RethinkChurch

Good conversation here.  I agree that as Christians, we are obligated to tread lightly on our earth, to take care of it and remember, less is more. We also need to remember God's great love for the earth and the people in it. In all things, we need to deal kindly with one another, remembering to use the teachable moments, as Jesus did; always acting in love.  We are not here to judge, but to demonstrate, help and come along side.   I believe we can work to improve our world without becoming militant and judgmental.  I think Environmentalists are getting a bad name because many have been pretty forceful and critical.  It comes from frustration on their part, but we all need to remind ourselves that change happens slowly and happens best when it is a collaborative effort. 

Mike I generally agree with what your saying: we may be better off if we don't tare down our barns to build bigger ones with out putting some long term thought to our reasoning.  The potential problem I foresee if the movement becomes a defining force in a denomination is that the focus would change from spreading the Gospel to trying to change the world. Jesus did not call us to change the world, He will do that when He returns. He did call us to share the Gospel, that is our primary purpose and yes to help people in the process. We are called to live with in our means ( the borrower is slave to the lender) if we did that consumption would decrease but the world system marches to a different drummer so that wont happen untill credit cards become unprofitable.There will always be a lag time between new technology and the environmental hazards they produce ( remember when silocone valley was considered environmentally friendly) DDT was also considered safe before the long term affects were observed and documented, On the outset DDT kept alot of people from starving to death or dying from malaria. What we percieve as a problem is actually a God ordained law of physics " Energy or matter can neither be created or destroyed but it goes from a usable to a less usable then to a  nonusable state, that non usable state is what is termed pollution so for the most part the only way to reduce pollution is actually to reduce consumption. A book came out in the 1980's entitled ENTROPHY that I would reccomend, it explains the phenominom very well.

Solomon said the man who fears God will avoid all extremes and when was the last time you heard from a moderate environmentalist? I have been searching the scriptures all I have found so far is statements that would fall under what we use to call conservation.. In Leviticus commands on not harvesting to the very edges of the fields, one pass through when harvesting ( of course this was so the poor could gleen) but it would be an indirect benefit to the wildlife of the area. The 7th year no tilling of the soil or working the vineyards would be beneficial to the wildlife. In Deut.20 The Lord forbid the cutting down of fruit trees during a siege and deut22 the law on gathering only the young out of a birdnest for food and leaving the nesting adult alone. I think one of the big potential problems that will exist if the movement moves into the church is the ease in wich the emphasise would shift from the Gospel to a save the planet works oriented congregation. The percieved natural history of environmentalists does not coincide with events in the scriptures and trying to amalgamate the two would not sound rational let alone not be the truth. I'm going to think on this some more so another post will probably follow. But I will close with Prov.28:19 He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.

It depends on which way this movement goes.

If the movement becomes a general "Get by With Less" and "Consume Less" movement, this could be good.  I have often wondered if Modern Christianity needs to re-consider its Ascetic roots and practice a little more self denial.  When you consider that we are all overweight, in debt, self-indulgent, and just buy too much junk, the time may be ripe for such a movement.

On the other hand, this may just become another example of the liberal activist crowd pushing "Get in touch with Mother Earth" and advocating environment policies that are not scriptually (or even scientifically) based.