Let me repeat that I consider the idea that we are not obliged to take care of the Earth a
spinoff of Christian thought, not mainstream Christian thought. There are so many different spinoffs of Christian ideas. Some people may argue that we should be vegetarians because God originally told Adam that he should eat only what grows in the Garden of Eden. Others may argue that we should renounce all our possessions, because Jesus told us that blessed are the poor ones. Like I said, these ideas are spinoffs of Christian thought. They are not mainstream Christianity.
Well, it doesn't bother me if people choose to be vegetarians. And if they choose to be poor, or if they devote their lives to helping poor people in poor countries for the glory of God, that most certainly doesn't bother me. Rather the opposite.
But if people say that it doesn't matter too much what will happen to the Earth because God will make us a new world anyway, then that scares me out of my wits. Because these days humanity
can affect the biosphere of the Earth very badly and seriously. We couldn't back in the days of Jesus. If the world had been destroyed in his days, it would have had nothing to do with man-made pollution or greenhouse gases or the large-scale deforestation of the Earth.
Just yesterday I came across an article (in Swedish) claiming that there are two continent-sized "trash bergs" floating in the Pacific Ocean, made up mostly of plastic bags and other junk and both of them bigger in size than the United States. The Swedish article also claimed that all this trash contributes to the death of marine life, because many fish eat this junk, believing it to be food. But they get no nutrition that way, so they begin starving until they die. Here is an English-language article about the same thing:
Trash in the Pacific Do I know any Christians who are truly uninterested in taking care of the Earth? Maybe I know at least one. About twenty years ago I met a minister here in Sweden who devoted much of his time to working with homeless people, drug addicts etcetera. I thought he was a really admirable person, and I certainly didn't know anyone else who gave so much of his own time to help other people in need. So once I decided I would have a talk with him. "Tommy," I told him, "here you've got your chance. Please try to convince me that the Earth has a better chance to survive if we all become Christians. You know I have lost my faith. But if you manage to convince me that life on Earth may survive because of your faith, then I promise I will do my absolute utmost to become a Christian again."
Well, this is what Tommy replied. He stared into the distance and answered: "Maybe the Earth isn't meant to survive."
I knew, of course, what Tommy was talking about. I, too, had read the Book of Revelation. But believe me, this was the absolutely first time that I had come across an intellectual person who wasn't the least bit interested in discussing what could be done to at least increase the chances that life on Earth would survive. And Tommy's reasons for refusing to discuss it seemed to be that he considered the entire question a futile one: we shouldn't worry about the Earth's survival, because God has decreed that it won't survive anyway.
Like I said, I had
never before come across anyone else who would take such a stark view of the Earth's survival and of humanity's duty to look after the Earth. Everyone else I had talked to had discussed technical solutions or changes in life style or global co-operation. I expected Tommy to tell me that Christian people are obliged by their faith to try to be unselfish and caring, so that we should have a better chance to tackle whatever global problem we might be facing if we were all Christians. Instead Tommy thought that the question wasn't really worth discussing. I can't tell you what a chill that gave me.
Again I want to emphasize that I consider the idea that we needn't bother to take care of the Earth a spinoff of Christian thought, not mainstream Christian thought. As for Tommy, he was a "naturally good" person, and I'm sure that he was never deliberately careless with garbage, and I'm sure he had a rather small car which didn't use much fuel, etcetera. Nevertheless: a person who wanted to be selfish and careless just
might listen to Tommy and conclude that it is acceptable in the eyes of the Lord to waste and wear down the world around us, because this Earth isn't meant to last anyway.
Ann
Oh, P.S., I certainly did know at least one Christian who certainly believed that it was no use looking after the Earth because it was coming to an end any day now anyway. My grandfather. He spent most of his 94 years waiting for the Second Coming. He never got himself any life insurance, because he was convinced that he and his family would be raptured away to heaven together. I was eight years old when he told me that the end of the world would happen any day or night now. Because I had dutifully read all the religious children's books my grandfather had given me, I knew I couldn't hold a candle to all those Christian boys and girls I could read about there, so obviously I would never be let into Heaven. I couldn't sleep for weeks as I waited for Jesus to come and take my mother and father away from me, but when nothing had happened for a year, I sort of forgot about it.
Anyway, my grandfather sold his lovely house and moved his family to a small apartment as he waited for the Rapture. He never owned a car in his life. He gave away most of his possessions to the church, and he loved to give small sums of money to children he just met in the street, because he loved children and wanted to make them happy.
P.P.S. Thank you, you Christian people on these boards, who have spoken up to explain that you don't believe in what I think the bishop implied about the non-importance of taking care of the Earth. Believe me, I didn't think you would share the bishop's ideas. That is not how I view most Christians, believe me. Apart from the Pentecostalists I grew up with (and who I never dared to discuss religion with), I have never met a Christian, with the exception of Tommy, the minister, who has ever seemed to take our responsibilities to be good stewards of the Earth anything less than seriously. EDIT: I just re-read the interview with the bishop, and Lisa, I think you are right that the bishop is arguing against the idea that we are allowed to be careless with the Earth. He is not supporting that view but opposing it.
Thanks again for your responses!