I want to preface what I
am about to say by telling you that my father was a political conservative. He
was the son of an East Texas sharecropper. He came up the hard way, anI think
he assumed that if he could do it, anybody could.
Back
in 1964, my dad voted for Barry Goldwater. In fact, of one my earliest memories
is of my dad helping to establish the headquarters for Barry Goldwater in my
hometown. That year Lyndon Johnson, a Texan, won the presidential election in a
landslide, so my dad was in the political minority.
All
of that to say, when my dad and I would go fishing at White Oak Creek, (in
Northeast Texas), he would always lament the fact that there were not as many
fish as when he was growing up.
My
dad was a small businessman. He did not believe in government regulation of the
economy. He was against the excessive taxing of the 1970s against the major oil
companies. As a result, he grabbed my attention one day when he told me, “I
cannot prove this, but I think oil companies are either pouring or spilling
chemicals up the creek… and that is why there are fewer fish.”
I
have thought about that through the years as we have seen places where indeed,
companies were discovered spilling or dumping chemicals in places containing natural
water.
Now,
fast forward to the early 1990s. My mother still owned our property on White
Oak Creek. She had been leasing the land to some friends, but she wanted me to
visit and see if I thought we should sell it.
We
had approximately 53 acres of property on and around the creek. Our property
and the surrounding area contained many trees. However, on that visit, I was
stunned to see that all of the land surrounding our property had most of the
trees cut down. It looked like a fire had swept through the area.
What
happened was the surrounding owners had contracted with individual companies to
have the trees cleared out and hauled out for various purposes including,
ultimately, converting the wood into lumber.
I
am a believer in the free enterprise system. Not only does it hold people
accountable, but also it is the only economic system I have ever seen that
actually channels the inherent selfish desire within fallen man–i.e. greed–and
actually converts that into products beneficial to society.
Certain
people gained economically from that decision to cut down those trees; jobs were
created. However, I also know what it is to have once owned property surrounded
by beautiful trees and wildlife to see it diminished to a barren land. Most of
the animals left because there was no place to hide—or live. There was no need,
no reason, continue to hold our land.
For
these reasons I have read with interest some of the things the Bible has to say
about creation. Deuteronomy says this about the land, 19 When you lay
siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not
destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do
not cut them down. Are the trees of the field people, that you should besiege
them? 20 However, you may cut down trees that you know are not fruit
trees and use them to build siege works until the city at war with you falls (Deut. 20:19-20.)
To
watch out for trees after destroying the city seems comical. However, God
provided the Israelites trees for sustenance and trees for conquest. This tells
us that we should take deal with our natural resources with careful reflection.
Defeating the enemy was important for Israel, but so was preserving and conserving
natural resources.
Mark
Biddle has written that a common tactic used by invading armies in the ancient
Middle East was to cut off and destroy the enemy sources of supply: crops,
cisterns, wells… and vineyards and orchards.
Think
of General Sherman’s march to the sea in the Civil War. His scorched earth
policy spelled disaster for the South. It had a long-term impact on the
regional economy for years into the future. Orchard and vineyards require years
to mature to the point of yielding. What this passage in Deuteronomy did was prohibit
such scorched earth tactics. Scorched earth policies promised to continue to
harm life, even to kill by starvation, for years to come. God showed a concern
for preserving ecological balance.
In
this context, there was a fourfold objection to cutting down trees that showed
God’s concern for people, the trees, the land, and the future. (I am sure these
are not original with me.)
1. The trees were
innocent. They should not have suffered because men were at war. He made trees
and wanted to preserve them.
2.
The Lord is Lord of the universe; he maintained concern for the land. Land
typically needed trees. To cut them down indiscriminately was to rob the
countryside of necessary resources.
3.
The Lord was concerned for the people of the nations. Both the Israel’s army
and the citizens who survived needed trees so people could eat the fruit.
4.
Finally, the Lord was concerned for the future. The children and grandchildren
of those who lived in the city would need the fruit, which trees provided. We likewise
should always think about the future as well as the present.
As
far as I know, the men who cut down the trees at White Oak Creek never planted
the more trees in their place. We need trees. They beautify the landscape, they
provide fruit, they shelter birds and animals, and they help secure the
stability of the soil.
When
trees are indiscriminately cut down on a large national scale, it incurs
calamity. In the last half of the 20th century, the soil erosion in China increased
a disastrous 32%. This was because they cut down to many trees.
Our
revolutionary fathers founded this nation on the concept of liberty. This is
good. Yet, in our desire for liberty, we must take care lest hurt ourselves. The
environment is one of the areas where true discernment is needed.
Let’s
go back to the Garden of Eden for a moment: 24 And God said,
“Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock,
creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its
kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their
kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move
along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
26
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them
rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock,
over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created man in his own image, in the
image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and
increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea
and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the
ground.”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant
on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.
They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and
all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything
that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it
was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.
And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day (Gen. 1:24-31.)
Ellen
Burstein wrote that God made a covenant with his people. He made a contract. He
gave discrete boundaries for behavior. One scorecard for the people was the
land. God rewarded and punished the Israelites by controlling the rain, in
essential component of an agriculturally based society. “If you follow my commandments,
you will receive rain in its season” (Deuteronomy 11:13–14.)
Whenever
Israel engaged in murder, sexual misconduct, and idolatry, the land was
defiled. When the pollution reached a certain point, God considered it
spiritual pollution. The people were vomited out to the land: 26 But you must
keep my decrees and my laws. The native-born and the aliens living among you
must not do any of these detestable things, 27 for all these things were
done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became
defiled. 28 And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it
vomited out the nations that were before you (Lev. 18:26–28.)
This
first happened in Genesis 3. God sent Adam and Eve out of the garden. Here and
in numerous other examples, the land collects pollution. The land is a victim
of Israel's bad behavior. The land told Israel how Israel was doing.
So
what Genesis chapter one, Lev. 18:26ff, and other passages tell us is that God
acts in reaction to people. Since people are free moral agents, they have a
powerful force to add to creation. God has not abandoned creation. He lives and
moves within it, and the land reflects all. Like marriage shows the world our
relationship with Jesus, so too does the way we treat creation. It is a
reflection of where we are and how we stand with Almighty.
Animals and Creation
A
fascinating verse is found in Deuteronomy chapter 22:6 If you come across a bird’s nest beside the road, either in a tree
or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not
take the mother with the young. 7
You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it may go
well with you and you may have a long life (Deut. 22:6-7.)
One has written that the
principle here is very practical. To prevent the depletion of the bird
population one must not take mother and young at the same time. To take the
mother only before the young reach
maturity would doom the young and be the same as taking both together. The
young may be taken in, leaving the mother to bring other offspring into the
world in the future. This was a very practical principle of wildlife
management.
Certainly,
in scripture, animals are not the equivalents of human beings. However, we do read that
there is a respect for the balance of life in God's creation, which insures
humanity a long life that all is well with the land.
Commenting
on Deuteronomy 22:6–7, one Rabbi wrote that the intention was to encourage
creation to exist as fully as possible and to not have untimely destruction.
The mother bird continued God's creation. That is what it meant to fare well
have a good life. This commitment was not for the animal world but for the
human world. When creation continues so that one in the future will be able to
participate in it, then the future has been blessed. Moreover, we have
demonstrated a willingness to rely upon God rather than our own means.
What
you think when I say these words–Chernobyl? Or the Exxon Valdez? If you are of
my generation or older, you think of environmental disasters, death, and
destruction to creation.
Of
all people, former Secretary of the Interior in the Reagan administration,
James Watt, while testifying before congress, told them that there is a
“delicate balance the Secretary of the Interior must have, to be a steward for
the natural resources for this generation as well as future generations. I do
not know how many future generations we can count on before the Lord returns,
whatever it is we have to manage with a skill to leave the resources needed for
future generations.”
Consumption and Creation
16 The king,
moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the
people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the LORD has told you, “You are
not to go back that way again.” 17 He must not take many wives, or his
heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and
gold.
(Deut.
17:16-17.)
Leaders were to
model restraint. They were not to be guilty excessive consumption. That could have led to
moral corruption, greed, and financial burdens on the people.
God
warned against utilitarianism, which meant viewing things as to what they could
provide a person. Moses is telling the people, “Do not become so greedy that
you fail to appreciate the nature purpose of prosperity.” Consider Deuteronomy 8:16–18: 16 He gave you manna to eat in the
desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so
that in the end it might go well with you. 17 You may say to yourself, “My
power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” 18
But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to
produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your
forefathers, as it is today.
Sewage
12 Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve
yourself. 13 As part of your
equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole
and cover up your excrement. 14
For the LORD your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver
your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you
anything indecent and turn away from you (Deut. 23:12-14.)
With
God, you see a concern for environmental ethics, sensibilities, and, for lack
of better word, laws, and structures. Even in the great urgency of war, the
small details of maintaining the proper environment remained crucial. Why? Is
this good for the land? I suppose so. But it is good for people.
What
is the lack of fecal control called? Pollution.
What
comes out of this pollution? Diseases… such as cholera. Do you want to live in
a city that is not well planned environmentally? Victor Hugo wrote in Les Miserables, “The history of man is
reflected in the history of sewers…. The sewer is the conscience of the city.”
In
Jewish tradition, you had an ethic of working for the good of the whole. That may
not be a bad thing to remember today. Remember the golden rule.
I've
seen some who have written that creation is a promise to keep.
A
covenant with God concerning creation a promise and a threat. The promise of
God's kingdom is a promise of good news, but it carries some importance for the
present.
One
analogy that I heard was a young man gives a young woman engagement ring, which
is the pledge of promise. It is not the wedding band. It is the promise of one.
God's fullness in his kingdom is promised. And what we have now, the
environment, is God's gift to us. It's not all that will be, but it is still
very valuable, like an engagement ring. The girl who receives an engagement
ring is not about to say, “Well forget that! What I want is a wedding ring.”
No, she will treasure the engagement ring. Likewise, we treasure the creation
as we await the wedding feast in heaven.
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