I recently came across a short article by N.T. Wright that explores why Christians should care for God’s creation. Read it here.
I like how he acknowledges that how we view the environment is often wrapt up in our eschatology. Of course political and economic leanings play a big role as well, but its easier to trash the world if the point is to leave it for the pie in the sky when we die. But Wright questions that excuse by comparing it to a view of sin. He says, “If I said, well, I find it difficult to struggle against sin – but one day God will save me and make me totally his, so why bother in the present? – if I said something like that, every pastor worth their salt would tell me that what God intends to do with me in the future must be anticipated, as best I can in the power of the Spirit, by me in the present.”
As was stated over and over again at the recent Academy Awards, caring for the environment – caring for God’s creation – is a moral, not political, issue. It is an act of worship to God, a way to show our love to him. That’s why I really don’t get the people who accuse (and hence write off) environmentalists of loving the creation more than the creator. Showing love for the creation is a way of loving the creator. Do we accuse Mother Teresa of loving the poor more than she loved God and therefore say what she did was wrong?
When our theology (be it opinions about end times or the date of creation), or politics, or our consumerism become an excuse to hurt God and his creation there is something seriously wrong.