Why Christians Should Care About Environmental Issues

 Hiya everyone! Happy Earthday!! Right now in New Zealand it is April 22 which is Earthday (and my niece’s 2nd birthday ❤️)!

Recently I took two classes: God and Nature I & II which part one of the class was one week while the other part was week 2! The class is about Christians role in creation care, the scientific community, and being a Christian communities in general but with a creation care emphasis! Which this has been one of my favorite classes so far because we explore God’s call to his people to care for creation and all who are in it! Which is such an amazing call we humans have! So below this introduction is my paper I wrote for my week 2 class! I had a 4 page limit so I tried to make it as concise as possible. I’m aware that this may ring up controversy for those who read it but it’s not meant to. I simply want to drive home the fact that humans are not apart from the earth but dwell in it with other creatures and places thus should care for it! Also this is my first time writing an essay about this subject so I hope to improve in my writing and articulation! So please enjoy this first draft!

If you don’t seem to agree I would encourage you to pray about it & read more theology or biblical scriptures about this subject before you shut it down. I am also open to more emails or conversations around this subject! Again I do not claim to know everything and I probably never will but this is a topic that God has placed on my heart to share with others. I’ve ended these classes and I’ve never heard God say so loudly “you can’t stay quiet anymore”.

Here’s my heart recently ❤️ Thank you all for taking the time to read it! (Also there are probably grammar and spelling errors once again ha)

Why Christians Should Care About Environmental Issues

​“No, the coral reefs aren’t bleaching because of the ocean warming, it’s because of sunscreen use in the ocean” my high school history teacher retorted at me after I finished my amateur science research presentation as a 17-year-old. I remember nodding listening to her explain her reasons as to why climate change was not occurring and, in that instance, I wanted to refute back to her, but I didn’t know how. I saw the figures, made by NOAA and other peer reviewed science, right in front me and a crowd of proclaiming Christians but no one seemed alarmed. Some in the room didn’t even seem to care. It seemed to be a reoccurring trend to Christians as I continued my undergraduate degree that Christians do not engage in “environmental issues”. But as Christians shouldn’t we care about earth God created?

​When I entered college, I was confronted with numerous “environmental issues” like biodiversity loss, aquifer depletion, climate change, erosion, food scarcity, and so many more that I was unaware of. After learning about this subject matter, I quickly went to talk to people about the weight of the issues and I became aware of how many Christians shut me down. My whole life faith was about saving ourselves and other people but what about life on Earth? Why would people of such strong faith ignore the call to care for creation?

​Well, there are many reasons as to why a Christ follower should be an earth keeper, these reasons being from the Bible. As Christians we would say that our faith is rooted in God’s word, and it is where we derive how we should live within this world right? To be a Christian we must also interpret scripture correctly from its original intent and in doing so we understand God’s word the way he intended it. So, reading scripture with correct interpretations, if we go back to Genesis 1, we see that God created the world which we deem the creation story. The first three days of creation God makes the habitat where life lives like day, night, land, seas, sky. Days four through six is where God creates vegetation, light, creatures of the sea and land. On the sixth day we see that land creatures were created including livestock, creatures that move on the ground, and humans. In Genesis 1:27 one of the greatest commands “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” God creates humans to be in his image, which means to reflect the nature of God. Verse 28 states, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground”. This verse directly sets human beings apart from the rest of creation because of the call to rule over. Which is such an amazing role that we humans have that God chose us to bear his image and rule. That role also comes with some heavy weight.

​When going back to these verses when being taught what it means to be a Christian earth keeper, I met two Biblical scholars and read their books that beautifully lay out this call in much more precision than I am at the moment. These two books have been a great guide for me as I continue to explain creation care they include Steven Bouma-Prediger’s For the Beauty of the Earth and Douglas and Jonathan Moo’s Creation Care: Biblical Theology of the Natural World. Both highlight various biblical texts including the Genesis narrative where God sees humans and creation living in tandem. Moo writes, “To be human is to be known and loved by God as his image bearers, and we are intended to reflect that love as we reflect his image and rule in the community of his creation” (p.75 Moo & Moo 2018). But many times, we take the word “subdue” from Genesis 1:28 in on our interpretation. If we go to Psalm 72, we see what it means to be ruler that would subdue its people. Rulers and kings subdue but, in this passage, we see that God calls his rulers to bring shalom and to serve (p. 64 Bouma- Prediger). This is not a call to use the world God gave for our own instrumental uses. While Jesus was on earth, he was a servant the ultimate king and ruler (although many didn’t know it at the time). Wendell Berry, in regard to Genesis 1:28 writes, “The ecological teaching of the Bible is simply inescapable: God made the world because he wanted it made. He thinks the world is good, and He loves it. It is his world” (Berry 1990). Which leads me to my next point, God created the world out of joy.

​Psalm 104 is classic example of seeing God’s creation for what it truly is for, God. In this chapter the psalmist is praising the Lord for what he sees. Some of my favorite verses are 24-26 which say, “How many are your works, Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number – living things both large and small. There ships go to and fro, and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.” What a beautiful image of someone praising the Lord for what creation is – God’s creation. God creates a world full of creatures that are all diverse. God intends for a world filled with non-human creatures that simply bring praise back to Him. In verse 26 we see that Leviathan is made to frolic and God delights in that. Leviathan may not be of any direct “use” to humans living around it and that is not God’s intent for it. God created much if not most of his non-human creation for its intrinsic value – to praise him. This is the way we need to see non-human life today. That an American Robin my backyard has nothing to give to me, but it still praises the Lord without ceasing. It is also my call to serve this robin and to not harm it. The most compelling thing about God and His non- human creation is that this relationship is not broken from the fall. We humans are the only creatures made in Genesis one and two that have a broken relationship with the Lord because of our sin. This sin translates to our broken relationship with the rest of creation too and how we tend to exploit it. But again, we have hope as we read again in scripture that this relationship can once be fully restored with the Lord. While we are on Earth, we are called to love God, love people, and love creation. Which many times these are all connected to one another.

​Many refutes I get from fellow believers is that this study or purse of earth keeping does not compare to the people who are suffering around the globe. Which I do not want to minimize issues like racism, poverty, health issues, and food scarcity. In many of these ways these issues go hand in hand with ecological issues as well. There are issues that are multifaceted that God calls his image bearers to fight for. All of creation is connected and all of it groans. Which is heartbreaking when I hear statistics like if all hungry people were shoulder to shoulder in a line, they would be a line around the equator thirteen times (p. 27 Bouma-Prediger). Yeah, that made my heart sink to my gut too. Then there is unclean water that impact families around the globe and 50% of these families do not have access to clean water (p.36 Bouma-Prediger). Then we get to issues of waste and that in the United States an average citizen throws away sixty-two tons of garbage over a 75-year lifetime (p.39 Bouma- Prediger). Hearing that statistic made feel ashamed that I could possiblyconsume this much in my lifetime, but I got to questioning where waste goes. Well waste doesn’t just disappear; it is not out of sight out of mind. It accumulates in other places around the world or in larger garbage patches that float in the ocean. Our actions wherever we are impact another part of the world which tends to be a lower income area. How is throwing waste in another area or having factories that pollute air of lower income areas loving thy neighbor?

​Another basic reason as to why Christians should care about environmental issues is that God calls us to love our neighbors (Matthew 22:39). This is one of our main calls as a Christian and loving our neighbors usually attaches itself to social justice issues which is wonderful because Jesus was one of the biggest social justice fighters in the world. If we think about it wouldn’t loving our neighbors mean preserving the land that our neighbors reside in? I believe loving our neighbors does connect ourselves to fighting for these issues as well polluting water ways that will affect our neighbors downstream. One thing I have come to realize is that God created everyone in his image even those who live across the globe and cannot speak up for injustices themselves. Their problems or issues should be ours too if we truly live out God’s call to be in the body of Christ. This includes creating policy changes in the government that benefit those who have a lesser voice in our world. This even means understanding climate changes impact on ocean warming even if we live in a landlocked area.

​Many of these issues also seem to be ignored by people of the Christian faith because many of them are attached to political parties. Oh yes, I am indeed going down this route. Being involved in our government locally to nationally is amazing and is such a privilege we have as a democratic nation. It makes me thrilled that we have people going into law or political science as a Christian because many of these issues I have explained need to be addressed here too. But when it comes to “environmental issues” Christians turn away from it because it is seen as a democratic party issue. I am aware that Christians are on either side of the political parties, but many tend to put them in the republican right section because of our core beliefs. What I want to encourage everyone is that – our identity is not found in our political party. As Christians we should be politically homeless because both sides are sinful and do not reflect Jesus the way Jesus does. Our kingdom is found in God and our lives should be lived as an image bearer of him not the president of the United States. Caring for what God calls us to care for may be in an opposite party that you may align with and that’s okay. Fighting for creation care or “environmental issues” does not make an individual a liberal or democrat or a hippie (all things I have personally been called). Caring for creation simply means you are caring for the Earth God created. Humans are a part of creation and are called to care for it and enjoy it the way God intended us to.

​If we think about human life on this planet, we have relied on the environment around us. Biologically we need plants to take our CO2 waste to make oxygen as a byproduct. We need rice fields, oceans, fish, glaciers, phytoplankton, and even spiders to survive. So why not protect these living and non-living systems that need one another to live. Many ways we can protect creation can be simple and some require time commitment. In my attempt to live caring for creation I try to do a multitude of things to help our planet like using less single use plastic that is unnecessary and ends up in the landfills. I bring reusable grocery bags to the store which is also helpful for carrying more groceries too fun fact. There are many things that are caring for creation that I didn’t think of before that my parents taught me. Every Christmas my sisters and I would receive gifts and immediately after my dad would make us go in our closets to donate things we do not use anymore. This small step made me be conscious about how much I am consuming. As a kid we would go on bike rides to close places in town and we would carpool to sports events or places out of town. Many of these actions saved us money as well. Another super fun way is to grow your own produce in a garden. So many people do this already, but it is such a good way to make your own food each year and honestly connects you to the Earth around you. There are so many ways to care for the planet, but big societal and governmental actions need to take place as well. We have to be active in our voting for leaders that will fight these issues firsthand. We also need to continue to talk about the Christian call to be earth keepers and to teach it in our classrooms. Lastly, we must pray that the Lord would continue to work in our lives and that we may be true image bearers to him. I would ask all who read this to pray about what I’ve said and to pray that we may be Christ-followers that truly reflect His image to the rest of the world.

​For as much as I could I wanted to be outdoors as a kid, and I grew into loving science it drew me out more. Who doesn’t like the outdoors or at least aspects of it?Some of my core memories in life were going camping each summer as a kid and biking around my local trails. We all have areas or aspects of God’s creation we love. Imagine that place it could be a simple as your backyard garden or big as the Rocky Mountains and think would God find joy in this? I think He does. As a twenty-two-year-old I have much more life to experience Lord willing and I want to see a place where Christians can care for creation the way God intended us to. I want to get older and see my future children or nieces and nephews be able to experience the natural world even better than I had. I will continue to not be silent about this call God has for his people and continue to do my best to restore the world He gave us. And I haven’t said all these things to try and undermine our God because He alone has the power to save the world. We do not have the power to change hearts of people, we don’t have that capability. We do have the capability to do what God calls us to do – be image-bearers and to love our neighbors. We must bring hope to a world full of despair.

-April Van Tol -