While I hope to appeal to every person, I have a special goal of reaching Christians with my message of backyard conservation. Domicile Ecophile is certainly not an attempt to convert non-Christians nor is it an attempt in any way to convince non-Christians of Christian morals or doctrine. I do not seek to be divisive in any way. I do however, hope that Domicile Ecophile can help Christians see the connection between ecology and God's will and I hope that non-Christians will accept the occasional Christian-centered post with the understanding that I am trying to win more people to the causes of ecology.
Christians in American have traditionally been more interested in other voting issues and often side with conservative politicians who are not champions of the environment. I don't think that Christians are against environmentalism, but I believe we prioritize other issues and vote according to them. While I do not think that environmental issues should trump "human" issues, I don't believe that we have the right to ignore them either. I hope Domicile Ecophile will help Christians see the importance environmentalism has in our Christian worldview. In a sense, this is an ecologist's outreach to Christians!
So let's get down to business: What is the connection between the environment and scripture? The most basic answer is the first verse of the Old Testament, Genesis 1:1. The verse reads, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." The most basic argument is that the Earth belongs to God. We are tenants on the earth and just like any landlord, our land-Lord expects that we will take reasonable care of our accommodations because these accommodations do not belong to us, they belong to Him. This is why I for one get so deeply irked when I see native ecosystems being destroyed and abused. Intact ecosystems are intricate, self-balancing systems that God has created to help sustain life on Earth and we contribute to the destruction of those systems with our taste for exotic plants and unsustainable consumer habits.
The rest of Genesis 1 tells an amazing story. It doesn't matter if you accept evolution or not. It doesn't matter if you are a young-earth or old-earth advocate. It doesn't matter if the verses are literal or symbolic. No matter what your stance, the fact of the matter is that the chapter lays out the care and detail God put into building a system, not just a static dwelling, but a self-balancing system with millions of individual components that interact and work together to sustain life. When you consider the intricate detail put into Creation the idea of degrading it becomes increasingly tragic.
Verse 1:26 is particularly telling and, in my opinion, amazing. It reads, "Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground" (NIV). Notice, the verse says that we are made in God's image so that we may rule the earth! It doesn't say we are made in His image so that we may have His character or even know Him. It says we are made in his likeness so that we may rule the earth in the same manner He rules everything. It's conviction time Christian homeowner: Do you know and care for your backyard dominion the way God knows and cares for His Creation, which includes you and all the people in it? "Not quite," you say? Well this is the very purpose for which you were made in His image.
Before the disciples, before the nation of Israel, and even before salvation or sin itself, there was God's desire that we manage, care for, and take care of the earth. But are these principles still in effect in the New Testament? I refer you to some difficult verses in Romans 8 for the answer. Paul here writes about the condition of creation as a result of the curse of sin. Christians are well acquainted with what the Bible says about the condition of people as a result of sin, but not so much when it comes to the condition of the earth itself. Verses 20 and 21 say that "Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay." Here we see that creation itself will share in the redemption of salvation just like God's children.
I will be the first to admit these are difficult verses and Paul is well known for making statements that are challenging to grasp. Despite this, the fact that the earth will share in salvation in some way should be a strong indication that creation, including the earth on which we live, is very important to God. The full meaning of these verses is too complex to explore here right now, but I hope readers will appreciate the significance of creation to God, even in the paradigms of the New Testament.
For my Catholic friends out there I would also like to add some commentary from our current pontiff, Pope Francis. In May he gave a speech about our treatment of the earth. Among other things the pope said, "But when we exploit Creation we destroy the sign of God’s love for us, in destroying Creation we are saying to God: ‘I don’t like it! This is not good!’ ‘So what do you like?’ ‘I like myself!’ – Here, this is sin! Do you see?" I concur. You may read more about this speech by following this link.
To conclude, the Bible is clear: The earth is part of God's intricate creation and He cares for it very much. He purposed us with its care and proper management and He made us in His image so that we might accomplish that purpose. It's time we started to see the care of the earth as a moral mandate from God and the abuse of the earth as a sin. We need to start thinking about the sustainability of our consumer habits, the way we use land and ecosystems, and the way we manage our home properties which are our own local fiefdoms over which God has given us authority. The first step is to learn more about how we impact the earth with our individual actions and how we can make individual changes that can contribute to healthy ecosystems. My mission is to enable anyone willing to make those changes by providing how-to's, information, and examples centered around landscaping and backyard ecology. It's just a small part of a much bigger picture but I hope to make a difference by doing this one thing well. This is Domicile Ecophile.
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