In honor/spite of Earth Day...

[TJ Clayton]

Hey guys, I know Earth Day was yesterday but I was too busy to start this discussion. I was just interested in hearing other peoples' opinions on the relationship between Christianity and the Earth. Obviously we don't advocate worshipping the Earth. But I've heard pretty good arguments for why we as Christians should be environmentalists: "The Earth is a gift from God and we're mandated to take care of it." I've also hear arguments against it: "The Earth is going to be destroyed and there's no sense in taking care of it." So, should we recycle? Should we care? She we put all of that energy towards more important things? What's your opinion?

[Keith Underwood]

I'm from the old school of thought, "Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute", but I fall far short of believing that our use of two-ply toilet paper will wipe the rain forest off the face of the planet. (Okay, bad pun.) I think of the earth as a resource that God gave for our use, not unlike money. As Christians we beleive that all of it belongs to God, but he has given us stewardship over it. Money is a tool that God allows for us to use, but we are warned that the "love of mammon" is the root of all evil. How different is the love and worship of the earth in God's eyes? Protect it, guard it, preserve it, dedicate it to the Lord - don't worhip it.

On a related note, Shawn Wood from Seacoast Church is heading up a great opportunity to help provide clean water to folks around the world. Take a look at his website and follow on Twitter - Good Stuff! http://www.5daysinmay.com/

[TJ Clayton]

Good analogy between the Earth and money. Be a good steward of it but don't worship it. I like it. I'm a middle of the road guy myself. We recycle, but I'm not a full-fledge environmentalist. I'm interested in seeing what other people think about the subject. There is a big green movement even within Christianity. I kinda like it.

[Keith Underwood]

Yea, as right winged as I may appear I have been known to grab a trash bag and walk the green areas of our neighborhood cleaning up the trash that blew in overnight. If you take a look in my garage it looks like I never throw anything away, "I might need that for something later...", I'm kind of a recycler. I have problem catching onto the "green movement" because many folks aligned there are creation worhipers. I guess it makes sense to be conservationist because of our domain of the earth, but environmentalism as a whole is more of a pseudo-political movement rather than a real attempt to save the planet. If you ever listen to Rick and Bubba's radio show, they have a T-shirt for sale that says, "Go green with Rick and Bubba - Hunt, Fish, and Enjoy God's Creation!"