Creation: A Reason for Sustainable Living

 I have been writing some reflections for the master classes I have been taking this summer.  Seems such a shame to waste all my thoughts on an e-mail to an instructor, so I've decided to post a few here. :D

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            If our world was created by slow eons of time then it is nothing special.  There would have been many climates and eco-systems that have come and gone.  We would not be etching out a living on limited resources, but only a blip on the great continuum of time.  Nothing can have inherent value if it is just the result of a lucky catastrophe. 

The importance of simplicity, of conservation and restoration, of compassion is tied implicitly to the literal days of creation.  “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day…” (Ex 20:11)  It was created perfect; a world that knew no sin.  It stood before Him as a jewel.  Each element, each day, God saw that His work was good. (Gen 1: 12,18, 21,25)  Then in a crowning act, God created one more creature.  “And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness; … So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”(Gen 1:26-27)  Only after creating man did he add the word “very” to his observations.  “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” (Gen 1:31)

Because our world issued forth from the mouth of God we have a duty to protect and care for nature.  We have, as decedents of Adam, received a command from God to protect the world in which we live.  “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”  (Gen 2:15)  The duty is undeniable.

Further more; we have an obligation to the natural world as mankind brought in distress.  “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.”  (Rom. 8:22)  It was man’s choice of sin that caused the world to suffer as it does now.  Thus we are compelled to care for it and to restore it as our Lord would have us to do.