Christianity and Environmentalism

[ericadawn16]

I'm always pissed when people claim that environmentalism is not part of Christianity.

Here are some reasons:




“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” (Genesis 2:15)


“Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet?” (Ezekiel 34:17-18)


“The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; with me you are but aliens and tenants. Throughout the land that you hold, you shall provide for the redemption of the land.” (Leviticus 25:23-24)


“You must keep my decrees and my laws…. And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you.” (Leviticus 18:26, 28)


“You shall not pollute the land in which you live…. You shall not defile the land in which you live, in which I also dwell; for I the LORD dwell among the Israelites.” (Numbers 35:33-34)


“If you besiege a town for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, you must not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them. Although you may take food from them, you must not cut them down. Are trees in the field human beings that they should come under siege from you?” (Deuteronomy 20:19)


“I brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruits and its good things. But when you entered you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination.” (Jeremiah 2:7)

Come on, that Deuteronomy even places trees as MORE IMPORTANT than people!

Comments

[mercystars.livejournal.com]

i've always said 'stewards of the earth' does not equal 'treat god's creation as your own personal sewer', and i don't understand how anyone could misinterpret that message in genesis. nor do i understand how ravaging the land DOESN'T dishonor/disgrace/disgust the god who made it/gave it to us in the first place.

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

[imweirdlikethat.livejournal.com]

"Love thy neighbor" is also a big part of Christianity, but unfortunately, most Christians are just fireballs of hate right now over every political issue and give religion the worst rep ever. :/

[jackdavfan692.livejournal.com]

Indeed they have :/. The radical right-wing evangelical segment of them, anyway :[. Hypocritical much :\?

[imweirdlikethat.livejournal.com]

lol, was waiting for that. :P I'm just tired of trying to find a decent, logical christian and instead getting my high school religion teacher telling us that harry potter is the devil and us ladies have to be totally subservient to our husbands because that's what the bible says, or leaving church and seeing "marriage = man + woman" bumper stickers, etc. I know not everyone is like that, but it's disheartening when you can't find any alternatives.

Really wish I still had my famiily guy "bible fight!" icon for this post... :P

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

Have you ever watched any of Bill Moyers' programs? I especialy recommend his new one, Moyers & Company.

Here's the link:
http://billmoyers.com/ (http://billmoyers.com/)

[amerally.livejournal.com]

Amen, Sister!

[surreal-44.livejournal.com]

So are you using the Bible to defend your point of view? Because that gets really tricky, you know. :p

[jackdavfan692.livejournal.com]

Great verses =)! I don't think I've ever seen any of them, only those like the one mercystars referenced. I took a course on Nature and religion at the first college I went to, but if I remember correctly, the one saying that humans were to act as stewards of the planet was the only one whose meaning we pondered & discussed at any great length. Though the prof did describe to us this theory of, I think, the "deep ecology" movement that there were actually eleven, not ten, commandments, and one of those was that humanity must use the environment well and take care of it, or we'd be punished.

[blaze7the7cat.livejournal.com]

Christians are the biggest hypocrites of them all...

[twhitesakura.livejournal.com]

Not very familiar with Christian scripture, but lovely quotes! ^^

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

Yes, they are.