Growing up I was always enamored by my dad's tatoo. It's located on his left calf. It was a picture of Hitler on one side and Ghandi on the other with the word Truth in between. For you artists out there, the word truth was written like an arrow. Apparently he got it when he was younger to remind him that "between two extremes lies the truth." Speaking of the truth, I lied about the tatoo, although growing up my dad did say that statement an awful lot. So much so that it kind of stuck with me.
I've recently recognized that I tend to be a bit extreme. My thoughts, feelings, behavior and beliefs are often not what one might deem "normal" or even "cool." I used to think I redefined cool now I'm bald and don't know how to download itunes. Still, I do what I can.
Which brings me to our Grid Blog topic - Earth day. Doing what we can.
Kelly, our preacher, agreed to give me 5 minutes this morning to talk about Earth Day with the church. I was grateful and miraculously only took 5min and 45 seconds. Speaking of extreme, I spend most of last night trying to decide what to say. "You already know what you want to say, so just sit down and watch the movie." I must admit, I had to agree with my wife but was still distracted. The way I see it in my mind is I've been given 5 minutes to change people's opinion of the earth so I better plan something good. I know, extreme. Extremely prideful, to think I could change them at all, and extremely anal to think it comes down to what I've prepared.
I ended up deciding to let the earth speak for itself. So I showed a 4and a half minute clip of Sacred Planet, showing the best our earth has to offer accompanied by beautiful music. After the clip I read part of Psalm 104 then said this: "Earth Day is not about elevating the earth to the status of God, its about elevating God as we use the earth."
The way I see it, this day should transend all the moronic extremes: tree hugging hippies vs. rapers of the planet. This day is about one thing, the truth.
And here it is: The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, so don't abuse it.
John
Sunday, April 22, 2007
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4 comments:
I have a question: If Jesus is going to return prior to the extinction of humanity (it would be pretty anticlimactic otherwise, wouldn't it?), and if the destruction of the environment will hasten the extinction of humanity, then doesn't it follow logically, from the Christian perspective, that "raping the planet" will hasten the return of Christ? How is that a bad thing (again, from the Christian perspective)?
John,
I gave a lesson this morning on the Earth. The main point was that God gave us sacred responsibility and partnership with the earth. Basically, how we treat the earth is a spiritual issue. Char asked how far we are supposed to take this since something as simple as owning a car has an impact on the earth. I think I'll have her read what you've written here: somewhere between two extremes. I like it.
Hey Jord, great question. You brought up about a dozen different theological tangents that I could go after but I'll just say this.
Sadly, there have been Christians in the past albeit fewer now that believe the very thing you just articulated: the world is ultimately going to burn and I'll be whisked away to heaven, so why care about the environment?
Here's a couple reasons:
1. I don't believe the bible clearly teaches the earth will be destroyed. There are many passages that talk about Jesus restoring all creation or all things which seems to be the opposite of destroying. Some believe a return to the Garden of Eden is the goal. Man in Harmony with the earth, animals, Eve and God. The moment man sinned the earth grew thistles. Some people believe that heaven will be a return to Eden and the goal of our time on earth is to partner with God in restoring that ideal. I find that very appealing. Brian did a good job of explaining this point on his blog.
2. I don't want my kiddos growing up in a sess pool just because I was too much of a selfish jerk to do the right thing.
3. The earth does not belong to me, its a gift from God that I share with my fellow man. For me to live in a way that destroys the earth I am living in a way that disrespects them both.
John
John,
Good answers!
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