The Bible And Ecology Essay

One views the natural world in a way that is very negative. Paul’s depiction in Romans 1; 18-32 leads one to believe that this is

In The Book Of Genesis, Chapter 1, God creates night and day(1:3-5) and separates the ocean from the sky(1:6-7). He provides the essentials for every living thing to thrive on Earth (water, air, and food). In Chapter 2, God created man out of dust and woman out of the rib of the man, He gave them one rule which was not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The woman, Eve, disobeyed, when lured by a snake to eat the fruit and was convinced it was harmless. She offered some fruit to the man, Adam, and he took it and ate it(3:1-6). The question I will ask in my essay will be as follows: The creation account begins and ends in Chapter 1. In Chapter 2, the creation account virtually begins again. Why is this? What is going on?

accept his offering for it was all that he had and did not know how to

Martin’s (1996) continuum is a useful tool which can be used to position an individual’s perspective of nature on a scale from one, seeing nature as an object, to five, seeing nature as a subject. At the low end of the scale, Martin describes a human-nature relationship where nature purely acts as a playground or gym for humans (Martin, 1996). This relationship type can be associated with anything where humans have a vantage point (Dyer & Gunnell, 1993), and can be seen within Christianity. The second lowest relationship outlined on the continuum is where humans begin to see nature as a beautiful and natural place. This view point of nature can primarily be connected to people viewing national parks as valuable storehouses and museums (Martin, 1996). From this stage of Martin’s (1996) continuum, it becomes identifiable that from this point onward, humans gain more respect, appreciation

Too much of the Christian worldview’s attention is focused on reconciling the Bible with science and archaeological discoveries when it should be focused on redemption. The theme of the Bible could be summarized into four categories Creation,

The issue of Deforestation has been high on the global environmental agenda for many years, and remains a serious problem today. In the tropics and many other parts of the world, nations continue to lose the valuable biodiversity, soil and water conservation, and climate regulation that natural forests provide. Christianity can only address this matter by continuing to combine an acceptance of the command to people to ‘multiply and replenish the earth’ (Genesis 1:28) with a balancing injunction to act as stewards of the environment. Charities such as Christian Ecology Link and World Vision work to increase awareness of the current ecological crisis and encourage adherents to live sustainably and make ‘green’ consumption choices.

The story in Genesis 16 is about the slave girl Hagar, her child, God’s promise to Hagar, and how the Abram household deals with this pregnancy. The way the household and characters deal with this story are important to explain what happens to Hagar and her unborn child. What does this story try to each the reader? I think this story shows that God cares about, listens to, and has a plan for everyone. Even if you are a slave girl who was offered to a childless man as a concubine.

In regards to our treatment of nature, you write, “Today, however, the population has grown to the point that nature itself is threatened but we have no ethical tools with which to protect and defend nature.” This problem has existed for quite some time, but has just not began to go widely noticed. A philosopher in his own right, Daniel Quinn, speaks of similar topics using his character, Ishmael, to do so. To best describe this scenario, Ishmael had a poster which read, “With man gone, will there be hope for gorilla?” this quote in itself hold little meaning until you take the deeper meaning by using gorilla as nature; Quinn speaks throughout the book of how earth was not created for man, man is just one more short portion of earth’s history and will be seen as such when times change. The meaning of this quote then becomes, will earth have any hope if man dies? This interpretation requires the assumption that man controls nature, he takes care of it, rather than being a part of it and respecting it. At the conclusion of the book, Quinn shows the other side of the poster which held the quote and it reads, “with gorilla gone, will there be hope for man?” Again, once realizing gorilla is a euphemism for nature, we realize nature what Quinn has been preaching the entire book, man does not control nature, nature was not created for man, but man is slowly killing it. On your statement, saying the population is too great for nature to sustain everyone, I completely agree. Too

Like a farmer, a disciple of Christ is heavily involved in creation as they produce crops and care for animals. While farmers deeply love creation, pest, disease, and bad weather are constantly attempting to destroy everything the farmer has accomplished. Despite all their good work, crops fail, animals die, and the land is slowly degraded. Yet, farmers continue to work towards sustainability, undeterred by the multitude of challenges they face.

David Jenkins, a Christian Science writer, believes that God created planet Earth with a climate plan in mind. He references from the Bible to support his claims. Jenkins has a thought that just because God made something does not mean it was meant to be used up by man, but maybe to remain where it was originally placed. He explains that the high use of coal by people seems to be what is causing the increase in global temperatures and we need to reduce our need for fossil fuels by finding better alternatives to energy. Jenkins acknowledges that other parts of life are also being affected by such high temperatures like food shortages and water droughts. He believes that religion and nature go hand in hand to make the world work. Mr. Jenkins believes we need to respect God’s design for our planet and take into consideration how it was intended to be treated.

Genesis 16 tells the story leading up to the birth of Ishmael. The story consists of two main parts. The conflicts between the three characters, Abram, Sarai, and Hagar, make up the first part of the story. The second part consists of the discussion between Hagar and God. Abram and his wife, Sarai, have had difficulty producing a child. Therefore, Sarai offers Hagar, her Egyptian slave-girl, to Abram. Eventually Hagar becomes pregnant. Upon this realization, Hagar begins to look with contempt, towards Sarai. Sarai goes to Abram for some advice on how to deal with Hagar. Abram pushes the matter off his hands by telling Sarai that she has power over Hagar and to deal with her own slave girl. Consequently, Sarai treats Hagar harshly, which causes Hagar to flee. God finally makes an appearance in the story. An angel of the Lord finds Hagar and tells her to go back to her mistress and to submit. God makes a promise to Hagar that she will have a large number of offspring, similarly to God’s promise to Abram. Finally, Hagar names God, El-roi, before returning to Sarai. God does not intervene or even show up until the second part of the story. Due to God’s absence in the beginning of the story, the reader may question what the

In Genesis 2:15, the Bible says, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” God is telling us to take care of the Earth from this verse, but he is also telling us to not worry about the future to come. In Revelation, the Bible tells us that God is going to send down fire from the heavens and destroy the whole Earth. It does not tell us that a bunch of wacko environmentalists is going to come and try to convince us that we are all doomed because of the poles melting. Instead, we should listen to God’s word and believe that his word is true.

Christian voice is correcting them or proclaiming the biblical model of man’s relationship to nature which: is unique and superior to the dominant free-market and environmentalist models. . According to Gardner and Stern (1996), in that place are exclusive approaches that have power to be implemented in companionships search to defend the environment. One like approach may take a closer look at holy and regarding duties beliefs and the effects of these beliefs on the environment. The idea to create values and beliefs in environmental issues are important components of having a safer and enjoyable world for its people and the world they live in. Christian and non-Christian, at hand, must see the environment and the shortcoming of business by reason of a proper conversion to an act or purpose of and preservation of the wealth the planet has to support life. Christians as the Bible originate directing the eye to what has to be published by word force in reference to human natures dependence and bounden duty to the nature and its resources. As Christians we should do what ever it takes to make sure this earth glorify God. If we are careless about science and economics — not caring about how they work and what they describe, creation’s economy will suffer (Christians Research Institute).

Despite many Christians, such as Patriarch Batholomew from the Greek Orthodox church who states that ‘For humans to contaminate the Earth’s waters, its land, its air, and its life, with poisonous substances. These are sins’ in an attempt to encourage prioritising environmental protection, climate skeptic Calvin Beisner states that “the Bible teaches that earth and all its subsystems… are the product of a God who is an infinitely wise designer”, reflecting that his personal interpretation of God’s revelation has led to his understanding of the Earth being intelligently design, so that humankind could not potentially destroy it, consequently leading to him not placing priority on the protection of the environment.

Rae and Wong would agree with Hoffman that things have intrinsic value because they are the object of a loving and creative God. “Thus the environment has intrinsic value because God has created it and it reflects his glory.” (396) Rae and Wong also agree with Derr that humanity was commanded by God to subdue the Earth for its own benefit. “Human being’s dominion over creation and the command to subdue the earth