The Cross and the Environment

Lionel Windsor

Introduction

As I was writing this seminar, I was sitting in my study at my computer. It was a cold day in the middle of winter, and I had my electric heater plugged in and blowing on me to keep me warm.

Electric heaters use a lot of electricity (compared to, say, light bulbs or TVs). The electricity comes from burning coal in the Hunter Valley. When coal is burned, more coal needs to be mined, waterways are made unnaturally warm and greenhouse gases are produced - not in my neck of the woods, but up in the Hunter Valley. Furthermore, because of inefficiencies in the electricity generation and transmission system, my heater only provides me with ten percent of the energy that was originally stored in the coal. The rest is wasted.

What should I do? What are my options? I could turn the heater off, put on a few more jumpers and stay cold. I could insulate my house better. I could spend money on another, more efficient form of heating or electricity generation (I used to work for a company that was doing research into solar power). I could contact my energy supplier and say that I want to opt for "Green Power" - where I pay more for the electricity but I am guaranteed that it comes from more environmentally friendly sources. I could organise a demonstration outside the power stations in the Hunter Valley and then lobby the government to stick to the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. Or I could continue along my present course of action and not change a thing.

More importantly, on what basis should I make these decisions?

This is one, relatively trivial case. But the environment is a big issue in our society. Being "environmentally aware" is important for many people.

Issues

How "the environment" is a big issue in our society

• Businesses projecting a "Green" image (e.g. the Green Games, my old company Pacific Solar)
• Eco-based merchandising (e.g. ecotourism, The Wilderness Society shop)
• Recycling in local councils
• Current pro-environment advertising campaign ("It's a Living Thing")
• "Green Power" (see above)
• Genetically modified food
• Organic / health food
• Globalisation / M1 rallies

Problems associated with our relationship to the environment

• The hole in the ozone layer
• Possible global warming
• Pollution of air, ground and waterways
• Soil salinity and erosion
• Unsustainable technology and agriculture
• Extinction of species (ie loss of biodiversity)
• Population growth

World-views

How are we to approach this topic? Here are some world-views, or philosophical frameworks, that have been practised or advocated.

Dualism

The higher, spiritual world of souls, angels and eternity is better and more "real" than the lower, physical world of bodies, matter and change. There are two possible conclusions:

1. Either, we must free our souls from the physical realm and not enjoy it, so we may attain to the higher, spiritual realm (asceticism).
2. Or, what we do in the physical realm doesn't matter

Hence, there are two possible results:

• The physical environment is seen as distracting and something to be avoided, OR
• The physical environment is abused because it is either evil or not really important.

• Gnosticism (2nd century AD)
• Elements of Augustine (5th century AD)
• Much Medieval Catholicism
• Some hyper-Calvinism

Atheism / Materialism

There is no God and there is nothing spiritual; there is only the material world. Hence we have no real duty, apart from (perhaps) the duty of the individual to assert his own power and dominance on those around him.

• I create my own reality and morality
• The morality I create is essentially utilitarian - based on what "works"
• I destroy whatever (and whomever) stops me in my pursuit of power
• Almost paradoxically, Hitler was a vegetarian and Nazi Germany pioneered many environmental protection and animal cruelty laws. This is because he had created his own morality.
• Many of the arguments environmentalists use appeal to our materialism (e.g. Don't cut down the Amazonian rainforests because we might find a cure for cancer there). These are not the arguments the academics use, but simply the populist arguments.

Pantheism

Pan = all, Theos = God; i.e. the totality of the world/universe is God. To put it another way, "Mother Nature" is God.

• All existing things, spiritual and physical, have equal value and equal status
• We must respect, indeed we must worship, all things in nature and play our proper part
• We have no right to use nature for our own ends
• At best, humanity is equal to the rest of nature and "speciesism" is wrong
• At worst, humanity with its cities is a cancerous growth that will be eventually removed by nature (the "Gaia hypothesis")

Rebellion

Of course, there is a lot of overlap between these world-views, because they are essentially all expressions of the same thing - rebellion against God.

Creation and the environment

Genesis 1

What does Genesis 1 tell us about:

1. God's relationship to creation?
   • God is separate from creation (vv 1-2)
   • God creates and therefore owns creation, he has the right to do with it as he wishes (e.g. vv 29-30)
   • Creation is good; God sees that it is good (vv 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31)
2. God's relationship to humanity?
   • Humanity is also created by God (v 26) and therefore everything above applies to humanity
   • But humanity is in the image of God (v 26) and therefore has a special relationship to God
3. Humanity's relationship to creation?
   • Humanity is to rule creation, under God (v 26)
   • Humanity is to subdue creation (v 28)
   • There is an order in creation; humanity is to subdue and rule the animals (v 28), the plants are for the animals and for humanity (vv 29-30)

Other Biblical data

• Psalm 8 God is creator, man is creature but has a special place in creation
• Romans 1:18-20 The creation displays God's glory, his eternal power and divine nature
• Proverbs 12:10 An interesting little verse: in the NASB it reads "A righteous man has regard for the life of his beast,".
• 1 Timothy 4:1-5 Asceticism is a demonic teaching because creation is good

Implications

• God is separate from creation, yet has a special relationship with creation
• Humanity is part of creation, yet has a special relationship with God
• Creation is not evil, it is good and is therefore to be enjoyed and delighted in with thanksgiving

Pictorial summary

Ruling and subduing?

What does it mean to "rule" and to "subdue"? Keep that question in mind.

Sin and the environment

Read Genesis 3:

1. What does humanity do wrong in its relationship to God?
   • Disobeys his word (v 6)
   • Hides (v 8)
2. What does humanity do wrong in its relationship to creation?
   • Listens to / is "ruled" by creation (v 13)
3. What is the result for the relationship between humanity and creation?
   • The ground is cursed (v 17)
   • Adam will only eat from it through painful toil and sweat (vv 17-19)

Other Biblical data

• Romans 1:21-22 Sin involves worshipping the created rather than the creator

Ruling and subduing

We can begin to answer the question: what does it mean for humanity to "rule" and to "subdue"? by looking at what went wrong with humanity's rule over creation:

• Humanity was dictated to and deceived by a creature
• The destiny of the entire creation was caught up in the destiny of humanity. When Adam sinned, all of creation was cursed (especially in its relationship to Adam).

Consequently

• We are to listen to God and dictate to creation rather than be dictated to by creation
• Our right and wrong actions affect the whole of creation and hence we have a responsibility to creation.
• This is a difficult concept for us modern individualists to grasp. It's like the Old Testament idea of the King, but it's not like our modern concept of the Monarchy.
• Perhaps the best illustration of this idea is the sporting team. When our Olympic team won gold medals, our whole nation won gold medals. When members of our Olympic team lost at an event, Australia lost.
• An implication is that humans are not a "disease" on the environment, but we are a central and necessary element of the environment. Why?
  • God made the creation and it is very good
  • God relates to that creation, and rules it in some way, through humanity.

The cross and the environment

Hebrews 2:5-11

(Recall what we said about Psalm 8 in the section on "Creation")

1. In what way has Psalm 8 not yet been fulfilled?
   • We do not yet see everything subject to humanity (v 8)
   • This seems to be referring to the "curse" - we are not ruling and subduing properly
   • A case in point are the cockroaches which I don't seem to be able to rule or subdue!
2. In what way has Psalm 8 been fulfilled?
   • Jesus was made a human (v 9)
   • As a human, Jesus does rule - he is "at the right hand of the majesty in heaven" (1:3)
3. What has this got to do with the cross?
   • He rules because of his atoning work (v 9) - more of that a little later on

Colossians 1:15-20

1. What is the relationship between Christ and God?
   • Christ is the image of God - recalling the language of Genesis 1 (v 15)
   • God has all his "fullness" dwell in him (v 19) - this seems to mean (from this context) that God achieves everything he wants to achieve through Christ, but it has even greater implications that Jesus is, in fact, God!
2. What is the relationship between Christ and creation?
   • Christ rules creation (v 15) - that's what "firstborn" ultimately means - heir of God.
   • Christ made creation (v 16)
   • Everything was made for Christ (v 16)
   • Christ is before all things and sustains creation (v 17)
   • God reconciled all things to himself through Christ (v 20), ie he restored everything to a proper relationship to God.
3. What has this got to do with the cross?
   • The cross is the way God reconciled all things to himself (v 20)
   • God "made peace" through Christ's blood, shed on the cross.

Ruling and subduing

Just as humanity is made "in the image of God", Christ is "the image of God". What does it mean for Christ to rule and subdue creation?

• Christ listens to God's word and dictates to creation rather than be dictated to by creation
  • So he did a proper job of being the image, where we didn't.
• Christ has a responsibility to creation: it was made for him and by him, and he sustains it.
• Christ's saving work affects the whole of creation.

Romans 8:18-25

1. What are Christians looking forward to?
   • The revelation of our glory (v 18-19)
   • Glorious freedom (v 21)
   • Our adoption as sons (v 23)
   • The redemption of our bodies (v 23)
2. What does the future have in store for creation?
   • Liberated from frustration and its bondage to decay (vv 20-21)
3. What is the relationship between Christians and creation?
   • The redemption of our bodies means the redemption of creation
   • As we saw before, the destiny of creation is caught up with the destiny of humanity (specifically, Christ's redeemed humanity)
4. What has this got to do with the cross?
   • Christ's cross justifies us and is the basis on which our bodies will be redeemed.

Revelation 21:1-5

What does this tell us about what is in store for us in the future?

• A new creation - a seemingly transformed creation
• A perfect creation, without the curse

Pictorial summary

Unfortunately, any picture that we draw at this point will be inadequate, because there's no real way of representing Jesus in a drawing like this without misrepresenting him. Jesus is both fully human and fully God, he isn't part-human and part-God, he isn't halfway between human and God, and there's only one of him, not two (i.e. a human Jesus and a God-Jesus)!

Bearing that in mind, here's an inadequate attempt:

How then shall we live?

It is Jesus' act of suffering death on the cross that has redeemed us, and therefore has inaugurated the redemption of creation. However, this redemption has not yet been completed. We are still living in a world where there is sin, death and a curse on creation. We are living in a world where humanity is not ruling or subduing creation correctly.

But we are looking forward to a new creation, where this rule and subjugation will be complete and perfect.

But what does that mean for us now? Clearly, we must not be pantheists. But what should we do with the present creation? Perhaps we should forget about our physical bodies and the physical creation and instead concentrate on the future creation? Does what we do with our physical bodies and the physical creation actually matter?

Colossians 3:1-10

1. Where are we to set our minds?
   • On things above
   • Where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God
2. What does it mean that our new self is "renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator?"
   • Christ's death has brought us back into relationship with God and is renewing and restoring us to what we should be
3. What does this mean for the way we live here?
   • We are to live in a godly way, without greed, deceit, immorality, etc because of our future status
   • Heavenly-mindedness implies being of great earthly use!
4. Can you think how this affects our attitude to the physical environment?
   • Not to be greedy, or deceitful, or arrogant about it
   • To be thankful to God

Some concluding principles

• Creation is good, is important, and is to be enjoyed and cared for with thanksgiving to God.
• However, creation is under a curse which is a result of our sin. We should therefore expect that the relationship between humanity and creation will be less than ideal.
• The redemption of creation is not a result of our own human action but is a result of Christ's redeeming work on the cross. For a Christian to devote his or her life to the cause of "environmentalism" is to try to do by human effort what only God can do (and has done in Christ)
• Having said this, Christians who have been redeemed by Christ's atoning work should work hard at putting to death greed and practising patience in ourselves. Francis Schaeffer has commented that almost all environmental degradation is a result of human greed and haste.
• Similarly, we should speak out to our world against the human greed and haste which causes the environmental disasters we see around us.
• As my old pastor used to say "The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart".

For further reading

1. J. Beer, 'Ecology and ideology: an introduction', Kategoria 4, 1997: 31-45
2. D. Clugston, 'Even "Deep Ecology" is not deep enough', Kategoria 6, 1997: 9-25
3. D. Clugston, 'Genesis and genocide: environmentalists and the Bible', Kategoria 14, 1999: 11-23
4. F. A. Schaeffer, Pollution and the Death of Man, in Complete Works, Vol 5, Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1991.
5. For a deeper treatment of the whole doctrine of creation, try Colin E. Gunton, The Triune Creator: A Historical and Systematic Study. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.

Kategoria is published by Matthias Media: phone +61 2 9663 1478, http://www.matthiasmedia.com.au/.