I saw the most incredible red winged blackbird sitting on a sign by the TN31 => TN41 interchange while driving in to work this morning. And of all the times to be running late AND not have a camera. God is good. His creation is incredible.
Speaking of creation, Brent (College pastor, NFCN.org) had one of the Vandy grad students give the lesson last night. He spoke about how we as Christians (at least here in the U.S.) compartmentalize life into the sacred and the secular, and therefore put certain issues such as the environment very low on the list of priorities. He explained a lot of the approaches that people take to mobilize about improving the environment/conservation in the church, and how very few of these methods will last, until people realize that their salvation is connected with how they treat the environment. It's not just about their soul, it's about redeeming everything around them from a lost and imperfect state. This includes the lost, fallen, poor, abused, and needy, as well as the polluted soil, rivers, and to bring up his favorite example, the scarlet beetle.
I am so grateful to my parents for having raised me to think this way already.
I think another large influence on why Christians don't spend as much time thinking about the environment is because it's become a political issue, and they don't want to be associated with those crazy liberals. When I went to Radnor Lake a couple days ago, I saw a woodpecker about the size of a pigeon massacring a hollow log that had fallen to the ground. I've never seen one so big or so close. Pretty amazing.
ReplyDeleteRight, but you see, religion and politics DO mix--all Republicans are Christians, and all Christians are Republicans. So Republicans are right because they focus on abortion and same-sex marriage, while Democrats are wrong even if they DO focus on the environment.
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