addressed.
I don’t know if you can be more extreme than “I’ll just let Jesus clean it all up when He comes back.”
Shouldn’t that bother us more than non-Christians just acting like non-Christians?
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Comment by Angus — April 23, 2009 @ 12:20 pm
By all means, Doug, we should avoid both extremes, and I don’t have a problem with what you said in general. I just think that it is possible that the comment that you quoted from was from someone who is thinking more about the sin and death in the world, instead of addressing the basic idea of biblical environmentalism.
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Comment by Doug — April 23, 2009 @ 12:22 pm
sorry. I guess I did overreact a bit. I think I get frustrated on days like this because we Christians lose our voice in the greater culture when we say things that aren’t filled with grace about the people we are trying to reach…
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Comment by Angus — April 23, 2009 @ 1:21 pm
No problem. I could tell by your comments that you have a heart for wanting Christians to be at the forefront of these issues for the sake of Christ.
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Comment by Carol — April 24, 2009 @ 4:21 pm
I was not referring to the time when Jesus returns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords to place an orange vest on Him and expect Him to gather rubble along some highway. I certainly have a greater hope than that! I was referring to the true pollution in this world, evil and sin. That is what is truly ruining this planet. If there weren’t evil and sinful men and women ruining this planet with pornography and verbal profanities, abortions, homosexuality, immorality, idolatry, adultery, murders, stealing, strife……
That’s what our problem is. Rather than calling these abominations the sinful things they are, people are patted on the head and told they have a “sickness” and are given new age teachings as sources of guidance…..
Lord Jesus please Return SOON!
