A Time of Great Travail
The Bible uses the analogy of the birthing process to describe events as history of the present earth draws to a close. Apparently there are those among my Christian brethren who believe that the more pain the woman has, the better.
The lack of environmental concern to the point of abetting the process of resource abuse (and the social evils that go with it) is characteristic of the end-times vision of a large body of conservative Christians. They see "nation against nation" and "brother against brother" and the death of one third part of the sea as apocalyptic warning signs to be welcomed, or at least ignored, so as to hasten the second coming of Christ.
I'm not sure how pervasive this Biblical interpretation is. The popular info-channels (for example, Bill Moyers recent condemnation of this anti-stewardship mentality) increasingly report this phenomenon, and it seems there are grounds to the claims (See "The Godly Must Be Crazy"). The environmental reversals and haughty disregard for the future so prominent in the current administration's policies certainly gives credance to the charges of Moyers and others.
I fear the tendency of the general unchurched public to paint with too broad a brush to taint all of Christendom with this doctrine. Not all evangelical Christians hold to this view by any means, although the proportion I am afraid is quite high among those who voted the current administration back into office. But there are others who also hold to the idea that God's kingdom will ultimately come on earth. They share the understanding that there will be increasing disorder and decreasing charity in the working out of history, as is alluded to in many places in both Old and New Testaments (not just in Revelations, as often misconstrued.) But as this unfolds over years, centuries or millenia, this latter group of Christians see themselves as responsible stewards who are to be "salt and light" in a fallen world to the very end, not irritants and catalysts here to throw gasoline on the fire.
As antidote to the appaling disregard for earth-care among this increasingly visible and politically powerful subgroup of Christians, I remember the Evangelical Environmental Network, whose declaration I read some years ago. There is a long list of prominent supporters, both Republican and Democrats among them, I am sure, and this gives me hope. Surely those of us who believe that God so loved the world will not let it be sacrificed to feed corporate greed or satisfy the apocalyptic lusts of the few.
Comments
Fred, thank you, thank you for trying to tackle these distinctions. I feel dismayed, angry, and really worried about the issues you bring up here. One problem is the strident voice of the Apocalypse Now folks vs. the deafening silence of those who see the Kingdom of God unfolding in quite a different way, through human responsibility. So I guess that means we have to talk louder - like you are doing here.
Posted by: beth | December 30, 2004 10:02 AM
Hey, Fred, could you approve me or whatever so my "remember me" thingy will actually work?
Yes! to bringing up these issues. Yes, especially to Christians who don't want to be counted with the narrow-minded, the uncompassionate, the judgers and disapprovers. I don't get how they can talk about this End Time stuff and not remember about the story of stewardship and talents from their own Bible. God gives us gifts to DEVELOP, not to squander. One of the gifts we have is the pure-dee chance to be born in the richest country in the world, at a time of great prosperity and comfort, with a large quantity of educated and intelligent minds that could serve as inspiration and guides to an even GREATER stewardship of the planet.
Posted by: trish | December 30, 2004 2:03 PM
Fred, species extinction, cataclysmic climate change and massive habitat degradation is clearly evident in the fossil/geological record eons before the Eolithic Age. So I am curious, how as a biologist do you reconcile science with your last sentence.
Posted by: Feste | December 30, 2004 5:33 PM
Surely you jest.
Do you think the decisions to reverse gas mileage requirements, annul clean air standards, abstain from the Kyoto agreement, exploit minimally-productive oil resources in wilderness areas....the list is too very long...were not made with shareholder earnings a higher priority than the well-being of those who come along in a future administration?
Apparently, like James Watt before them, this group of Christians interpret the signs of the times to tell them to grab the brass ring, make God proud, outcompete the trodden masses by selling off what is left of the world and to hell with the future. Why conserve when there's money to be made and God will just make more (clean water and air, food, energy) when Jesus returns.
Of course no one would debate the absense of extinction or climate change in the past. But fewer and fewer scientists attempt to dismiss the role our unprecedented release of carbon and heat are making on global climate; and the ones who reject the growing mass of data usually have a vested interest in business as usual.
Posted by: fred1st | December 30, 2004 5:50 PM
Hear, hear!
And Fred, can you "remember me" too?
Posted by: beth | December 31, 2004 9:28 AM
Well said, Fred.
Posted by: andy | December 31, 2004 5:17 PM
Fred,
This is somewhat tangential but related. You might want to check into these books for some insightful writing by biblically orthodox evangelical Christians who also are passionate about creation care.
_For the Beauty of the Earth: A Christian Vision for Creation Care_ by Steven Bouma-Prediger
_Redeeming Creation: The Biblical Basis For Environmental Stewardship_ ed Fred Van Dyke
Posted by: Jeff | January 5, 2005 4:57 PM