Nevertheless, this blogger (along with many other Christians) wishes to make clear that he does not subscribe to such an interpretation of Scripture or share these views of human responsibility toward our natural environment. From my perspective, a Divine pronouncement of satisfaction with the finished product - that everything that had been created was "very good" - suggests little or no room for improvement by anyone else! Moreover, in the second chapter of Genesis, we are told that "God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it" - not to uproot and destroy it!
And, when we look at the history of mankind's impact on his environment, we have to wonder how anyone could conclude that we haven't had a significant impact on every part of that environment. We know, for instance, that humans in the Western Hemisphere are directly responsible for the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon (formerly the most numerous species of bird in North America), the American Chestnut, the American Elm and most recently several of our native species of Ash trees (admittedly, a few sick/dying specimens of these once-dominant tree species remain). We have wiped out over ninety percent of our virgin/old-growth forests and came close to wiping out the American Buffalo and Bald Eagle. The former range of bears, wolves, and panthers has been greatly reduced. And what about the current state of our groundwater, rivers, lakes, and oceans (the amount of pollutants in all of these waters is truly staggering). Hence, is it even within the realm of credibility to suggest that all of the gases and fumes that we have released into our atmosphere have not had any impact?
It is ironic that many of these so-called Christians look forward to Judgment Day or the Second Coming (different folks frame those events in different ways), but ignore some of the warnings implicit in the scriptures which talk about them. In one of those instances, we read: "The nations were angry, and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your people who revere your name, both great and small— and for destroying those who destroy the earth.” (Revelation 11:18) Yes, I'm fairly confident that God is an environmentalist!
submitted by Miller Jones
