10 years ago today, we were at Kidzania with our friends the O’Briens. Kidzania is a Mexican kids’ theme park, actually a mini “city”, where kids can go to work at popular businesses, or be involved in common services (dentistry, fire fighting…). Since its founding, it has expanded to several other countries.
So – one of the places the kids “worked” at was a Sabritas factory. “Sabritas” is a Mexican snack company, probably most known for their potato chips (sabrosa=flavourful, fritas=fried, hence the name). Of course, after manufacturing a bag of chips, the snack was theirs!
Our look at Biblical Anthropology continues today as we study some principles for caring for the environment. Let’s see what we can discover…
We’ve already looked at some general principles in Genesis. “work it and keep it” – “Be fruitful and multiply” – “subdue it, and have dominion” You can read the previous articles for more on those.
We can also find some principles in the Law of Moses, so let’s go there next.
One example is found in the laws of the Sabbath. In Leviticus 25, we find some important agricultural regulations for Israel:
The LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the LORD. For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the LORD. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest, or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. The Sabbath of the land shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female slaves and for your hired worker and the sojourner who lives with you, and for your cattle and for the wild animals that are in your land: all its yield shall be for food.
Leviticus 25:1-7
After this, there would be a special year of rest, every 50 years. We’ve already talked a little about this when we studied justice.
Therefore you shall do my statutes and keep my rules and perform them, and then you will dwell in the land securely. The land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and dwell in it securely. And if you say, ‘What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow or gather in our crop?’ I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years. When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating some of the old crop; you shall eat the old until the ninth year, when its crop arrives.
Leviticus 25:18-22
We see two purposes here – food itself, “you will eat your fill”, and security. This system cares for the poor, and it also provides for you.
And here’s something interesting – there is a supernatural element here. God promised the Israelites a larger crop every six years, so that there would be enough for the seventh year – a year of rest. We’ll talk more about this later.
Today we know from scientific study that the earth – the soil – does indeed need “rest”. Overuse can permanently damage the soil, even leading to desertification. Basically, converting fertile soil into a desert. God is wise.
Another fascinating law is a law about sieges in Deuteronomy 20. Basically, when you’re conquering a city (remember, the Israelites were about to enter Canaan), your army could cut down trees for weapons or fuel, but it was not permitted to cut down fruit trees. In other words, at the end of the war, you didn’t want everyone to die of hunger. (Take a look through history – how many times has that exact thing happened?)
There are also various laws for animals. Here are some quick examples.
If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.
Exodus 23:5
That one’s pretty simple. Help your neighbour, help his donkey. Even if your neighbour hates you.
You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain…
Deuteronomy 25:4
Why? Because your cattle need the strength to do the work. This law is good for you, good for the ox.
If you come across a bird’s nest in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. You shall let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long.
Deuteronomy 22:6-7
This is an interesting one, and no explanation is given. But we can make some educated guesses.
There are a couple of reasons why you may want to take the young birds or the eggs. First, for food (or maybe for the feathers). That is allowed. Second, population control. If there is a huge population boom of a certain species, that can cause major problems in the ecosystem. This is a way to control population growth.
But – “let the mother go”, so that the species may not be wiped out completely. If you kill too many birds, what have you got? Snakes, scorpions, and everything else that the birdies eat.
So yes, go ahead and eat eggs and birds and control the population, but you still need to allow for a balanced ecosystem. God is wise.
What is the only explanation for this in the text? “…that it may go well with you, and that you may live long.” Keep that in mind as we continue our study.
Let’s look at a couple more principles in Proverbs.
Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.
Proverbs 12:10
Don’t be cruel. Take care of your cow or your donkey.
Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds, for riches do not last forever; and does a crown endure to all generations?
Proverbs 27:23-24
Why should you pay attention to the condition of your flocks? Because you’re preparing for the future. It’s as if someone were to say, “I don’t need to save money. I have a great job!” or “I don’t need to eat nutritious food, I’m healthy!” No – you should be thinking of the future, and preparing for it.
Let’s just stop at look at four principles that we can draw from our study so far:
We care for creation for the glory of God.
We care for creation to benefit people (quality and length of life).
Remember that phrase? “…that it may go well with you, and that you may live long.” So that the soil is productive, and so that our community is secure. These laws are very focused on human beings, the family, the community.
Take care of the garden, expand it, for food and – in a fallen world – medicine and general well-being.
You might have noticed something else. These are very local laws. In other words, you are especially responsible for yourself and your family.
This is a very interesting point. Now, of course, we have to admit that the world has changed a lot. Most of us don’t live on farms. And that raises a lot of other questions – like how should we be setting up our communities and our families? But I think that the Bible does emphasize for us the importance of our own geographical area, our own homes, our own community. Local responsibility.
So the next principle is:
We care for creation through local responsibility.
Finally, we have noted this supernatural element. God Himself blesses the earth.
We already discussed how God Himself cares for and sustains His creation. We’ve also learned that following wise principles tends to lead to abundance. This is simple logic. God has even more scientific knowledge than we do.
And so the fourth principle, obedience to God also brings blessing.
We care for creation through our general obedience to God.
This principle is all throughout Scripture, but here’s an example.
And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the LORD your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers. He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you. You shall be blessed above all peoples. There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock.
Deuteronomy 7:12-14
You might object that this is for Israel, not for us. You raise a good point. There are certainly special and specific promises in the Bible for the land of Israel. A covenant with a nation.
But I think there’s a universal principle here. Why?
Because we’re still talking about some of the same things we’ve been talking about since Genesis 1, things that apply to all humanity. Caring for the earth. Obeying God. Having children. “By his blessing they multiply greatly, and he does not let their livestock diminish” Psalm 107:38.
God is still in control of His creation. And yes, we have a certain amount of control over our environment. But many things happen on our planet and in our solar system that we simply cannot change.
We don’t have the same land promises as Israel had. And we all know that God chooses when we live, when we die, what sufferings we’ll go through. But He still sends us many physical blessings. He still sends physical judgements as well – and we suffer physical consequences if we are disobedient.
In reality, a couple of things are happening. First, the logical consequences of our actions. And it’s amazing how many things are connected together. Sometimes, ignoring the proper role of government, or not properly training our children, or sexual immorality, can have direct or indirect consequences when it comes to the environment.
But God may also choose to bring blessing or judgement to the earth – the planet – directly in answer to our actions.
Even before the Law of Moses, God said this to Cain:
The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength.
From Genesis 4:10-12
A connection between murder and the environment?
And again, before the Law of Moses, the nations in Canaan were condemned for their immorality. Here’s what God said about that:
Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.
Leviticus 18:24-25
The land, the land, the land “vomited out its inhabitants”.
And so this has led me to a surprising conclusion. What is the very best thing we can do to care for our planet? How should we celebrate Earth Day? Obey God’s Word. Not just the parts about the environment – all of it. General obedience.
Once again, we’re ending up at a very different place than the world ends up. I warned you!
But now that we have a biblical foundation, let’s take a look at some of the things that the world is promoting regarding the environment. What I found interesting about this is how so many themes from all of the Biblical Anthropology topics actually come together when we get into environmentalism. But we’ll get into that next time. 🙂
Actually, mixing with missionaries isn’t something that we do all that often! But as you saw from our newsletter, it’s been a bit of a theme in the early weeks of 2023.
We enjoyed, for example, a visit from two couples from the US who are part of our mission (at two different times). We had some fun time to hang out and chat.
We recently enjoyed some “cultural orientation” time in Mexico City, and, of course, some fellowship, with a missionary family who has been on the field for a few months (but I had not yet met them) (picture above). So we saw the sights and had some tacos, and then we all came back to worship with our church on Sunday.
A tradition has been “MK Camp” every spring, and this will likely be the last one for a while for Nathanael! We’re there right now. 🙂 Shari is the counsellor for the younger girls.
We’re in prayer for our church, and other churches in Mexico City, as this week is also a youth camp! Due to previously mentioned conflicts, we’re not there. But I’m sure they would appreciate it if you join us in prayer for the youth and the leaders and organizers. They’re there at a camp out of state until Saturday.
And then – Resurrection Sunday! If everyone coming back from all their camps is still awake to celebrate properly. We’re looking forward to the weekend, which gives us an extra reminder to meditate on and celebrate our God’s great work of salvation for us.
So a bit of a breather over the weekend before plunging into a few weeks of absolute chaos. But we won’t talk about that right now! Just stopping by because I realized I hadn’t updated you all for a while.
Last time we talked about the environment in Genesis 1 and 2 – at the beginning of creation, in a perfect world. But we all know that the world didn’t stay that way. So let’s move on to Genesis 3.
The basic history – the first man and woman rebelled against the Creator. And so God Himself placed His creation under a curse. Let’s see what God said…
To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Genesis 3:16-19
Notice what happens here. God’s purpose continues, but it is now under a curse. What has changed?
Purpose: “Be fruitful and multiply” – but now “in pain you shall bring forth children”
Purpose:“subdue [the earth], and have dominion” but now there is “enmity” (Gen 3:15 – speaking of the serpent, but this is part of the conflict between humans and their environment) and “cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life … By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread”
Purpose:“fill the earth” but now, all will die (return to dust)
Purpose: Humans were in the garden to “work it and keep it” – but now they would be expelled from Eden (Gen 3:23-24)
There is another major worldwide change that we need to look at – the Flood. Here’s what God tells the new “first family”:
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood…”
Genesis 9:1-4
Here’s a change – now people were allowed to eat meat as well as plants. It’s not wrong to kill an animal and eat it. But killing a human is entirely different. Why?
…And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image. And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.
Genesis 9:5-7
Murder and justice. And once again it is confirmed that we are to fill the earth. Later in the chapter, we learn that we can have families, confident that God is not about to send another worldwide flood.
So, we have some instructions. We also know that there is an even more basic purpose in the creation, as the Westminster Shorter Catechism correctly states: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
Romans 11:36
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31
So we need to keep some of these basics in mind as we look to see what else the Bible has to say about the environment. And I have to admit, I found some things that surprised me.
Let’s actually start at the end. We know that the creation is under a curse. But what does the end of our current history look like?
In Romans chapter 8, Paul is teaching that, although we’re already redeemed, we still suffer in this present world.
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Romans 8:20-23
Redemption is coming, glory and freedom, not just for us as believers, but for all of creation.
Let’s see what the Apostle Peter has to say. In his second epistle, Peter is talking about those who mock believers, denying that the final judgement is coming.
For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. … Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
2 Peter 3:5-7,11-13
And so, how will God renew His universe? He’s going to destroy it, and remake it. The final destruction of fire doesn’t appear to come from humans, but from the hand of God. And so in Revelation 21 we read “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…” (Rev 21:1).
All of this is temporary. The shirt I’m wearing is temporary too. But I’m still going to wash it and take care of it. But I understand that it has a temporary purpose.
In the meantime, God has promised to sustain the basic cycles of the earth. Yahweh says in Genesis 8:22, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”
Think about this carefully, because I’ve heard some confusion about this. This promise of God is not saying that the earth will never get warmer or cooler, or become polluted, or that there will never be any natural disasters, or that a species will never become extinct. This verse does not say that there will be no consequences if we do not care for the earth.
However, it does promise that God will sustain the general cycles of the earth and care for humanity in general. We don’t fear complete environmental destruction from human activity. We know how history will end.
Two important facts from Scripture: (1) God tells us to care for the earth. (2) God Himself cares for the earth, and also judges the earth, as its Sovereign King.
How exactly are we to care for the earth? Actually, the Bible gives us some very helpful guidance. We’ll dive into some specifics next time…
One of the first things that we learned in our Biblical Anthropology series was the concept of dependence. We were created as dependent beings – of course, the very fact that we were created means that we are in some way dependent.
And as human beings, we’re not only dependent on God, we also depend on one another, and on our environment in general.
And that’s why our next topic is “The Environment”. And it is, without a doubt, a very current topic. As was the case when I taught this series in Spanish, we are being inundated with news about the earth and climate change. When I first taught this series, the big news was COP26 – “the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties” – in Glasgow, Scotland.
But the truth is that most of us have grown up with environmentalism. Saving a species from extinction – climate change, pollution. It’s one of the great conversations of our generation.
And so we’re going to go to the Bible to study this issue. And as has been our custom, we’re going to start at the very beginning – Genesis 1. We started there at the beginning of our Biblical Anthropology series, and it feels like we’ve been hanging out there ever since!
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1
The source of everything – God Himself. And let’s remember what we learn in Colossians – “… by him [Christ, the Son] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible … in him all things hold together … in [him] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 1:16-17; Colossians 2:3).
Our Lord is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. All wisdom and knowledge is found in Him.
God created all things, and so all things belong to Him. God never sold off His rights to the universe. He didn’t lose everything in a bad investment. All things are His.
The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein…
Psalm 24:1
Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.
Job 41:11
And so let’s begin with the basics:
God created all things.
God sustains all things. (Everything ultimately depends on God.)
God owns all things.
God is sovereign over His creation.
God gives all things their purpose.
Remember when God created the first man and woman, He gave them this command:
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 1:28
We’ve talked before about this as the “Creation Mandate” (in our discussion of technology). And in the same chapter, we read about the original state of Creation:
And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Genesis 1:31
Now, moving on to chapter 2:
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
Genesis 2:15
All of this is part of the purpose that God gave to the first humans.
Now, before we go any further… the environment has been a matter of massive debate in our lifetimes, and of course the Church has been involved in that conversation. At times, unbelievers have accused Christians of not caring for the environment, of not being concerned about the earth.
We don’t like to be called bad people, and we don’t want conflict. And so very often the response has been something like this:
“Just look at what the Bible says in Genesis 1 and 2. These verses show that we should be administrators of our earth as Christians. We are indeed responsible to care for the environment. And so – we’re all on the same side, right?”
And we take a giant leap from Genesis 1 and 2 into everything that we are being told to do.
In fact, believe it or not, there’s a “Green Bible”. Listen to this promotional material for this edition:
The Green Bible will equip and encourage people to see God’s vision for creation and help them engage in the work of healing and sustaining it. With over 1,000 references to the earth in the Bible, compared to 490 references to heaven and 530 references to love, the Bible carries a powerful message for the earth. This Green-Letter edition of the Bible will highlight scriptures in green ink that teach about God’s care for creation and how God interacts with creation, in an effort to bring greater awareness to how this message is woven throughout the Old and New Testaments. Essays from leading conservationists and theologians on how to read the Bible through a ‘green lens’ as well as a green topical index and Green Bible trail guide for personal study will be paired with teachings throughout the ages to show people how caring for God’s creation is not only a calling, but a lifestyle.
The Green Bible (2010)
First of all, for those who have studied hermeneutics (Bible interpretation), this line “With over 1,000 references to the earth in the Bible, compared to 490 references to heaven and 530 references to love” will be recognized as absolutely horrible logic – counting up references (verses?) about something, out of context, and using that to measure relative importance (now we know that the earth is more important than love?) – ridiculous. Just – don’t buy this Bible.
But anyway, we’ve seen this general strategy before. Take a phrase from the Bible, out of context, such as “love your neighbour”. Next, redefine the words, and use the phrase to promote whatever the world wants to promote. And this creates a “false consensus”. In other words, it looks like everyone is in agreement – on a very surface level – when that is really not the case.
I was at the gas station and someone came up to my window to show me their absolutely marvellous product. And sadly for them, I wasn’t interested. And so she said, “Don’t you like free gifts?”
“Not today, thanks.”
“Don’t you care about the environment?”
“Um… thanks….”
Now of course, if she really wanted to give me free gifts with which I could save the world, I guess I should have paid a lot more attention! But I have a feeling that there was a little more to it than that! 🙂
Yes, we have a lot of agreement with many who are not believers. Yes, as we’re going to see, we can work together – believers and unbelievers – to care for the planet. However, as we’ve seen throughout our study, very often our points of agreement are somewhat superficial. Look at the five absolutely basic fundamental truths that we have already looked at today – how many of these would an unbeliever accept?
And so we’re not going to simply appeal to Genesis 1 and 2 to include all the current ideas about climate change and conservation – we need to go a little deeper.
We’ve started with a look at the world in its perfect state, and God’s first commands. But we know that the world didn’t stay that way. So next time let’s look at the Bible’s teaching about the world after the Fall…
Ten years ago today we had a major children’s event in the community of Jesús María! Cookie decorating and egg dying on a grand scale – about 150 people involved. This is only one of many tables set up for the kids (click the image for a larger image):
Now you may notice that everyone was rather bundled up! March is one of the warmest months here… normally. But in 2013, it was cold, getting down below freezing.
The good thing was that there was a lot of snow on the volcanoes, so I got some excellent pictures! It was a beautiful view that year.
