Questions of Creation

Today in Transforming Culture (a series of lectures every Wednesday evening), we learnt about the centrality of creation care to our lives as Christians in today's world. It was very, very interesting! Thanks dad, to all you've exemplified in your (as I now understand) prophetic lifestyle. Getting a bit of biblical background as well has helped me see that this is actually not an incidental issue, which some Christians just happen to have the gift to see and do something about - it's important we all see the significance of God's relationship with his earth, and our relationship with God and the earth.

Whilst many people who don't know God personally take the current state of the earth seriously, many Christians I've encountered till now don't seem to see it as important, arguing that the earth will be "burned up" anyway..

Read Genesis 9:8-17, Leviticus 18:28, Jeremiah 12:4, Psalm 24:1 - The earth is God's, the earth as a whole... It's a beautiful gift to us which we were told to subdue/rule over in the same way Psalm 72 describes; bringing justice to the afflicted, crushing the oppressor...

When we read in some bibles, in 2.Pet 3:10, that the earth will be "burned up", the proper translation of the Greek word may in fact be "found". In 1.Cor 15, Paul's use of the word "changed" (v.51-52) implies a continuity of his created world in our final redemption. And in Romans 8 Paul says that the world- that is mankind and creation alongside each other - waits in eager expectation for God's final redemption. Christ's life and death have cosmic consequences - John 3:16 talks about the world - the cosmos. Colossians 1:15 onwards talks about Christ holding everything together - this confirms again the relationship between man and the earth (which God first confirms in Genesis 3:17b-19).

So the Gospel, the good news, is for God's whole creation..!

We are called to be worshippers, who are in right relationship with God, treating the things he has made in the same way as he treats them. Stewards. Kingdom-bringers...

We all know Jesus said to "love your neighbour"... Who is my neighbour? The current state of the earth, with climate change and all it's consequences, forces us to face the fact that by not getting informed and appreciating creation and worshipping the creator by actually acting on what we know, we are contributing to devastating consequences (which affect the poor the earliest and the most, result in desertification, declining crop yields, malnutrition, hunger, conflict, refugees...), we are not acting out God's heart for the earth... But when we do, we are in effect helping the poor and future generations - which is acting out the heart of God. So I have to ask myself, am I ready to lay down my life of comfort for the sake of my "neighbours" - whether they live miles away or years ahead...?

(I wonder... what does God think about one of his creatures becoming extinct..?)