Creation Care
My recent camping/fishing Sierra trip stunned me with the natural beauty and how it all fits together—again. Funny how each trip does that. Mid October revealed the glory of golden aspen with the contrasting cedars and Ponderosa pines, the life-sheltering and beautiful streams, the awe-inspiring Milky Way at night. But heading home showed all isn’t well on Planet Earth.
Lone Pine Creek was a small trickle, maybe 1/5 of normal. Traffic jams slowed me down on both 395 and I-15. That night I stepped out to get something from the F150, and saw maybe six stars—in 1988 when we moved there, the Milky Way gleamed every clear night. We’re seeing more frequent and more strong storms, while other parts of our country face long droughts.
With the first five stages of creation, God pronounced them “good,” then in stage six with the creation of man he claimed this was “very good.” He gave us the earth to meet our needs and told us to take care of it in Genesis 2:15. I wonder, why would the very good damage the good? Let me share three foundational truths.
1 The climate is changing. We may disagree over what role mankind has played, but it is.
2 Humans play a significant role. Associated Press on 10/24/22 compiled evidence for this in an article “Climate Questions: How do we know humans triggered global warming?” Here’s the link, https://apnews.com/article/science-climate-and-environment-099266b36d6e637d405dead6f0914a0f, and their conclusion, “Over the last century or so, there’s more carbon-12 in the atmosphere compared to carbon-13 and less carbon-14 in recent decades, according to NOAA. Carbon-12 is essentially fossil carbon from long ago, as in fossil fuels. So the change in the ratio of carbon-12 to carbon-13 tells scientists the carbon in the air is more from burning fossil fuels than natural carbon… That’s the fingerprint of burning coal, oil and natural gas.” I encourage you to read the entire article, it’s quite persuasive.
3 We can do something. Back in SoCal in the 50s and 60s, our air was a foul brown witch’s brew—several of my cross country meets had to be cancelled for health reasons. My college roommate from Sacramento never knew mountains surrounded…until our first rain storm. But we addressed the issue, and we can again see the mountains and breathe deeply. We can address this issue too, for God’s sake. For our children’s and grandchildren’s sake.
I’m not as concerned about the specifics, they can be worked, but I suggest that we who follow Jesus view this as a spiritual issue, not a financial one. While we have the use of the earth, it belongs to Him, “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters” (Psalm 24:1-2). I still must fight resentment at a management company that took poor care of our house when we rented it out. How must God feel? Pretty clear, isn’t it? He gave us the use of the earth, our job is to take care of it so it can meet our needs as we honor the giver.
Kick Starting the Application
What has been your position on the reality of climate change? If you read the AP link, how did it impact you? Do you see this as a spiritual issue? Why or why not? What will What action will you take of God’s earth?
