“And God saw that it was good.” — Genesis 1:25.

Genesis 1 records the unfolding of God’s creative activity, and one thing that is clear from the text is that God was pleased with what he had made. Genesis states that the world was good even before the creation of humans, which is recorded starting in verse 26. This means that the creation has intrinsic value, even apart from the presence of humans.

God, however, did not stop there. God went on to create the first humans, male and female, commissioned them to rule the Earth, and then upped his assessment to “it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). That goodness has since been marred by human sin, and it seems to some that we humans are a cancer on the Earth rather than a blessing. There is an element of truth in this, though it would be better to say that it is human sin that is the cancer.

I have written several articles over the years on the relationship between Christianity and the environment. Here are a few of my favorites:

Earth Day 2014 — Conservative environmentalism — seeking balance — The attitude of some free market conservatives towards the environment is not all that different than the perspective that was held by leadership of 20th century communist states.

GeoScriptures — Genesis 1:20-22 — The goodness and fruitfulness of the creation — Earth Day 2013 — The living world was also created to be fruitful and multiply. How are we to live in response to this?

Young-Earth creationism, paganism, Earth Day, and 20 questions — Also posted on Earth Day 2013. My twenty questions included:

• Is Earth Day an opportunity for Christians to serve and witness, or a pagan and secular holiday that is inherently anti-Christian?
• What are ways that a Christian could participate in a community Earth Day fair?
• Is wilderness a good thing, or something to be brought actively under human dominion?
• Will the Earth be destroyed or renewed when Christ returns?

Earth Day 2008 — Stewardship of the Environment — A very brief look at the Chicago Statement on Biblical Application, produced by the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy. I wrote, “Many in the environmentalist movement deny or minimize the value of humans. May we in the Christian community not go to the other extreme, only giving lip service to the value of the creation.”

Crunchy Con Environmentalism — A few quotes from the book Crunchy Cons, written by Rod Dreher. It seems that no one in what passes for conservatism in America pays much attention any longer to what Dreher had to say.

This is true about the environment as well. Technology and wealth have given mankind dominion over nature unparalleled in human history. Everything in the tradition of conservatism—especially in traditional religious thought—warns against misusing that authority. Yet the conservative movement has become so infatuated with the free market and human potential that we lose sight of what Matthew [Scully] described as our conservative belief “in man as a fundamentally moral and not merely economic actor, a creature accountable to reason and conscience and not driven by whim or appetite.” If we lose our ability to see nature with moral vision, we become less human, and more like beasts.

Pollution and the Death of Man — Quotes from a great little book from theologian and apologist Francis Schaeffer. Unfortunately, this book, too, has been largely ignored by most in the conservative movement.

Much orthodoxy, much evangelical Christianity, is rooted in a Platonic concept. In this kind of Christianity there is only interest in the “upper story,” in the heavenly things—only in “saving the soul” and getting it to Heaven…. There is little or no interest in the proper pleasure of the body or the proper uses of the intellect…. Nature has become merely an academic proof of the existence of the Creator, with little value in itself. Christians of this outlook do not show an interest in nature itself.

“I looked at the Christian community and saw ugliness” — A powerful little story from Francis Schaeffer. I quoted Schaeffer, and then asked, “What do ‘pagans’ see when they look at us? Do they see people who place value on the creation and its creatures because God places value on them? Do they see people who use the Earth’s resources wisely because God has called them to be good stewards? Do they see people who create or people who destroy? Do they see people who live in contentment or people who are caught up in the destructive consumerism of our society?”

Grace and Peace