Following on last night’s beginning discussion of the Biblical teaching about the coming new heavens and earth, here’s some thoughts from Thomas Oden to answer this question:
Does the Biblical teaching that the present earth will be done away with and remade lead Christians to mistreat the environment as they live their lives now?
Answer:
Believers do not simply pray for destruction, but the restoration of God’s will in creation.
The earth was not simply demolished or destroyed in substance by the flood, but renewed with a rainbow promise. Similarly but on a more grand scale, “this world in its present form is passing away” (1 Corinthians 7:31) to make way for cleansing and a new setting-in-order (Romans 8:19-22; Revelation 21:1).
Yet this renovation requires a complete negation of all that has gone awry, not merely a rearranging of its present broken qualities (Psalm 102:26-27; Isaiah 51:6; Matthew 24:35, 2 Peter 3:7, 10, 12). The scriptural metaphors here are “vanish like smoke,” “be dissolved,” “melt,” “burn,” “pass away,” and “be no more”.
Is there something ecologically dangerous in the idea that the world is transitory? The answer is yes, if one systematically forgets that the transitory is also profoundly valuable, and the gift of God the Creator, given for human stewardship. But such forgetfullness would be a grotesque distortion of the intention of the Christian doctrine of creation.
— from Classic Christianity by Thomas C. Oden (p. 820-821)
Any responses?
Can you elaborate on what Oden means when he says that “the transitory is also profoundly valuable”?
Hey Donny! We’ll miss your violin at Christmas…
Anyway, Good question. When Oden says: “Is there something ecologically dangerous in the idea that the world is transitory? The answer is yes, if one systematically forgets that the transitory is also profoundly valuable, and the gift of God the Creator, given for human stewardship.” His point is that the fact that the world in its present state is not going to last forever does not empty it of meaning or significance. As a creation of God it is valuable because he made it. As a gift of God to us it is valuable because he gave it. As the context he gave us to live in and glorify him in it is valuable because we need it and use it as a theater to show his goodness. So the fact that it won’t last forever says nothing about its value. The parallel here would be our own bodies. In their present state they will not last forever–the vast majority of them die and decay. But that doesn’t make them any less sacred or valuable—we are made in the image of God, body and Spirit, and all of that image is valuable. Does that help?
Yeah! That makes sense. I am a Geography/Environmental Studies major and I was literally wondering about this issue the same day I saw this post. But the question I was wondering for myself was more along the lines of “How can a Christian be an environmentalist/conservationist? Why try to resuscitate a dying world? How can I serve God that way?”
But framing the issue in context of our bodies is a really helpful way to look at it. So the conclusion I came to after reading your response was: just like physicians can serve God by caring for our decaying bodies, environmentalists and conservationists can serve God by caring for the Earth. <–Is that valid?
Donny, great stuff. I think my answer is, “yes.” But I’m going to post more on this today…