environment

An article by Matt Frei on the BBC website looks at the contrasting stances taken by Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University and Eastern Mennonite University, both in Virginia, over the issue of global warming (‘Evangelicals and Global Warming’). It makes me wonder whether the Bible really does offer us any useful guidance on this issue. Or rather, it makes me wonder what other people think about this.

This essay was originally written for Restoring Eden, a Christian environmental network, as an attempt to ‘outline a narrative eschatology… that would validate a positive creational theology’. In the interests of cross-pollination they have kindly allowed me to post it here in advance of its publication on www.restoringeden.org. So please buzz over there and sprinkle the pollen of Open Source Theology on the sexy anthers of Restoring Eden. And vice versa.

The essay is written from inside the emerging church conversation. It does not presume to represent an emerging church consensus, but it shares two key concerns: that the ‘mission’ of the church should in some way embrace the whole of creation, and that our theology should be constructed in the first place as narrative. It attempts, therefore, to explain the relation between the church and creation simply by means of a retelling of the biblical story.

The last few weeks of interaction with the wonderful folks from Open Source Theology have been exciting especially in light of the conversation on environmentalism, but also very frustrating when the conversation shifted to the political aspects of environmental action namely socialism, communism and forced redistribution of income being presented as the solutions to the looming environmental crisis threatening the existence of humanity. This alone is very telling of the true agenda of the modern environmentalist movement, which has become a vehicle for extremist socialist groups, apparently for the sole purpose of fundraising and promoting of Communistic, anti-globalization and anti-American ideology and propaganda.

The latest WWF biannual Living Planet Report warns of ‘large-scale ecosystem collapse’ by 2050 because the earth can no longer keep up with the demands that are being placed upon it. What should the response of the church be to this? And what, if anything, should be distinctive about the response of the emerging church?

It seems to me that the theological basis of a constructive response to the environmental crisis lies in the understanding of the ‘church’ as an expression of authentic humanity. The church is essentially the product of God calling into existence a new creation in the midst of a world perpetually marred by idolatry, arrogance, injustice and violence. The paradigm derives from Abraham, whose calling was a reiteration of the original creational blessing on humankind and the mandate to be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth (Gen. 12:2-3, 7; 17:1; 28:3-4; cf. 1:28); but it modulates throughout the biblical narrative, through the New Testament story of suffering, renewal, and vindication, culminating in John’s final galvanizing vision of a new heavens and a new earth.

I want to share my article with you. This is about the link between Mind and Social / Environmental-Issues. The article is directly related to Spirituality. The fast-paced, consumerist lifestyle of Industrial Society is causing exponential rise in psychological problems besides destroying the environment. All issues are interlinked.