It seems like every time I turn around I hear something else about "green". It seems like everyone in our world today is into this whole thing. I can't watch TV, listen to the radio, or even go to the mailbox without being bombarded with something about being "green". Just yesterday I saw a bank and cell phone company using "green" as their advertising gimmick. Is that really what I am looking for in a bank...that they are green? Right now I just want a bank that is not going to go under anytime soon.
This has caused me over recent months and weeks to really put some thought into this whole concept. I actually spent the last few weeks doing a series in BNX on some of the conclusions that I have come to. Just as I have shared with the students I work with, my point in writing this is not to say that it is either right or wrong to "go green", but rather to understand your basis for that belief from a Biblical position and not because of what the world is telling us. Here are a few things I have found as I have researched this.
-Anything that the world is overwhelmingly supportive of we, as Christians, should immediately be concerned about. We know from God's Word that Satan is the ruler of this world (Matthew 4:8-9, I John 5:19), that he is the father of lies (John 8:44), and wants nothing more than to deceive the whole world (Revelation 12:9). Therefore, I think we need to seriously question anything that is so supported by the world around us. Now, that does not necessarily mean we should not support the green movement...only that we should be skeptical and do some praying and research.
-The motivation behind the overwhelming majority of environmental organizations is to basically stop and reverse the effects that humans are having and have had on planet earth. Go checkout the mission statements of any environmental organization and see if that is not true. This idea is one that I think very much goes against specific Biblical doctrine. Let me explain...In Genesis 3 we read the account of the "temptation and fall of man". Part of that account involves the judgement from God for the sins that were committed. We read, in some detail, what was cursed and affected by sin. In verse 17 we see that not only was man cursed and condemned to death (physical and spiritual), but so was the rest of creation. This seems to me to indicate that we can't "stop or reverse" the decaying and death of this world as our environmental groups suggest they want to do. Now, I also believe that we should not needlessly expedite that process either (the key word here being needlessly).
-We have all heard, from our friends like Mr. Al Gore, the doomsday timescales of when we will destroy our own planet if we do not stop living the way we are now. This thinking, I believe, is also very UNBiblical. If we read Romans 8:18-22 we again see references to Genesis 3 where creation was cursed to death and futility, just as man was. We also see that creation is "eagerly awaiting" the second coming of Christ (vs 19) where it can also be delivered from it's "bondage to decay" (New International Version). We can trust then, that before we as humans completely destroy and obliterate this world as so many environmentalist suggest we are doing, Christ WILL come back to deliver us...and creation! There will be no "Doomsday" (at least not for true believers and creation).
-My biggest concern with this movement lies in the shear enormity of it. It is an incredibly vast movement. I fear that this whole issue is rapidly becoming one of idolatry, where we are becoming more concerned about what we are doing every day to destroy the earth, than what we are doing every day to passionately know, love, and worship our God, Creator, and Lord Jesus Christ. For many of us it is easier and more important in our daily lives to recycle an aluminum can and minimize our carbon footprint, than it is to open our Bible and spend some intimate alone time with Jesus our Savior.
-Some might say, "But how can that many people be wrong?". I would first point back to my previous point from John 8:44. I would also remind people of what Romans 12:2 teaches us. We should not be conformed to this world. The NIV says the "patterns of this world". I think this movement may be just that...a "pattern" of this world that maybe we should not be conforming to, at least not for the reasons that this world gives us. Instead we should be "transformed" (which I think means we should look at least a little different???) by the renewing of our minds. Maybe we need to research this movement a bit, and see if we are just conforming or if we need a little transforming.
-I also do believe that we are called to stewardship as one component of our worship to God. In Genesis 1 we are given authority and responsibility over all of creation as we are set apart and created in God's own image. This is something that I think all Christians need to put some serious thought and prayer into, and one area that I think most of us are lacking in. If God leads you through sincere prayer and study of scripture, as part of your worship through stewardship, to recycle, drive a hybrid, or pay for a carbon offset, then by all means do it. Do it to the Glory of Jesus Christ. And if by the same method you are lead to throw away your trash, drive an SUV and hunt deer, then by all means, fire away (hunters, by the way, were some of the first conservationists and naturalists). I think we, as Christians, also have a responsibility not to judge each other's decisions on this issue, when they are legitimately founded in prayer, scripture study and comprehensive information research. The last thing in the world we want is to do something just because the world says it is right or good!
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