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 Jesus and Tree-huggers By Clarissa Worley Sproul
Suffice it to say, this little read got me bugged. Why is it that Christians are so non-committal—shoot, even skeptical—of the green movement? It seems to me if the authors—who think we all morphed from apes—feel convicted that nature and her animals deserve kind and gentle treatment, then probably someone like me—you know, who believes God Himself made dogs and cats, trees and birds—well, that I would care a wee bit more, or at least as much. It doesn’t quite make sense. Maybe I’ve missed the Green Christian Bestsellers Club, but if I haven’t, then I can honestly say the only books that have called me on the carpet about how I treat living things, have been written by people who think God is dead. Could someone please explain this to me? You’d think that all us Bible-reading folk would jump at the chance to teach our world how sacred and special our natural habitat is, right? You’d think. So why is this? Well the first thing that comes to my mind is how pagan philosophy has impacted Christianity over the years. Namely the idea that matter is evil while soul and spirit are good. In other words, trash the latter, but guard the former—God doesn’t care about the practical, just your spirit—yeah, right. Add to this the popular sentiment so aptly uncovered in the old lyrics, this world is not my home, I’m just a-passing through, and one has a second reason for Christian’s strange behavior. Earth is just a pit stop on the road to eternity, an irrelevant barrier the soul has to traverse until that golden moment of Divine destiny that whisks us away. Jesus didn’t seem to teach this. Though he was the first to say that this earth would pass away and yes, He’d come for us and give us the life we’ve all dreamed of—complete with pure love and no death or tears—He never spoke carelessly of animals, plants or anything else created. He’s actually known as the guy who notices when the smallest sparrow falls, remember? Not only that, Jesus taught principles, that, when applied to nature, call all of us to a level of responsibility and respect we’d have never dreamed up ourselves. Jesus said two thousand years back that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. That it was a spiritual kingdom—in other words a kingdom manifest by our hearts, and that those who were part of it would be known for their love. Love was to define all law and teachings passed on through the Bible and everyone else (Matthew 22:36-40). Sure He didn’t say women shouldn’t be treated like property—and so the Christian church actually fought against women having the right to vote, work or own property. Neither did He say that the practice of buying and selling humans as slaves was intolerable—a fact the Christian church flaunted while fighting the abolition movement. So I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that since He didn’t say specifically that the abusive industries that inhumanely slaughter animals, pillage the rain forests and use devastating chemicals on our environment were evil, well, we think He’s fine with us getting all we can at the expense of our eco-system, right? I think it’s time we Christ-followers wake up. To quote another good old anthem familiar to us all… This is my Father's world. It’s time we connected the dots. We will be held accountable. Visit Life Notes ______________________________ Clarissa Worley Sproul writes from the Pacific Northwest. All rights reserved © 2010 AnswersForMe.org. Click here for content usage information. Add your comment. |
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