The Environment & The Church... (churches, bible, worship, quote)
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The environment...where do you stand on the issues? Some churches have now taken it upon themselves to join the environmental cause, stating that God gave us dominion over the earth, therefore we should be good overseers. I don't disagree with that, but one thing really concerns me: radical environmentalism can be (and is) a religion unto itself. Some people get so wrapped up in "green" causes that God is literally forgotten...it is mother earth that is worshipped, at all cost. I have seen some athiests get totally involved in this...their alternative to "God". We have even seen where some have torched and burned down new housing under construction. Just where do you draw the line...how do you reach a reasonable balance? How do you distance yourself from the militants...? What should be done to fix the problems?
Just where do you draw the line...how do you reach a reasonable balance? How do you distance yourself from the militants...? What should be done to fix the problems?
Bud
The same thing that's being done about the militant Christians in this country. Absolutely nothing. It's freedom of thought in the good ol' USA. I am not a tree hugging hippy but they have just as much right to live in mud huts as Christians have to read the bible. The ones that act out in violence should be punished according to law.
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I do believe it can get over blown, but as you have rightly stated. "...stating that God gave us dominion over the earth, therefore we should be good overseers." I believe that.
For some reason the environmental movement is made up of a wide range of groups, causes, and competing interests. There are some fringe groups that are violent, irrational and destructive and there's also some very responsible individuals on the other end of the spectrum who just think we should take care of our planet, afterall, it's the only place we have. I believe it's just common sense that we should do everything we can to deal with pollution and man's impact on nature. I have also read and seen on the news that certain religious groups are beginning to endorse a sensible environmental policy and I see this as good news and people who are acting responsibly.
Environmental causes shouldn't have to be endorsed by Religious institutions or groups in order to be embraced by everyone. If you care about the future generations of your family than you should instinctively feel the need to take care of and improve the condition of our planet. Whether you are religious or not you cannot live without clean water and air. Religious belief has nothing to do with environmentalism and those who are a part of the movement do not see the cause as an alternative to God, but understand that it is irresponsible to do nothing to reverse the negative impact humans have made on our planet. Some people can be extreme but i have never heard of the violent and destructive incedents you claim but i am sure it is extremely rare. Besides burning down a home because of enviromentally unfriendly construction materials or building methods would cause negative affects on our environment especially if said materials are hazardous when burned, no true environmentalist would do that.
The environment...where do you stand on the issues? Some churches have now taken it upon themselves to join the environmental cause, stating that God gave us dominion over the earth, therefore we should be good overseers. I don't disagree with that, but one thing really concerns me: radical environmentalism can be (and is) a religion unto itself. Some people get so wrapped up in "green" causes that God is literally forgotten...it is mother earth that is worshipped, at all cost. I have seen some athiests get totally involved in this...their alternative to "God". We have even seen where some have torched and burned down new housing under construction. Just where do you draw the line...how do you reach a reasonable balance? How do you distance yourself from the militants...? What should be done to fix the problems?
Bud
Very well stated Bud, I cringe when I see or hear a reputable christian leader start talking "green". You are absolutley right it is a religion unto itself. There is a fine line between being "Good Stewards" of our the earth, and buying into the nonsense that is the environmentalist movement today!
Very well stated Bud, I cringe when I see or hear a reputable christian leader start talking "green". You are absolutley right it is a religion unto itself. There is a fine line between being "Good Stewards" of our the earth, and buying into the nonsense that is the environmentalist movement today!
What is the "environmentalist movement today"?
Is is LEED Certification? Is is environmental sustainability? Green-built homes that use recycled materials and save enormous amounts of energy? "Green" roofs with plants on them that help insulate the building, reduce runoff into lakes and streams, and actually cool the area around them? Pursuing alternative energy sources other than exploiting third-world countries for oil? In some of the most war-torn and volatile regions in the world? Or from countries with deplorable human rights records? Is it producing energy through biomass, which is just capturing the fuel released as waste naturally breaks down? Unending wind and solar-power? How about bamboo floors, which come from a plant that can be replaced 20x faster than a hardwood tree? Recycling as much as you can? Environmentalism is much more main-stream (and economically beneficial) today than it was just 5 years ago.
We actually have the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certified Church in the U.S. in Grand Rapids, Keystone Community Church:
I think it's about time that Christians started doing their part. I never understood why (as a collective) we always sided with polluters and gas guzzling automakers.
As much as I can identify and sympathize with environmental issues and causes, I really think that it's more of a political issue than a religious one. That doesn't mean that it doesn't become sort of a moral issue, but it's really not the law abiding individual who's causing the great majority of the pollution in this country or in the world. It's the huge corporate pollutors that emits tons and tons of pollutants while making vast amounts of profits without trying to improve their wastes/emissions.
It goes back to the old question of whether it's possible for a person to live in a corrupt system and not be corrupt.
The system and the laws may need to be changed, but this is best accomplished at the ballot box, because the solution really isn't going to be achieved in a piece meal fashion at the individual level, not when the larger system and laws need to be fixed. And this is a global problem which makes it that much tougher for all of us. If a country like China or Mexico have lax laws that allow unregulated pollution and workers to be poisoned, and we all buy goods from those countries, are we all guilty because we all buy things from these countries?
We burn gasoline with more sulfur in it than the Europeans and Japanese do, we rely less on trains which are less polluting, religious leaders often urge to vote for one political party with less environmentally friendly policies over another, does that mean that our religious leaders are corrupt or immoral? No, of course not. It's more of a political issue that shouldn't be confused with a religious issue. More people need to see through the selfish reasons for voting for one party over another much of the time. So it becomes a matter of educating the public. But it still boils down to who are the biggest polluters? And what can the citizens do about it on the state, national and global scale?
There's things in our power, and there are things that are only in God's power.
When pollution causes global warming to reach epidemic proportions, than God will have responded to our massive scales of pollution.
When larger numbers of people start to delelop skin cancer from ozone depletion, than God will have responded to our destruction of the ozone layer. Why does our government use ozone destroying fuel in the space shuttle when the Russians don't use ozone destroying fuel in their rockets? I could never understand the logic myself, it's a shame really. But what can anybody do about it really?
Sorry to dig this up from way back on the 7th page or so. I didn't know if it warranted a new topic.
My wife and I just watched "An Inconvenient Truth" last night. (Disclaimer: I'm not a fan of Gore and didn't vote for him.)
With that aside, it was an EXTREMELY interesting movie. If you haven't rented it yet, it's definitely much better than a lot of the garbage at Blockbuster lately. It goes into great detail about documented factual findings of drastic changes that have taken place on the planet over the last 30, 20, 10 and 5 years. Mammoth sections of Antarctica ice sheets have disappeared (melted and collapsed) into the ocean. Big sections of Greenland are also starting to show the same signs (big pools of water on the face of the ice sheets, which melt holes into glaciers and cause the glaciers to fall apart). As well as many other examples of the affects of skyrocketing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere the majority of which is caused by human activity. The depleting ozone layers mentioned in the previous post has been greatly dissipated due to changes in consumer products containing aerosols, so a lot of improvements have been made on that front. So a change in human behavior has had positive affects on the atmosphere. The issue now is increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere "traps" ultraviolet rays that would otherwise bounce off the earth and travel harmlessly back into space.
Much of this information has been available for years, but it was well put together in a documentary fashion.
With that being said, if you do believe that global warming has been proven (very few scientists disagree with that fact, just with how severe it will be over the next 50 - 100 years):
1) Do you believe there is a Christian (or "God-centered") moral imperative to protect the planet for future generations?
2) Do you believe that God would want us to act today to slow these changes? Not just big corporate polluters, but we as consumers of electricity, gasoline, natural gas, and many other products which release large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere?
Just curious if anyone else here has seen the movie? Or if not, have you had an interest in seeing it? Feelings about the issue?
Sorry to dig this up from way back on the 7th page or so. I didn't know if it warranted a new topic.
My wife and I just watched "An Inconvenient Truth" last night. (Disclaimer: I'm not a fan of Gore and didn't vote for him.)
With that aside, it was an EXTREMELY interesting movie. If you haven't rented it yet, it's definitely much better than a lot of the garbage at Blockbuster lately. It goes into great detail about documented factual findings of drastic changes that have taken place on the planet over the last 30, 20, 10 and 5 years. Mammoth sections of Antarctica ice sheets have disappeared (melted and collapsed) into the ocean. Big sections of Greenland are also starting to show the same signs (big pools of water on the face of the ice sheets, which melt holes into glaciers and cause the glaciers to fall apart). As well as many other examples of the affects of skyrocketing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere the majority of which is caused by human activity. The depleting ozone layers mentioned in the previous post has been greatly dissipated due to changes in consumer products containing aerosols, so a lot of improvements have been made on that front. So a change in human behavior has had positive affects on the atmosphere. The issue now is increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere "traps" ultraviolet rays that would otherwise bounce off the earth and travel harmlessly back into space.
Much of this information has been available for years, but it was well put together in a documentary fashion.
With that being said, if you do believe that global warming has been proven (very few scientists disagree with that fact, just with how severe it will be over the next 50 - 100 years):
1) Do you believe there is a Christian (or "God-centered") moral imperative to protect the planet for future generations?
2) Do you believe that God would want us to act today to slow these changes? Not just big corporate polluters, but we as consumers of electricity, gasoline, natural gas, and many other products which release large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere?
Just curious if anyone else here has seen the movie? Or if not, have you had an interest in seeing it? Feelings about the issue?
I think we should have a balanced, reasonable approach to conservation of the earth's resources. That said, kind of like in Bud's OP, I think it is MUCH more important to worship Father God rather than mother earth.
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