Biblical ecology begins with the heart

NRDC's Rob Perks is inspiredby Christians standing up against mountaintop mining operations in Tennessee. In his opinion piece he quotes two scriptures, Jeremiah 12:11 and Numbers 35:33-34.

Great to see that he's inspired by Christian leadership on the environment. I think we can do better than mountaintop mining too, and have applauded the efforts of the LEAFand Christians for the Mountains folks for years.

I wonder though if he really understands the two scriptures he quotes his article.

Just finished a detailed study of Jeremiah, so I know that the reason the land is laid to waste is because Israel and Judah were ransacked by her enemies. Their croplands and grazing fields were destroyed. That judgment came on God's people because they were worshipping idols instead of God. In other words, the root cause is not pollution but a lack of faith that caused the land to be laid waste.

In the passage from Numbers he intentionally deletes these words: . . .for blood pollutes the land and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it. Here, pollution is not car emissions or oil spills but the shedding of innocent blood out of revenge or selfishness. You can read the whole passage in context here.

So beyond stretching these two scriptures to fit a green agenda, which is probably OK (grace always abounds), Perks reminds us of two important things:

• The quality of crop and grazing lands - our natural resources - is directly related to our relationship with and unadulterated love for the one true God.
• In God's eyes the murder of innocents, including the blood of aborted babies, pollutes the land worse than anything else we do to contaminate it.

God is indeed interested in our stewardship of what He has given us. But His first concern is always the condition of our hearts toward Him and to our fellow human beings. When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus didn't refer to Jeremiah or Numbers. He went to Deuteronomy 6:5.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.

How do we do that? Only changed hearts can love that way, and in turn heal the planet. How does that happen? Back to that passage in Numbers, and the section he edited out:

...blood pollutes the land and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it.

Ordinarily the only justice for murder is capital punishment, eye for eye, blood for blood. Fortunately God had another plan. As Paul wrote to the Church in Corinth:

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Instead of demanding the blood from us for all of our murderous, idolatrous, polluting ways, He sent Jesus to shed his blood in our place. By accepting Christ's loving sacrifice on our behalf, we receive hearts that are free to love Him, love others, and love creation.

I have no doubt that if you asked members of LEAF where their devotion to the cause of eradicating mountaintop mining comes from, their answer would be we love creation because God through Jesus Christ first loved us.

That's the real story here.

~

POST SCRIPT: The opinion appears at an online journal called Opposing Views, on which also appears a series of surveys. Apparently the majority agrees with the "right to death," disagrees with prayer in public schools, doesn't agree that faith should influence politics, and so on.

One hopes that pieces like Perks' highlighting of faith in ecology will move things in a better direction.