A Theology (Not Ideology) of Creation Care

 

Vol. 18, No. 90 A Theology (Not Ideology) of Creation Care Photo by Akil Mazumder (Pexels) We have been charged to care for God’s creation. To be stewards of all that God has made and entrusted to us. Since the Industrial Revolution, we have been able to do more care for creation than ever before, as well as more harm.   That harm has ramifications that border on the nightmarish, and no one is more affected than the poorest of the poor. No matter what you may think is behind it all – natural causes, human causes, or both – that creation is suffering in unprecedented ways is without dispute.   Extreme heat. Drought. Mudslides. The rise of intense storms and hurricanes. Melting of glaciers. Rising animal extinctions. Rising plant extinctions. The freakish amount and scope of wildfires.   This should matter to any follower of Christ.   UNICEF just released a report that by 2050, virtually every child on the planet – more than 2 billion children – will experience frequent heat waves as part of their life. Pediatricians say that young children and infants are more susceptible to heat-related illnesses, in part because their bodies cannot regulate temperature as effectively as adults. Children also lose fluid more quickly and are at a greater risk of heat stroke because they lack the judgment and maturity needed to taper their physical exertion or know to rehydrate. Extreme heat is also known to trigger symptoms in people with asthma, which affects about 6 million children in the U.S. alone.   So why aren’t more Christians engaged?   It’s because we have approached creation care ideologically instead of theologically.   Politicization has invaded our thinking to such a degree that when it comes to environmental concerns and challenges, responsibilities and commitments, we think about our political moorings before we look to what the Bible actually says. Or more to the point, instead of what the Bible actually says. We carry our political views like they are religious views, and we often make those political views our true religion.   As Sandra Richter observes in her book Stewards of Eden, “... in the United States, if you are an environmentalist, it is assumed that you are a Democrat.... If you are a Republican, it is assumed that you cannot also be pro-environment. In other words, somehow environmental advocacy has been pigeonholed into a particular political profile and has become guilty by association.”  She then adds these words: “But of course, Christians are first the citizens of heaven, and therefore our alliances and our value systems are not defined by American politics.”   So how do we think Christianly about creation care? What would a beginning theology entail?   The first and most foundational thing to understand about creation is that it doesn’t belong to us. It isn’t ours to simply do with as we please. It belongs to God. As we read in the 24th psalm, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him” (Psalm 24:1, NLT). You find that very same declaration made throughout Scripture (e.g., Psalm 50:10-11, Colossians 1:15-16).   Second, we have been charged to care for creation. The nature of that stewardship, as outlined in Genesis 1 and 2, is very clear: we are to reflect the image of God toward creation through governing and reigning, tending and watching over. This is dominion, not domination. The directive was truly creation care. As Dorothy Boorse writes in Loving the Least of These: Addressing a Changing Environment: “We don’t worship creation. We worship God by caring for creation.”   Third, this charge didn’t end with the Garden of Eden and the fall of humanity into sin and the world into brokenness. Just as God seeks to redeem us from our sin, and those of us who have been redeemed seek to share that redemptive work with others, God intends to redeem all of creation, and thus we are to continue to take our care of creation seriously. As Paul wrote, “Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” (Romans 8:20-22, NLT) Finally, a theology of creation care extends that care in a holistic manner to the land and plants (Ex. 23:10-11; Lev. 25:4-5), both domestic and wild animals (Gen. 9:8-11, Ex. 23:12, Deut. 5:14-15, 22:6-7, 25:4), eco-systems (Job 39:5-8, Ps. 104:10-12, 16-18) and environment (Deut. 20:19-20). Many of the laws given to the people of Israel were fulfilled in Christ and not meant to be specifically applied today (e.g., dietary laws). But what is present in each and every one of the environmental directives is the heart of God in the matter. It was uniformly related to the care and ongoing sustainability of creation.   So here is the foundational theology behind creation care: Creation belongs to God. We have been charged, as Image bearers, to care for creation. Creation is included in God’s redemptive plan. That care involves responsible stewardship. But theology is meant to be applied. Here’s how Wendell Berry, in his book What Are People For, made the application: “The ecological teaching of the Bible is simply inescapable: God made the world because He wanted it made. He thinks the world is good, and He loves it. It is His world; He has never relinquished title to it. And He has never revoked the conditions, bearing on His gift to us of the use of it, that oblige us to take excellent care of it. If God loves the world, then how might any person of faith be excused for not loving it or justified in destroying it.” Yes.    And I pray to God that the people of God would begin applying it before it is too late.          James Emery White     Sources   Kelly Kasulis Cho, “‘Virtually Every Child’ to Face Frequent Heat Waves By 2050, UNICEF Says,” The Washington Post, October 26, 2022, read online.   Sandra L. Richter, Stewards of Eden: What Scripture Says About the Environment and Why It Matters (InterVarsity Press, 2020), p. 2.   “Loving the Least of These: Addressing a Changing Environment,” published by the National Association of Evangelicals, Revised Edition (2022), p. 16.   Wendell Berry, What Are People For? (New York: North Point, 1990), p. 98.

Sweden Wins! Has Lowest Pandemic Mortality in the World

 Sweden Wins - Against Covid

Sweden Wins! Country That Refused Lockdown and Kept Schools Open Has Lowest Pandemic Mortality in the World

THE LOCKDOWNS, MASKING, DISTANCING — IT WAS ALL A MISTAKE: 

Jan 24, 2023

Excess Deaths in Finland and Norway in 2022 Were Higher Than in Sweden in 2020.

Remember back in 2020 when Sweden was the bad boy of the Covid world? Placed firmly on the naughty step by the WHO, the EU and many national leaders, the Swedes bravely, or stubbornly, ploughed their own furrow. However, by the end of 2020, with the excess death rate in Sweden at 758 per million compared to the minuscule or negative rates in the ‘pin-up’ Nordic countries of Finland, Denmark and Norway (each of which followed WHO and EU orthodoxy) Sweden, and their Chief Epidemiologist, Anders Tegnell, were firmly on the defensive.

How times change! Here we are in 2023, the pandemic rapidly disappearing in the rear-view mirror. But what’s this? The excess date rate in 2022 in both Finland and Norway was higher than Sweden’s in 2020.

Much more at the link, including data on the efficacy of the vaccines.

43Posted at 7:33 am by Stephen Green   

T

Sudden Change of Tune - Is Something Big Coming?

 Sudden Change of Tune - Is Something Big Coming?

Whoa: FiveThirtyEight projection in PA Senate race dramatically shifts to Oz -- and GOP overall

Live Your Life BEFORE It Becomes Lifeless (Story of Small Village Fisherman)

 

Maybe I should have heard this 50 years ago! A boat was docked in a tiny Calabrian fishing village. A tourist complimented the local fishermen on the quality of their fish and... asked how long it took to catch them. "Not very long" they answered in unison. "Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?" The fishermen explained that their small catches were sufficient to meet their needs and those of their families. "But what do you do with the rest of your time?" "We chat in the piazza with friends, fish a little, play with our children, and enjoy time with our wives. In the evenings, we go into the village to see our friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs. We have a full life." The tourist interrupted, "I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat." "And after that?" "With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to Milan, London, Los Angeles, or even New York City!!! From there you can direct your huge new enterprise." "How long would that take?" "Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years." replied the tourist. "And after that?" "Afterwards? Well my friend, that's when it gets really interesting," answered the tourist, laughing. "When your business gets really big, you can start buying and selling stocks and make millions!" "Millions? Really? And after that?" asked the fishermen. "After that you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, play with your children, catch a few fish, enjoy time with your wife and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends." "With all due respect sir, but that's exactly what we are doing now. So what's the point wasting twenty-five years?" asked the Italians. And the moral of this story is: Know where you're going in life, you may already be there! Many times in life, money is not everything. “Live your life before life becomes lifeless” JES

Hank's Roadside Bar and Grill (OUTSTANDING) for Patriotism

 Hank's Roadside Bar and Grill

STAND

Podcast The American Story (Spotify)

How the Democrats lost their way - Selena Zito

 How the Democrats lost their way

By 

Salena Zito, National Political Reporter

 

November 07, 2022 

NORMALVILLE, Pennsylvania — If there were a way to illustrate the beginning, middle, and end of this election cycle in four powerful moments, I’d start with the faces of the men and women working on the construction of the Keystone pipeline, and the owners of the small businesses who supported them, that I witnessed days after President Joe Biden terminated their livelihoods.

These are people who work with their hands in the harshest of weather conditions digging trenches, cleaning feeder pipes, laying concrete, ensuring the proper fittings on the connecting pipes, and loading and unloading heavy materials by hand. That's not including the faces of the people who run the motels, diners, machine shops, and barber shops and the mechanics who make sure they are fed, housed, cleaned, and able to get home when the job is done.

 The next image in my coverage of these first two years of the Biden administration captured the true beginning of his descent away from the public. It happened while I was driving past the town square in Independence, Missouri , and saw 13 empty chairs sitting in a semicircle at the base of the lowered American flag in front of the Old Jackson County Courthouse, with each chair bearing the name of one of the 13 soldiers lost in Afghanistan during Biden's bug-out from that country.

It was in the days and weeks after Aug. 26, 2021, when the nation lost those service members during Biden's botched withdrawal, that the media and the Democratic Party as a whole failed to understand the mark that moment had on the American psyche. It was a shift away from the party in power and the president, whose credibility since then has never stopped slipping away.

 Almost exactly one year later, at Philadelphia's Independence Hall on Sept. 1, 2022, Biden gave a very dark speech, with two Marines flanked on either side of him, about how half of this country is racist, extremist, and wants to upend democracy as we know it. That speech was a turning point against the Democrats, negating any advantage they hoped to gain in response to the Supreme Court's anti- abortion Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision.

In between, I’ve covered families struggling to make ends meet to pay for gas for their cars, maintain their farms, keep their businesses open as costs crush their profits, or find anyone willing to work for them.

I’ve watched parents distraught and ultimately bullied by education -union members for their concerns about their children’s curriculum or books in the library; I’ve seen them struggle along with their children as they try to catch up in school or listened to them talk about their college-age children who are adrift and without purpose.

What is about to happen on Tuesday never needed to happen to the Democratic Party. Oh, yes, they would have lost a few seats, maybe, but if they had stuck to their promise to be a party of unity and compromise and brought the political temperature down, they would have enjoyed some semblance of a chance to hold a majority together.

 Instead, they spend their time, day in and day out, constantly saying you or your family members, neighbors, co-workers, employees, or employer who voted for Donald Trump once or twice is an ultra-, mega-, extremist-MAGA insurrectionist fascist out to strip your rights and votes away.

And they wonder why people have turned on them!

The final image of this election happened last week when someone snapped an iPhone photo of Michael McGuire, who just got off of work at the local coal mine and rushed to Rupp Arena at the University of Kentucky so he could watch an event with his son.

 McGuire was covered in dirt from work. He said afterward he hadn’t had time to shower after his shift. It was a moment that moved Kentucky men's basketball coach John Calipari to say in a press conference after he was sent the photo that it hit him “right between the eyes.”

Calipari said, "My family's American dream started in a Clarksburg, West Virginia, coal mine, so this picture hits home.”

It was a moment that hit home for a lot of voters — middle-of-the-road folks — who may have never worked with their hands a day in their lives but know their parents and grandparents did and respect what that work ethic did for the betterment of their family’s legacy. In that photo, they see themselves or who they’d think they’d be had they been in that same situation as McGuire, and they would have done it with as much pride as he did.

 The Democratic Party and the cultural curators in this country that run our institutions, academia, national media, corporations, Hollywood , and our sports entities have forgotten that these people vote — no matter how much pressure you place on them, no matter how much you look down on them or call them names or believe you know better than them or think they should just deal with high prices or accept dangerous crime in their communities.

They feel much more connected to the values and work ethic of the McGuires in this world than the Hollywood actors sent out in droves to bring the votes home for the Democratic Party.

The Democrats need a much better message to appeal to voters the next time a big election is held — one that is aspirational, nondivisive, and truly inclusive.

That wasn't their message this year.

Deep Swamp - FBI (Following Red Wave 2022)

 BREAK UP THE FBI:

 Roger Kimball: The FBI will not be forgiven after Tuesday: The House Republicans’ bruising report is a statement of intent.

People are not about to forget what the politicians and their bureaucrats just did to them. And if they do not forget, neither will they forgive.

Nor are they going to forget what the FBI has done and is doing to us. The dawn raids against non-violent political rivals of the regime and pro-life activists, the nationwide dragnets to nab people who protested against the 2020 election, the spying on Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, manufacture of forged evidence in order to mobilize the awesome surveillance apparatus of the state against American citizens and undermine Trump’s presidency. The bill of indictment is long and damning. How long? More than a thousand pages in its first iteration, which GOP members of House Judiciary Committee dropped on Friday under the title “FBI Whistleblowers: What Their Disclosures Indicate About the Politicization of the FBI and Justice Department.”

What they indicate is an agency that has gone rogue and should be dismantled. This has been a theme sounding for more than a years now. Roger L. Simon, writing for the Epoch Times, said that the FBI, like ancient Carthage, must be destroyed. Holman Jenkins, writing for theWall Street Journal, said that the agency to be abolished. I’ve argued the same case several times, here, for example, and here. In my column for the December Speccie, I suggest that FBI be relocated to Kansas City and have its budget cut by 75 percent. “Then,” I write, “it should be taken apart altogether,” not least because “a national police is probably unconstitutional certainly un-American”

With few exceptions, the consensus is that the Bureau is beyond reformation or reclamation. Friday’s lengthy J’Accuse underscores the moral bankruptcy and corruption of the FBI.

Examples need to be made. Painful ones, that will discourage this sort of conduct in the future.

102Posted at 7:08 am by Glenn Reynolds   

T