Christian Approach to Nature
Oct. 6th, 2010 11:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
garden_pixieI have been working in my garden this year, and a strange phenomenon has been happening. The pumpkins did not ripen, the fruit on the trees never got big enough to pick, eat, or can. The sun, which normally brightens Oregon with its sunny and mild disposition hid for almost twice the amount of time that it normally does. Something is going on. The controversy about the climate changes that have been occurring rage on between two poles: whether or not it is humanities fault that the changes are happening versus a natural climate shift. These are colorful at best and downright scary in its bottom line.
I have also heard some people state that they believe that the end times are here, and that because of this, we should not be concerned with the planet and instead prepare to leave this realm! The stories of the typhoons, hurricanes, earthquakes and disease bring along apocalyptic fears and overtones into our hushed dialogues late into the night. However, I think that it is time for us to use our personal energy and our inner spirits more wisely.
In Evangelical Christian theology, the Christian utilizes the Holy Bible to see what humanities proper relationship to the planet should be as designed by the Creator. If we look at Genesis, we see that God created the Earth in 6 days at each step, creating the plants, the animals, water, land, and so forth. Genesis says that these things were deemed good by God directly. Our assumption, in the Christian faith is that this creation mentions was created in the same shape, form and function as it is today: birds flying, clear water, fruit trees bearing, and that that abundance from this earth is a sign that we are doing things right, that God is blessing us! Secondly, when God created Adam and Eve, he put them into the garden to be caretakers, including the honor of naming each of the animals, which God brought to Adam one by one.
When the earth obtained its curse from the fall, Genesis states that was because of humanity’s action not because the Earth itself was not Holy. Instead the Bible states that all of creation reflects and honors God. Concurrently, we see that the land shows our unfaithfulness to God when it goes barren. A direct example of this teaching is in Jeremiah where the land is said to mourn for the adultery of the people and therefore laid barren. (Jeremiah 23:10)
God created the physical earth, and by His divine directive asked us to be here in it. The ways that we see him including creation as part of this plan includes sending Jesus to this place and having him be embodied. Biblically we know, that by human sin we brought the curse upon the earth. It was cursed in its relationship with us. Similarly if we look at Scripture, it informs us that even our bodies are unholy but become holy through our relationship to God, even though we are in fallen matter. God requires us to make right our sins against each other, and since the creation is fallen because of us, it is Biblically mandated that we should put it right, and bring the light of God into the land and care take as God originally intended until the day of Reckoning.
As Biblical followers, the question becomes how should we be acting toward this place we call home when we have been told that we are like aliens? While much of the Old Testament is about the laws and how to interact in with the land, we can look to them to understand how God wanted his people to act in accordance with the land. In the Old Testament there is a rule about the land, that every 7th year, let the land lie fallow, giving the land a rest during the Sabbath year. This is a good agriculture practice and proper stewardship regarding the land. Moreover if we look at the book of Leviticus 25 we see in verse 23:
“The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me.” Then we see what we are supposed to do in verse 24 “Thus for every piece of your property, you are to provide for the redemption of the land.”
God’s lease for us on His land was up after 49 years… the land belongs to God not to us. The promised land wasn’t the Hebrew’s land, it was God’s. God is essentially saying, this land is not yours, it’s mine. However, you get to stay here and here’s how you get to treat is. This is the Law post fall in Eden. Many people say that the plan of God changed after the fall, but these instructions are coming from Moses after the fall, not before.
Looking again at Psalms 89:11-12 we hear from David who according to scripture was a man after God’s own heart singing: “The world and all it contains, You have founded them. The north and the south, You have created them; Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at Your name.” If the animals were unimportant, why would God have Adam even name them, and why would God care about the sparrow falling.
The Leviticus laws shows how we should be interacting with the land, which is to treat it like it is God’s personal property. This includes following the rules on how God instructs us through His Word on how to work with it or what not to do with it. Hearkening to the story of the good steward, we need to be careful of the property that our Master entrusted to us. On a similar note, the land itself is singing the praises of God for it knows it Creator. The Psalms in chapter 19 say that the “heaven’s declare the Glory of God…. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge.” This world is an utterance of the Holiness of God, a temple unto the Lord made by the Lord. Why are we not listening to this utterance?
Often I hear that people say the the physical has not part in spiritual life, that we are to shun this. However this is not a Biblical approach. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and the land declares the glory of God. Everything that we do with our hands is God’s work. I was reminded of a song that we sang when I was young, “my hands are the Lord’s hands, how else can He work amongst the poor, my feet are the Lords feet, how else would He get around.” The name Christian means little Christ, and we are supposed to be little Christs. Jesus, himself, was God made manifest! If we look at the example of Jesus, he spent all of his time healing others, tearing down the people and structures who kept people from standing in God’s temple and those who said that people were evil when they weren’t.
If God didn’t care for us, he wouldn’t have sent Jesus. If God thought that the world was worthless why would he have sent Jesus here? Why not take us to heaven, wash us and send us on our way. This is because this reality is beloved by God as His creation and that this physical plan is included in His plan. This modern age is bound and determined to destroy the temple of God and violate His law. Our modern ecological practices of business do not honor God’s sacred land as mandated in the Bible and instead move into rebellion and greed. There is an assumption that the land is dead, and does not contain the spirit of God in it. But, scripture tells us that God is in everything, there is not any place that is not God, and that the land is both uttering the praises of its creator and telling us about God. This unholy nation is run by greed and not by the scriptures. Concepts such as treating of the land as if it were intrinsically evil instead of telling the glory of God, the supposed spiritual practices and doctrines that state that we have no relationship to the physical earth even though we have been made of clay, and not taking responsibility for our greed by pushing the land beyond its capacity is appalling. Not stepping back into the relationship demanded by God with land is an violation of scripture which makes us an anathema before Jesus who now sits at the right hand of the Father. We are supposed to rule over the earth as God hands made manifest. Jesus’ hands are healing hands. Jesus created the world and the earth’s very essence sings to God.
The question might be why then are we destroying the earth? If the Earth is the temple of God, the creation that He called beautiful, if the Word of God is calling for us over and over in scripture to care take it, and that this earth belongs to God not us, why are we still treating it like the red haired step child?
There are a few reasons that come to mind. First: we are afraid to confuse nature with God. We are worried that we will find ourselves worshiping the creation instead of the creator. This is a good fear because God has asked us not to have idols before God. But, we need to remember that God did not give us a spirit of fear but of a sound mind. Similarly, Paul exhorts us to be wise as serpents yet innocent as doves. So, as mature Christians we need to look at this with a sound mind and wise heart. Romans shows us that food sacrificed to idols will not hurt if “we have knowledge.” This knowledge according to Paul is that there is only God and no idols. In Romans we are exhorted to put down fear and acknowledge that: “there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.” Therefore, we cannot engage in upholding something as an idol and have it mean bad things for us spiritually, for Paul has made clear that they don’t exist, there is only God. We know that the earth is not God itself, but instead is the temple of God and is not apart from God because there is only God’s work. Perhaps a handy way to think about it is to ask how God’s temple ought to be treated? The Earth like us, the Son’s and Daughters of Adam, is the embodiment of the Spirit of God. So essentially, we can as Christians of knowledge know that the reason that we are doing what we are doing, for the land and to the land, is because we want to honor God’s law, which is not the same as elevating the land to be the all encompassing God. Like our bodies, we can see what God commands with the temple of God which I Corinthians states very clearly: “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and a Temple is what you are.”
The other fear that I see pointed out is that this is a movement within the humanist realm. If we take into account the above conversation, we can move into a sound mind and heart and begin to hear the voice of God telling us to be still. And if we remember that by being in right relationship to scripture and to the spirit of God, that our actions will be interpreted right by God, for God is merciful and He sees into the heart and knows the reasons for why we do what we do. Many people do the right thing and don’t know why. Whether they are following the Christian idea of God or their own inner directive, the right thing is still the right thing. If they support what is considered to be Holy actions then we should be supporting that. Jesus said, “if they are not against us, they are for us.” Not the other way around. Too often people assume that if they are not the same as us that they are against us. Humanists are not evil embodied and when they support the Holy Laws, we should be upholding their right actions not dismissing theirs actions because they are done by people who are not Christian. If we look at the story of Jesus’ disciples in the book of Mark, we see Jesus exemplifying this.
“John said to Him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. 40 “For he who is not against us is for us. 41 “For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward.”
There is nothing that can be done outside of the will of God, so our job is not to try to control others actions instead be in right relationship before the holy creator. Secondarily, like our Father in Heaven is merciful to us even though we are not perfect, we should not wait until fallen creation is perfect to show mercy, justice and compassion.
The last area that I would like to address is the idea that we should not be engaging in care of the Creation of God because we are not supposed to be attached to this world. By engaging in practices that defile the sacred temple that is the land, using the rational that we will make more money, and the corporate ideology that making money is more important than healthy environmental practices, we are in fact engaged in greed and being attached to this world. Money is not evil, the Bible states that the love of money is. If we look back at the verses in Leviticus, Jehovah addresses this directly saying that we are merely sojourners with him, yet still directs us to care for the land. This resonates with the writer James that faith without works is dead. We both have to hold the inner space that we are not of world, and yet like Jesus who came here into this world, embodied, to be in this world and be holy stewards of both humankind, plants, animals, and trees. It is this land that reminds us physically day after day that God is real. The heavens are declaring the Holiness of God. Let us not disrespect this blessed message from His Holy Spirit and work together to make a healthy planet for our children and loved ones and make Jesus Christ proud!
Michaela Iler has a private practice a s spiritual director. She holds a bachelors of Arts in Christian Education, Christian Ministry from George Fox University and a Masters of Applied Theology from Marylhurst University.
But to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your god.
I have also heard some people state that they believe that the end times are here, and that because of this, we should not be concerned with the planet and instead prepare to leave this realm! The stories of the typhoons, hurricanes, earthquakes and disease bring along apocalyptic fears and overtones into our hushed dialogues late into the night. However, I think that it is time for us to use our personal energy and our inner spirits more wisely.
In Evangelical Christian theology, the Christian utilizes the Holy Bible to see what humanities proper relationship to the planet should be as designed by the Creator. If we look at Genesis, we see that God created the Earth in 6 days at each step, creating the plants, the animals, water, land, and so forth. Genesis says that these things were deemed good by God directly. Our assumption, in the Christian faith is that this creation mentions was created in the same shape, form and function as it is today: birds flying, clear water, fruit trees bearing, and that that abundance from this earth is a sign that we are doing things right, that God is blessing us! Secondly, when God created Adam and Eve, he put them into the garden to be caretakers, including the honor of naming each of the animals, which God brought to Adam one by one.
When the earth obtained its curse from the fall, Genesis states that was because of humanity’s action not because the Earth itself was not Holy. Instead the Bible states that all of creation reflects and honors God. Concurrently, we see that the land shows our unfaithfulness to God when it goes barren. A direct example of this teaching is in Jeremiah where the land is said to mourn for the adultery of the people and therefore laid barren. (Jeremiah 23:10)
God created the physical earth, and by His divine directive asked us to be here in it. The ways that we see him including creation as part of this plan includes sending Jesus to this place and having him be embodied. Biblically we know, that by human sin we brought the curse upon the earth. It was cursed in its relationship with us. Similarly if we look at Scripture, it informs us that even our bodies are unholy but become holy through our relationship to God, even though we are in fallen matter. God requires us to make right our sins against each other, and since the creation is fallen because of us, it is Biblically mandated that we should put it right, and bring the light of God into the land and care take as God originally intended until the day of Reckoning.
As Biblical followers, the question becomes how should we be acting toward this place we call home when we have been told that we are like aliens? While much of the Old Testament is about the laws and how to interact in with the land, we can look to them to understand how God wanted his people to act in accordance with the land. In the Old Testament there is a rule about the land, that every 7th year, let the land lie fallow, giving the land a rest during the Sabbath year. This is a good agriculture practice and proper stewardship regarding the land. Moreover if we look at the book of Leviticus 25 we see in verse 23:
“The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me.” Then we see what we are supposed to do in verse 24 “Thus for every piece of your property, you are to provide for the redemption of the land.”
God’s lease for us on His land was up after 49 years… the land belongs to God not to us. The promised land wasn’t the Hebrew’s land, it was God’s. God is essentially saying, this land is not yours, it’s mine. However, you get to stay here and here’s how you get to treat is. This is the Law post fall in Eden. Many people say that the plan of God changed after the fall, but these instructions are coming from Moses after the fall, not before.
Looking again at Psalms 89:11-12 we hear from David who according to scripture was a man after God’s own heart singing: “The world and all it contains, You have founded them. The north and the south, You have created them; Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at Your name.” If the animals were unimportant, why would God have Adam even name them, and why would God care about the sparrow falling.
The Leviticus laws shows how we should be interacting with the land, which is to treat it like it is God’s personal property. This includes following the rules on how God instructs us through His Word on how to work with it or what not to do with it. Hearkening to the story of the good steward, we need to be careful of the property that our Master entrusted to us. On a similar note, the land itself is singing the praises of God for it knows it Creator. The Psalms in chapter 19 say that the “heaven’s declare the Glory of God…. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge.” This world is an utterance of the Holiness of God, a temple unto the Lord made by the Lord. Why are we not listening to this utterance?
Often I hear that people say the the physical has not part in spiritual life, that we are to shun this. However this is not a Biblical approach. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and the land declares the glory of God. Everything that we do with our hands is God’s work. I was reminded of a song that we sang when I was young, “my hands are the Lord’s hands, how else can He work amongst the poor, my feet are the Lords feet, how else would He get around.” The name Christian means little Christ, and we are supposed to be little Christs. Jesus, himself, was God made manifest! If we look at the example of Jesus, he spent all of his time healing others, tearing down the people and structures who kept people from standing in God’s temple and those who said that people were evil when they weren’t.
If God didn’t care for us, he wouldn’t have sent Jesus. If God thought that the world was worthless why would he have sent Jesus here? Why not take us to heaven, wash us and send us on our way. This is because this reality is beloved by God as His creation and that this physical plan is included in His plan. This modern age is bound and determined to destroy the temple of God and violate His law. Our modern ecological practices of business do not honor God’s sacred land as mandated in the Bible and instead move into rebellion and greed. There is an assumption that the land is dead, and does not contain the spirit of God in it. But, scripture tells us that God is in everything, there is not any place that is not God, and that the land is both uttering the praises of its creator and telling us about God. This unholy nation is run by greed and not by the scriptures. Concepts such as treating of the land as if it were intrinsically evil instead of telling the glory of God, the supposed spiritual practices and doctrines that state that we have no relationship to the physical earth even though we have been made of clay, and not taking responsibility for our greed by pushing the land beyond its capacity is appalling. Not stepping back into the relationship demanded by God with land is an violation of scripture which makes us an anathema before Jesus who now sits at the right hand of the Father. We are supposed to rule over the earth as God hands made manifest. Jesus’ hands are healing hands. Jesus created the world and the earth’s very essence sings to God.
The question might be why then are we destroying the earth? If the Earth is the temple of God, the creation that He called beautiful, if the Word of God is calling for us over and over in scripture to care take it, and that this earth belongs to God not us, why are we still treating it like the red haired step child?
There are a few reasons that come to mind. First: we are afraid to confuse nature with God. We are worried that we will find ourselves worshiping the creation instead of the creator. This is a good fear because God has asked us not to have idols before God. But, we need to remember that God did not give us a spirit of fear but of a sound mind. Similarly, Paul exhorts us to be wise as serpents yet innocent as doves. So, as mature Christians we need to look at this with a sound mind and wise heart. Romans shows us that food sacrificed to idols will not hurt if “we have knowledge.” This knowledge according to Paul is that there is only God and no idols. In Romans we are exhorted to put down fear and acknowledge that: “there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.” Therefore, we cannot engage in upholding something as an idol and have it mean bad things for us spiritually, for Paul has made clear that they don’t exist, there is only God. We know that the earth is not God itself, but instead is the temple of God and is not apart from God because there is only God’s work. Perhaps a handy way to think about it is to ask how God’s temple ought to be treated? The Earth like us, the Son’s and Daughters of Adam, is the embodiment of the Spirit of God. So essentially, we can as Christians of knowledge know that the reason that we are doing what we are doing, for the land and to the land, is because we want to honor God’s law, which is not the same as elevating the land to be the all encompassing God. Like our bodies, we can see what God commands with the temple of God which I Corinthians states very clearly: “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and a Temple is what you are.”
The other fear that I see pointed out is that this is a movement within the humanist realm. If we take into account the above conversation, we can move into a sound mind and heart and begin to hear the voice of God telling us to be still. And if we remember that by being in right relationship to scripture and to the spirit of God, that our actions will be interpreted right by God, for God is merciful and He sees into the heart and knows the reasons for why we do what we do. Many people do the right thing and don’t know why. Whether they are following the Christian idea of God or their own inner directive, the right thing is still the right thing. If they support what is considered to be Holy actions then we should be supporting that. Jesus said, “if they are not against us, they are for us.” Not the other way around. Too often people assume that if they are not the same as us that they are against us. Humanists are not evil embodied and when they support the Holy Laws, we should be upholding their right actions not dismissing theirs actions because they are done by people who are not Christian. If we look at the story of Jesus’ disciples in the book of Mark, we see Jesus exemplifying this.
“John said to Him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. 40 “For he who is not against us is for us. 41 “For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward.”
There is nothing that can be done outside of the will of God, so our job is not to try to control others actions instead be in right relationship before the holy creator. Secondarily, like our Father in Heaven is merciful to us even though we are not perfect, we should not wait until fallen creation is perfect to show mercy, justice and compassion.
The last area that I would like to address is the idea that we should not be engaging in care of the Creation of God because we are not supposed to be attached to this world. By engaging in practices that defile the sacred temple that is the land, using the rational that we will make more money, and the corporate ideology that making money is more important than healthy environmental practices, we are in fact engaged in greed and being attached to this world. Money is not evil, the Bible states that the love of money is. If we look back at the verses in Leviticus, Jehovah addresses this directly saying that we are merely sojourners with him, yet still directs us to care for the land. This resonates with the writer James that faith without works is dead. We both have to hold the inner space that we are not of world, and yet like Jesus who came here into this world, embodied, to be in this world and be holy stewards of both humankind, plants, animals, and trees. It is this land that reminds us physically day after day that God is real. The heavens are declaring the Holiness of God. Let us not disrespect this blessed message from His Holy Spirit and work together to make a healthy planet for our children and loved ones and make Jesus Christ proud!
Michaela Iler has a private practice a s spiritual director. She holds a bachelors of Arts in Christian Education, Christian Ministry from George Fox University and a Masters of Applied Theology from Marylhurst University.
But to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your god.
