Thanks to Julie Link for sending this Oswald Chambers’ quote:
Naturally we never look to Nature for illustrations of the spiritual life, we look at the methods of business men, at man’s handiwork. Our Lord drew all His illustrations from His Father’s handiwork, He spoke of lilies and trees and grass and sparrows. As Christians we have to feast our souls on the things ignored by practical people. A false spirituality blots Nature right out. The way to keep your spiritual life un-panicky, free from hysterics and fuss, free from flagging and breaking, is to consider the bits of God’s created universe you can see where you are. Foster your life on God and on His creation and you will find a new use for Nature. Read the life of Jesus—the calm, unhasting, unperturbed majesty of His life is like the majesty of the stars in their courses because both are upheld by the same power. (Chambers’ Notes on Isaiah)
Some good reflections related to creation care
From Christianity Today online:
Compiled by Richard A. Kauffman
| posted 11/24/2008 09:09AM
Thrift Quotations to stir heart and mind:
FOR SO MANY of the problems now ailing us-from shameful wastefulness, to growing economic inequality, to independence-killing indebtedness, to runaway mindless consumerism-I believe that the philosophy of thrift is the closest thing we have to a miracle cure.
David Blankenhorn, Thrift: A Cyclopedia
BY NO MEANS runne in debt: take thine own pleasure. Who cannot live on twentie pound a yeare, cannot on fortie; he’s a man of pleasure.
George Herbert, in “The Church-porch”
SERIOUSLY and frequently meditate on the account that men are to give of using their wealth. We are not lords of our riches, but stewards; and a steward must give an account of his stewardship.
William Gouge, “Of Well-using Abundance” (sermon, 1655)
FRUGALITY IS GOOD, if Liberality be join’d with it. The first is leaving off superfluous expenses; the last bestowing them to the Benefit of others that need.
William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude
GAIN ALL YOU CAN. … Save all you can. … Then give all you can.
John Wesley, “The Use of Money” (sermon, 1744)
THIS MAY BE SAID of all our estates: what God gives us, is not given us for ourselves, but, “for the Lord.”
Cotton Mather, Essays to Do Good
SOMETIMES THE POOR are praised for being thrifty. But to recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less.
Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man under Socialism
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN’S Poor Richard’s Almanac never tired of preaching the doctrine of saving. And now comes a new generation of alleged financial experts who seem to be telling us that black is white and white is black, and that the old virtues may be modern sins.
Paul Samuelson, Economics (4th edition)
MAYBE WE should start considering our sojourn on earth as a loan. There can be no doubt that for the past hundred years at least, Europe and the United States have been running up a debt, and now other parts of the world are following their example. Nature is issuing warnings [in the form of climate changes] that we must not only stop the debt from growing but start to pay it back.
Vaclav Havel, “Our Moral Footprint,” in The New York Times
THRIFT, THE POWER to save, which means self-restraint, is mainly important, not because it means wealth in the end, not because it enables you to make others work while you watch or play, but because it gives you peace of mind. Without peace of mind no one can do his best work or lead a life really worth while.
Bolton Hall, Thrift
Copyright © 2008 Christianity Today.
[Quotations collected by Fred Krueger]:
Martin Luther (1483 ‑ 1546)
The Incarnation Increases Appreciation of Creation
Now if I believe in God’s Son and bear in mind that He became man, all creatures will appear a hundred times more beautiful to me than before. Then I will properly appreciate the sun, the moon, the stars, trees, apples, pears, as I reflect that he is Lord over and the center of all things.
Sermons on the Gospel of John 496
God’s Power Sustains Creation
If God were to withdraw his hand, this building (the creation) would collapse….The sun would no longer return to its position and shine in the heavens, no child would be born; no kernel, no blade of grass, nothing at all would grow on earth or reproduce itself if God did not work forever and ever.
Sermons On the Gospel of John,
Luther’s Complete Works 22:26
Humanity Is Sustained by God’s Providence
I believe God has created me together with all that exists, that He has given me, and still sustains, my body and soul, all my limbs and senses, my reason and all the faculties of my mind, together with food and clothing, house and home, family and property…. All this He does out of His pure fatherly and divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness on my part.
Werke Kritische Gesamtausgabe 48:201
God Is the Creator
It is God who creates, effects, and preserves all things through His almighty power and right hand, as our creed confesses. For He dispatches no officials or angels when He creates or preserves something, but all this is the work of the Divine power itself. If He is to create it or preserve it, however, he must be present and must take and preserve His creation both in its innermost and outermost aspects.
Luther’s Works, Vol. 37, pg. 57.
God’s Other Gospel
God writes the Gospel, not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.
Quoted in
The Harper Religious and Inspirational
Quotation Companion, pg. 120.
Earth is Innocent of Sin
The earth is indeed innocent (of any sin) and would gladly produce the best products, but is prevented by the curse which was placed upon man because of sin.
Lectures on Genesis 205
The power of God is present in creation
The power of God is present at all places, even in the tiniest leaf…. God is entirely and personally present in the wilderness, in the garden, and in the field.
Luther’s Works 37:57,61
The animals are God’s footprints
In a mouse we admire God’s creation and craft work. The same may be said about flies. Animals are the footprints of God. Adam and Eve derived the fullness of joy and bliss from their contemplation of all the animal creatures.
God’s Presence in Creation
God is wholly present in all creation, in every corner, behind you and before you. Do you think God is sleeping on a pillow in heaven? God is watching over you and protecting you.
Luther’s Works 51:43
Paracelsus (1493 ‑ 1541)
Knowledge of nature fortifies faith
The more cognition there is in a human being about God’s works, the greater is the belief, and the blissfulness is then accordingly…. Blissful and more than blissful may be those human beings… which have this grace and heaven. We are really talking about Christum Jesum, the eternal wisdom.
Aphorismus IV
The effect of knowledge of the mysteries
When a person knows and understands many of God’s works and secrets, his belief is greater and deeper, he is more stable and moral in the rules and virtues, therefore he is in blissfulness, compared to a wise understanding person who is only merciful.
De perfecto homine in Christo Iesu et contra de perdito animale homine in Adam, qui lunaticu dicitur, 1
The path to blissfulness
Human beings cannot achieve blissfulness unless they recognize God as their Creator completely and thoroughly in all of his works and in all of his creatures, as well as knowing themselves.
De perfecto homine in Christo Iesu et contra de perdito animale homine in Adam, qui lunaticu dicitur, 3
John Calvin (1509 ‑ 1564
The Beauty of Creation Reflects the Divine Glory
The creation is quite like a spacious and splendid house, provided and filled with the most exquisite and at the same time the most abundant furnishings. Everything in it tells us of God.
Institutes 1:14
A Duty to Reflect on the Creatures
While we contemplate in all creatures, as in a mirror, those immense riches of his wisdom, justice, goodness, and power, we should not merely run them over cursorily, and, so to speak, with a fleeting glance, but we should ponder them at length, turn them over in our mind seriously and faithfully, and recollect them repeatedly.
Institutes 1:14
Every Part of Creation Reflects the Creator
In every part of the world, in heaven and on earth, he has written and as it were engraven the glory of his power, goodness and eternity…. For all creatures, from the firmament even to the center of the earth, could be witnesses and messengers of his glory to all men, drawing them on to seek him and, having found him, to do him service and honor according to the dignity of a Lord so good, so potent, so wise and everlasting….For the little singing birds sang of God, the animals acclaimed Him, the elements feared and the mountains resounded with Him, the river and springs threw glances toward Him, the grasses and the flowers smiled.
Opera Selecta 9:273
The Overwhelming Beauty of the Universe
You cannot in one glance survey this most vast and beautiful system of the universe in all its wide expanse, without being completely overwhelmed by the boundless force of its brightness.
Institutes 1:5.1
Paul and the Creatures: Commentary on Romans 8:21
Paul does not mean that all creatures will be partakers of the same glory with the sons of God, but that they will share in their own manner in the better state, because God will restore the present fallen world to perfect condition at the same time as the human race…. Let us therefore be content with this simple doctrine their constitution will be such, and their order so complete, that no appearance either of deformity or of impermanence will be seen.
Institutes 1
The Conditions upon Man’s Stewardship of the Earth
The earth was given to man with this condition, that he should occupy himself in its cultivation…. The custody of the garden was given in charge to Adam, to show that we possess the things which God has committed to our hands, on the condition that, being content with the frugal and moderate use of them, we should take care of what shall remain.
Commentary on Genesis, 1554,
from the English translation of 1847,
reprinted by Banner of Truth Publishers, 1965
and in Calvin DeWitt, Earth-Wise, CRC Publications,
Grand Rapids, 1994, pg. 9
Responsibility for the Future of the Land
Let him who possesses a field, so partake of its yearly fruits, that he may not suffer the ground to be injured by his negligence; but let him endeavor to hand it down to posterity as he received it, or even better cultivated. Let him so feed on its fruits that he neither dissipates it by luxury, nor permits it to be marred or ruined by neglect. Moreover, that this economy, and this diligence, with respect to those good things which God has given us to enjoy, may flourish among us, let everyone regard himself as the steward of God in all things which he possesses. Then he will neither conduct himself dissolutely, not corrupt by abuse those things which God requires to be preserved.
Commentary on Genesis, 1554,
from the English translation of 1847,
reprinted by Banner of Truth Publishers, 1965 and
quoted in Calvin DeWitt, Earth-Wise, CRC Publications,
Grand Rapids, 1994, pg. 9
A disposition toward God’s gifts
We are not our own…. we are God’s; all the endowments which we possess are deposits entrusted to us for the very purpose of being distributed for the good of our neighbor…. Moreover, the only right mode of administration is that which is regulated by love.
Institutes III, vii, 1 and 5 (1559),
translated by Henry Beveridge, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1957
A Theology of Nature
The little birds singing are singing of God; the beasts cry unto him; the elements are in awe of him; the mountains echo his name; the waves and streams cast their glances at him; the herbs and flowers laugh out to him. Nor indeed do we need to labor to seek him afar, since each of us may find Him within himself, inasmuch as we are all upheld and preserved by his power dwelling within us.
Translated from “Praefationes biblis gallicis Petri Roberti Olivatani,” CO 9:791
as quoted in Susan Schreiner,
The Theater of His Glory: Nature and Natural Order
in the Thought of John Calvin,
Baker Books, Grand Rapids, 1995, pg. 106.
Those who are wise search out God’s works
For it is said that it is the wisdom of men to search out God’s works, and to set their minds wholly upon them. And God has also ordained the world to be like a theater upon which to behold his goodness, righteousness, power, and wisdom.
Sermon on Ephesians 3:9-12, CO 51:462, as quoted in Susan Schreiner, The Theater of His Glory: Nature and Natural Order in the Thought of John Calvin, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, 1995, pg. 113.
Opening our eyes to the grandeur of God in creation
We are inexcusable when we have not at all considered God in His works. He does not at all leave himself without witness here…. Let us then only open our eyes and we will have enough arguments for the grandeur of God, so that we may learn to honor him as He deserves.
Sermon on Job 5:8-10
The works of God are everywhere
Let us not be ashamed to take pious delight in the works of God open and manifest in this beautiful theatre…. Wherever we cast our eyes, all things they meet are works of God, and at the same time (we should) ponder with pious meditation to what end God created them.
Institutes I:14:20
Seek to know God through His creation
The most perfect way of seeking God. . . is not for us to attempt to penetrate His essence, but for us to contemplate Him in His works whereby He renders himself near and familiar to us, and in some manner communicates himself.
Institutes 1:5.9
St. Teresa of Avila (1515 ‑ 1582)
Nature as an Aid to the Remembrance of God
It helped me to look at fields, or water, or flowers. In these things I found a remembrance of the Creator. I mean that they awakened and recollected me and served as a book and reminded me of my ingratitude and sins.
The Way of Perfection
Detachment from the Creation
Believe me, the whole manner of life we are trying to live is…. leading us to detachment from all created things.
The Way of Perfection
Robert Bellarmine (1542 ‑ 1621)
Knowing God Through His Creatures
God wanted man to know him somehow through his creatures, and since no creature could fittingly reflect the infinite perfection of the Creator, he multiplied his creatures and gave a certain goodness and perfection to each of them so that from them we could judge the goodness and perfection of the Creator, who embraces infinite perfection in the perfection of his one and utterly simple essence.
The Mind’s Ascent to God 2:2
The Beauty of Created Things
Certainly everything that God has made is beautiful as well as good, if we rightly reflect on it…. So my soul, if the Creator has lavished such beauty on created things, how great and marvelous do you think is the beauty of the all‑beautiful Creator? The greatness of God’s beauty not only is known with certainty from the fact that the beauty of all creatures is gathered together and found on a higher level in Him, but also from the fact that since He is invisible to us while we are pilgrims far from Him and is known only by the testimony of Scripture and to a degree in the mirror of his creatures, still many saints so burned with love for Him that some hid themselves in desert places, wishing to devote themselves entirely to contemplation….
Look up in wonder my soul, at the infinite goodness of your Creator, who carries and conserves all things so lovingly despite His not needing their works…
The Mind’s Ascent to God 2:5
William Shakespeare (1564 ‑ 1616)
One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.
In nature’s infinite book of secrecy, a little I can read.
And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Find tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stone,
And good in every thing. As You Like It
Jacob Boehme (1575 ‑ 1624)
God’s Truth in nature
Everything we see in nature is manifested truth; only we are not able to recognize it as such, unless truth is manifest within ourselves… Look at the flowers of the fields; each one has its own particular attributes. Nevertheless they do not wrangle and fight with each other. They do not quarrel about the possession of sunshine as is daily provided by the philosophers who are disputing about the attributes and the will of God, and who nevertheless do not know God, because they do not listen to the word of God within their souls.
The Aurora
The world as a manifestation of God
Referring to a profoundly transforming experience which came to him while in the woods, he writes, “In this light my spirit suddenly saw through all, and in and by all, the creatures, even in herbs and grass, it knew God, who He is and how He is and what His will is. And suddenly in that light my will was set on by a mighty impulse to describe the Being of God.
The Aurora, xix, 7-11
Reflection on Human Responsibility
In this world we have nothing of our own, and we ourselves are not our own. We are only workers and foreign guests in this world for a short time. We are only managers for our God over His creation and creatures. What we work and produce we do not only for ourselves but for our God and our neighbor, and that all together we are one in Christ (who is) our salvation, (and) who is Himself in all of us. We are to heartily and willingly wish to share the gifts that God gives us through our prayer, be they heavenly or earthly, and to keep ourselves as the tree does its branches, or the earth does, giving itself willingly to all its fruits, loving and bearing all of them.
The Way to Christ 3:7
The Word of God in the world
The visible world with its host of creatures is nothing else than the emanated Word which has disposed itself into qualities.
The Aurora
Grasping God in creation
If you consider the depth of heaven, the stars, the elements, and the earth, you will, of course, not grasp with your eyes the pure and clear Godhead, although God is there and within it; but if you rise up in your thoughts and direct your mind to God, who in His holiness rules within the All, you are then penetrating through heaven and grasping the very sacred heart of God himself.
The Aurora, xxiii, 11
How creation is a manifestation of God
The creation of the whole creation is nothing else but a manifestation of the all-eternal, unsearchable God; all whatever he is in his eternal unbeginning generation and dominion, of that is also the creation, but not in the omnipotence and power, but like an apple which grows upon the tree, which is not the tree itself, but grows from the power of the tree: Even so all things are sprung forth out of the divine desire, and created into an essence, where in the beginning there was no such essence present, but only that same mystery of the eternal generation, in which there has been an eternal perfection.
The Signature of All Things
chapter 16, para. 1
The greatest challenge in understanding the mysteries of creation
The greatest obstacle in the understanding of the doctrines in regard to divine mysteries is that the student imagines that they are dealing with things existing outside of himself and with which he is not concerned. But these doctrines are called “secret,” not because they are not to be revealed, except to a few favorites, but because they cannot be understood unless the reader can free himself from that delusive conception of self which causes him to fancy that he is something separated from the rest of the world, not only in regard to his bodily form, but also in regard to his real foundations.
“The Restoration of Nature and the Generation of Man,”
as quoted in The Doctrines of Jacob Boehme,
the God-taught Philosopher, Franz Hartmann,
Macoy Publishing Co., NY, NY, 1919, pg. 131.
William Penn (1644 ‑ 1718)
How little we learn the lessons of the world
The world is certainly a great and stately volume of natural things, and may be styled the hieroglyphics of a better one, but, alas, how very few leaves of it do we seriously turn over!
Some Fruits of Solitude (1692
The Creator’s Face in creation
It would go a long way to caution and direct people in their use of the world that they were better studied and known in the creation of it. For how could man find the confidence to abuse it, while they should see the Great Creator stare them in the face, in all and every part thereof?
Some Fruits of Solitude (1692)
Cotton Mather (1663 - 1728)
The Twofold Book of God
Chrysostom, I remember, mentions a twofold book of God: the book of the creatures, and the book of the Scriptures: GOD having taught us first of all by his works, did it afterwards, by his Words. We will now for a while read the former of these books; ’twill help us in reading the latter. They will admirably assist one another.
The Christian Philosopher, pg. 104
John Wesley (1701 ‑ 1791)
Creation’s Restoration
In the new earth, as well as in the new heavens, there will be nothing to give pain, but everything that the wisdom of God and goodness of God can create to give happiness.
Sermon: The General Deliverance
Each Creature has a Share in the Heavenly Life
The whole brute creation will be restored, not only to the vigor, strength, and swiftness which they had at their creation, but to a far higher degree of each than they ever enjoyed. They will be restored, not only to that measure of understanding which they had in paradise, but to a degree of it much higher than that of as the understanding of an elephant is beyond that of a worm….
In that day all the vanity to which they are now subject will be abolished; they will suffer no more either from within or without; the days of their groaning are ended…. and they shall enjoy happiness suited to their state, without alloy, without interruption, and without end.
One more excellent end may undoubtedly be answered by the preceding considerations. They (the creatures) may encourage us to imitate Him whose mercy is over all His works. They may soften our hearts toward the meaner creatures, knowing that the Lord careth for them. It may enlarge our hearts towards these poor creatures to reflect that, as vile as they appear to our eyes, not one of them is forgotten in the sight of our Father which in heaven.
Sermon: The General Deliverance
Love Creatures for the sake of God, not for their own Sake
Deliver me, O God, from all idolatrous love of any creature. I know infinite numbers have been lost to you by loving those creatures for their own sake, which you permit, nay, even command, to love subordinately to you. Preserve me, I beseech you, from all such blind affection; be a guard to my desires, that they fix on no creature any farther than the love of it tends to build me up in the love of you.
Prayers for Every Day of the Week:
Sunday evening, 1733
Jesus Christ leads us to creation concern
I believe in my heart that faith in Jesus Christ can and will lead us beyond an exclusive concern for the well-being of other human beings, to a broader concern for the well-being of the birds in our backyards, the fish in our rivers, and every living creature on the face of the earth
Quoted by Rev. Finley Schaef, in “Earthkeeping News,”
Newsletter of the NACCE, January, 1997, pg. 2.
Human dominion over the creatures
To this creature, God said, “Have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” … So man was God’s vice-regent upon the earth, the prince and governor of this lower world; and all the blessings of God flowed through him to the inferior creatures. Man was the channel of conveyance between his Creator and the whole brute creation. …
What makes the barrier between man and brutes? The line which they cannot pass? It was not reason. … But it is this: man is capable of God; the inferior creatures are not. … This is the specific difference between man and brute — the great gulf which they cannot pass over. And as a loving obedience to God was the perfection of men, so a loving obedience to God was the perfection of men, so a loving obedience to man was the perfection of the brutes. …
As all the blessings of God in paradise flowed through man to the inferior creatures; as man was the great channel of communication between the Creator and the whole brute creation. When man made himself incapable of transmitting those blessings, that communication was necessarily cut off. … And then it was that ‘the creature,’ every creature, was subject to vanity, to sorrow, to pain of every kind, to all manner of evils. …
As man is deprived of his perfection, his loving obedience to God, so the brutes are deprived of their perfection, their loving obedience to man.
Sermon 60, “The General Deliverance,” 1:2-2:3,
as quoted in The Works of John Wesley, Vol. 2,
edited by Albert Outler,
Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1985
A reflection about the purpose of the animals
In reflecting upon the purpose of so many species of animals, Wesley offers the following thought: “They may encourage us to imitate him whose mercy is over all of his works. They may soften our hearts towards the meaner creatures, knowing that the Lord cares for them. It may enlarge our hearts towards those poor creatures to reflect that, as vile as they appear in our eyes, not one of them is forgotten in the sight of our Father which is in heaven. … Yea, let us habituate ourselves to look forward, beyond this present scene of bondage, to the happy time when they will be delivered therefrom into the liberty of the children of God.
Sermon 60, “The General Deliverance,” 10,
as quoted in The Works of John Wesley, Vol. 2, edited by Albert Outler,
Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1985, pg. 449.
Jonathan Edwards (1703 - 1758)
God’s Excellency Dwells in Every Thing
God’s excellency, his wisdom, his purity and love, seemed to appear in every thing in the sun, moon and stars; in the clouds, and blue sky; in the grass, flowers, trees; in the water, and all nature; which used greatly to fix my mind. I often used to sit and view the moon for continuance; and in the day, spent much time in viewing the clouds and sky, to behold the sweet glory of God in these things.
quoted in Anne Fremantle, The Protestant Mystics, pg. 126.
from C. Cummings, ocso, pg. 54
Reflections of God’s Glory
We have shown that the Son of God created the world for this very end, to communicate Himself in an image of His own excellency…. So that when we are delighted with flowery meadows and gentle breezes of wind, we may consider that we see only the emanations of the sweet benevolence of Jesus Christ. When we behold the fragrant rose and lily, we see His love and purity. So the green trees and fields, and singing of birds, are the emanations of His infinite joy and benignity. The easiness and naturalness of trees and vines are shadows of His beauty and loveliness. The crystal rivers and murmuring streams are the footsteps of His favor, grace, and beauty. When we behold the light and brightness of the sun, the golden edges of an evening cloud, or the beauteous (rain)bow, we behold the adumbrations of His glory and goodness; and in the blue sky, of his mildness and gentleness.
Observations, pg. 94 as quotedin Alexander Allen,
Jonathan Edwards, New York, Burt Franklin
Reprints, 1975) pg. 355.
John Woolman (1720 ‑ 1772)
Tenderness toward All Creatures
I believe that where the love of God is verily perfected and the true spirit of government watchfully attended to, a tenderness toward all creatures made subject to us will be experienced, and a care felt in us that we do not lessen that sweetness of life in the animal creation which the Great Creator intends for them under our government.
quoted in C. W. Hume, The Status of Animals in the Christian Religion,
London, 1957, pg. 59
William Blake (1757 ‑ 1827)
Every cell opens into eternity
And every space smaller than a globule of man’s blood opens into Eternity of which this vegetable Earth is but a shadow.
Milton, Book 1,31
In the elements of the world are hid the whole of creation
To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour
from Auguries of Innocence
St. Seraphim of Sarov (1759 ‑ 1833)
The State of Adam in Paradise
Everything was subject to Adam as the beloved of God, as the king and lord of creation, and everything looked up to him, as the perfect crown of God’s creatures. Adam was made so wise by this breath of life which was breathed into his face from the creative lips of God, the Creator and Ruler of all, that there never has been a man on earth wiser or more intelligent than he, and it is hardly likely that there ever will be. When the Lord commanded him to give names to all the creatures, he gave every creature a name which completely expressed all the qualities, powers and properties given it by God at its creation. Owing to this very gift of the supernatural grace of God which was infused into him by the breath of
St. Theophan the Recluse (1815 - 1894)
All things in creation witness to the Father
Everything, with no exception, is a source from which you can distill a higher and more celestial knowledge that is both valid and useful. Yet this understanding will alter from one person to another, depending upon their power of penetration, their degree of attention, and their faith and devotion. Those who relentlessly and enthusiastically pursue these exercises will in time feel enriched by the wealth of knowledge that is yielded. Then they will start to reinterpret everything around them and all that they meet with.
We can start with the house in which we live, and reinterpret all that it contains: the house itself, its walls, its roof and ceilings, its foundations, its windows, stoves and chimneys, the furniture that fills it: tables, chairs, beds and mirrors and all the rest…. Then we can pass on to the inhabitants of the house…. We can also reinterpret the ordinary activities of daily life…. In the Old and New Testaments we will find many keys to show us how to do this in a wise way….
When we can do so successfully, the world will be like a holy book filled with uncountable and wonderfully different paragraphs; they any fixed object, any changing event, will refer us to God, so that our thoughts will be directed toward Him. Every activity and every movement will be made in His presence. We will walk and act inside the field of the senses and materiality, yet in reality, we move in the real of the Spirit. Everything will unveil its divine dimension for us, and this will reinforce the power with which our attention turns towards Him.
This text is fertile beyond anything we can conceive. If everything in daily life can be spiritually reinterpreted, it is because everything is a symbol of the invisible realm, but reflected within time and space. This is why it has been said that whatever exists on earth is modeled on an archetypal essence that is actually present on another plane of God’s creation. Do we not say in the Creed, “Creator of all that is, visible and invisible.”
The Heart of Salvation, pg. 16-17.
The narrowing effect of specialization on spiritual sensitivity
There is nothing more destructive of the spirit of Christian life than an exclusive concern for empirical learning. It casts one into a coldness one can stay in forever. In some conditions it leads to an immoral life…. This unhappy trend has led to today’s narrow specializations that prevent man from developing his growth into maturity which makes full spiritual growth possible. So it makes him a slave to the machine.
The Heart of Salvation, pg. 19
A Test for Spiritual and Secular Literature
To a student who asked him about which books to read, Theophan gives this enduring counsel: “Some books of human wisdom nourish the spirit; for instance, those that point out to us through nature and history the proofs of God’s wisdom, His truth, and His great care for us. Read this kind of book, because God reveals Himself in nature and history, as well as in His Word. Nature and history are God’s books for those who know how to read them.
“But test them when you are in a good mood. Start reading a book of human wisdom, but if the good mood begins to go away, discard the book. Apply this as a general rule.
“It is easier to say read such books than to tell you where to get them. Nowadays, many books on science attempt to explain the origin of the world without God, and explain moral, religious and other manifestations in our lives without the soul of spirit. Do not touch them….
It is good to understand the structure of plants and animals and especially man, as well as the natural laws which are manifested in them. The wisdom of God is in all these things.
The Heart of Salvation, pg. 67
Contemplation of creation makes the mind sober
The world, with its concepts, principles and rules, in general its entire system made into immutable law, lays a heavy, authoritarian hand on each of its offspring. As a result, no one dares even to think of rebelling against it or renouncing its power. Everyone… adheres to its rules with such timidity. A violation of these rules is considered as a criminal act. The world is not a person, but its spirit in some way stands firm on the earth, influences us, and holds us as if with bonds. …
Experience shows how frequently the mind, obscured by worldly ways, becomes sober through contemplation of divine creation….
Visible nature and the temple of God have not only often brought sense and sobriety to indifferent and sinful Christians, but have converted even pagans to true worship of God and devotion to Him. … The contemplation of the beauties of the visible creation of God converted the Great Martyr Barbara from the ways of the flesh. Their power and influence come from the fact that they vividly and perceptibly offer the best, most blissful way of life for a spirit that is wearied, exhausted, fatigued and tortured by the vanity of the world.
The Path to Salvation, St. Herman of Alaska Press,
Forestville, CA, 1996, pg. 114-11
Henry David Thoreau (1817 ‑ 1862)
Seeing God through Nature
Blessed are they who never read a newspaper, they shall see nature, and through her, God.
Journal
The Wealth of the Natural Philosopher
To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but to love wisdom and to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity and trust.
Journal, August 28, 1851
The Need to prevent Usurpation of Nature
Most men, it seems to me, do not care for nature and would sell their share in all her beauty, as long as they may live, for a stated sum, and many for a glass of rum. It is for the very reason that some do not care for those things that we need to continue to protect all from the vandalism of a few.
Journal, January 3,1861
Fyodor Doestoyevski (1821 ‑ 1881)
Love reveals the mysteries of creation
Love all of God’s creation, the whole of it and every grain of sand. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light! Love the animals. Love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will soon perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.
The Brothers Karamazov
Love the whole earth
You are working for the whole, you are acting for the future. Seek no reward, for your reward on this earth is already great: the spiritual joy which is only vouchsafed to the righteous man. Fear not the great nor the mighty, but be wise and serene. Know the measure, know the times, study them. When you are left alone, pray. Love to throw yourself upon the earth and kiss it. Kiss the earth and love it with an unceasing, consuming love. Love all men, love everything. Seek that rapture and ecstasy. Water the earth with the tears of your joy, and love those tears. Don’t be ashamed of that ecstasy; prize it, for it is a gift of God and a great one.
The Brothers Karamazov
Love the animals
Love the animals. God has given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled. Do not trouble their joy, do not harass them, do not deprive them of their happiness do not work against God’s intent. Man, do not pride yourself on superiority to animals; they are without sin, and you, with your greatness, defile the earth by your appearance on it, and leave the traces of your foulness after you ‑‑ alas, it is true of almost everyone of us!
The Brothers Karamazov
All parts of creation bear witness to the mystery of God
It was a bright, warm, still July night; a cool mist rose from the broad river and we could hear the splash of fish, the birds were still, all was hushed and beautiful, everything praying to God…. Every blade of grass, every insect, ant, and golden bee, all so marvelously know their path; though they have not intelligence, they bear witness to the mystery of God and continually accomplish it themselves.
I saw the dear lad’s heart was moved. He told me that he loved the forest and the forest birds. He was a bird catcher, knew the note of each of them, could call each bird. “I know nothing better than to be in the forest,” said he, “though all things are good.”
“Truly,” I answered him, “all things are good and fair, because all is truth. Look,” said I, “at the horse, that great beast which is so near to man; or the lowly, pensive ox, which feeds him and works for him; look at their faces, what meekness, what devotion to man, who often beats them mercilessly. What gentleness, what confidence and what beauty! It’s touching to know that there’s no sin in them; for all, all except man, are sinless, and Christ has been with them before us.”
“Why,” asked the boy, “is Christ with the animals too?”
“It cannot but be so,” said I, “since the Word is for all. All creation and all creatures, every leaf is striving toward the Word, singing glory to God, weeping to Christ, unconsciously accomplishing this by the mystery of their sinless life….”
The Brothers Karamazov, as quoted in “The Life of the Elder Zosima,” in The Gospel in Doestoyevsky, edited by Hutterian Brethren, Plough Books,
Farmington, PA, 1988, pg. 179-180.
Love as a teacher
Brothers, love is a teacher; but one must know how to acquire it, for it is hard to acquire, it is dearly bought, it is won slowly by long labor. For we must love not only occasionally, for a moment, but forever. Everyone can love occasionally, even the wicked can.
My brother asked the birds to forgive him: that sounds senseless, but it is right; for all is like an ocean, all is flowing and blending; a touch in one place sets up movement at the other end of the earth. It may be senseless to beg forgiveness of the birds, but birds would be happier at your side –a little happier, anyway– and children and all animals, if you yourself were nobler than you are now. It’s all like an ocean, I tell you. Then you would pray to the birds too, consumed by an all-embracing love in a sort of transport, and pray that they too will forgive you your sin.
The Brothers Karamazov, as quoted in “Conversations with Father Zosima,” in The Gospel in Doestoyevsky, edited by Hutterian Brethren, Plough Books,
Farmington, PA, 1988, pg. 247-248.
[Quotes collected by Dean Ohlman]
Jacques Ellul
Stewardship and Love of Nature
Since nature is no longer sacred, man is taken to be the lord of nature. But the essential thing has been forgotten: This nature is the creation of God, who handed it over to Adam and Eve - not to do as they pleased, but to manage and care for in the [superintending] absence of God.
What does this mean? From the perspective of the Hebrew Scriptures it means two things. It means that God does not want to rule over his creation directly; he does not want creation to be an object that runs exactly the way he sets it up like some automatic mechanism. God places people in nature precisely so that everything will not be submitted mechanically to some over-riding power, but in order “to give room to play.” This in turn means that humanity (in the image of God) is called to act toward creation in the same way God does, although without His total power. And this God is given the name love. If God created, it is through love; if He gives independence to creation, it is through love. We must treat nature in the same way, managing it not for blind and egotistical profit, but through love. Such are the implications of the first chapters of Genesis.
“Christian Responsibility for Nature and Freedom” by Jacques Ellul
From Cross Currents Spring 1985 pp. 49-53
Carl F.H. Henry, (1913-2003)
Selected statements from God, Revelation, and Authority
(Vol. II, “God Who Speaks and Shows: Fifteen Theses, Part One”)
Today’s conceptualization of the real once again so anchors the totality of existence in natural processes that it erodes any final significance for personal reality, divine or human. Irreducibly at stake in the contrast of the biblical and scientistic views is. . . in short, whether God is truly known in his self-revelation or is mere fiction. . . .
Either one must abandon the Hebrew-Christian view of the universe, or one must repudiate contemporary naturalism and its radical misrepresentation of reality. One must uphold either the biblical emphasis on the ontological priority of the intelligible Creator or opt for the contemporary reduction of ultimate reality to natural processes. The issue is that precise and that clear-cut. . . .
Man, in whom the elements of nature focus in a special responsible rationality, exists in a divinely established reliance on both God and created nature. . . . Man. . . acts culpably and knowingly when he fails to find evidence for God’s order in nature whenever the external world forces him to revise hypotheses or when its behavior fulfills his expectations, no less than when he shares in wantonly destroying and polluting nature and in grafting the technological monstrosities and the ugly scars of alien conquest upon nature’s visage. The Christian apostle’s verdict — “they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful” (Rom. 1:21 KJV) — is as equally appropriate to the modern age of technocratic scientism as it was to the ancient pagan religions. . . .
God has much more in mind and at stake in nature than a backdrop for man’s comfort and convenience, or even a stage for the drama of human salvation. His purpose includes redemption of the cosmos that man has implicated in the Fall. Today the ecological problem is often stated in a way that accommodates the divorce and alienation of history and nature by exaggerating the importance of man and downgrading the importance of nature; the ecological problem thus becomes one of man’s survival. . . .
Because God considers the human more important than the subhuman, it becomes easy for prideful man to conclude that external nature is not only less important than man, but also of no value apart from him. He sees nature intended solely for his preferred use as he autonomously manipulates it, as lacking beauty except as he pronounces it beautiful, and as having value only as and if he can channel it to human welfare. . . . Concern over the extinction of vanishing species has its place in a Christian outlook, but in a naturalistic view it hardly has in it a vestigial remnant of reason. If man himself is only a passing phase of the evolutionary process, how can a wholly unknown future burden him with moral obligations for lesser species of life?
Ecological experts readily concede that appeals based on human survival lack motivational power unless they also involve immediate self-interest. . . . Those who argue that if self-interest got us into the difficulty, self-interest will also extricate us from it, seem to forget that interest in the species’ future differs considerably from one’s individual present interest. Without a persuasive metaphysics, human beings will simply pursue their own immediate advantage or desires. . . . The basic issue in ecology, as in every other human problem, is not only the nature of man, nor even the nature of nature, but ultimately also the nature and will of God. . . .
It is unfair to blame Christianity for the ecological crisis; what’s more, Christianity is best able to arrest it. The Bible has timeless relevance for ecological problems; neither heirs of nor strangers to the Judeo-Christian outlook can afford to overlook its message. . . .
Scientific naturalism, not Christian theism, nurtures man’s disposition to desecrate the cosmos. Disinterested abuse of nature is a fearsome by-product whenever scientific abstraction assesses external reality without cognizance of personal moral will. . . . If ecology is a moral concern, that concern can hardly be supported or enlivened by a merely scientistic conception of nature whose methodology is intrinsically blind to ethical norms. . . . The present indignation over the ecological crisis is simply an emotional surd, unless contrary to technocratic scientism it presupposes mankind and human culture to be not simply functions and reflexes of the natural world but also somehow distinct from the cosmos and responsibly related to it. The human species has already done much to upset the earthly balances which sustain life; the biblical revelation provides the most persuasive reasons why mankind can and ought to take a very different course. . . .
Less imaginative and more biblically based is the fact, now almost wholly absent from ecological considerations, that God who reveals himself discloses not simply his common grace, but also his wrath in nature as well as in history. Not only in earthquake and flood, which insurance statisticians readily salute as acts of God, but in ecology also, the hand of God points an indignant finger at man’s obliviousness to God’s purposes in the cosmos. . . . If the heavens declare only the prevalence of industrial smog, if day after day uttereth only the chatter of mass media, then the glory of God as veiled by technocratic scientism is conceivably indeed a form of judgment. . . .
It seriously distorts both the Old and New Testaments to say that man alone matters to God. From the creation account onward the Bible boldly correlates the fortunes of the cosmos with those of man. Even if man made in his image is declared “very good,” God identifies the created gradations of existence that precede man as “good.” The earth was not made for man to manipulate as he pleases. Indeed, he is given the vocation of keeping and dressing the Garden (Gen. 2:15). . . .
The messianic vision comprehends a restoration of the unity of man and nature. . . . The terrible imbalances that man’s inordinate will has introduced into the natural realm can be solved only if the question of existence is once again set in its proper context. Only the knowledge of God and its implications for man’s true self- understanding and for the cosmic implications of redemption can restore order and beauty. . . .
The imperative need is for man to do what is right. The right is what God wills, and God’s will embraces man and nature alike. God did not create the world a waste or chaos but a place to be settled. God’s purpose in nature is correlated with his purpose for man. It envisions obedient human sonship as attested by the incarnation of God-man, the divine agent in creation of the cosmos and of man. Though man’s welfare, properly understood, is indeed a legitimate criterion in approaching nature, this must be comprehended through a restoration of nature and man alike to their divinely intended purpose. . . .
Every conjectural philosophy of nature is an oblique response to revelational realities. . . .
John Woolman, 1720-1772
I may here mention a remarkable circumstance that occurred in my childhood. On going to a neighbor’s house, I saw on the way a robin sitting on her nest, and as I came near she went off ; but having young ones, she flew about, and with many cries expressed her concern for them. I stood and threw stones at her, and one striking her she fell down dead. At first I was pleased with the exploit, but after a few minutes was seized with horror, at having, in a sportive way, killed an innocent creature while she was careful for her young. I beheld her lying dead, and thought those young ones, for which she was so careful, must now perish for want of their dam to nourish them. After some painful considerations on the subject, I climbed up the tree, took all the young birds, and killed them, supposing that better than to leave them to pine away and die miserably. In this case I believed that Scripture proverb was fulfilled, “The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.” I then went on my errand, and for some hours could think of little else but the cruelties I had committed, and was much troubled. Thus He whose tender mercies are over all his works hath placed a principle in the human mind, which incites to exercise goodness towards every living creature; and this being singly attended to, people become tender-hearted and sympathizing; but when frequently and totally rejected, the mind becomes shut up in a contrary disposition….
I kept steadily to meetings, spent first-day afternoons chiefly in reading the Scriptures and other good books, and was early convinced in my mind that true religion consisted in an inward life, wherein the heart does love and reverence God the Creator, and learns to exercise true justice and goodness, not only toward all men, but also toward the brute creatures; that, as the mind was moved by an inward principle to love God as an invisible, incomprehensible Being, so, by the same principle, it was moved to love him in all his manifestations in the visible world; that, as by his breath the flame of life was kindled in all animal sensible creatures, to say we love God as unseen, and at the same time exercise cruelty toward the least creature moving by his life, or by life derived from him, was a contradiction in itself….
About the twenty-third year of my age, I had many fresh and heavenly openings, in respect to the care and providence of the Almighty over his creatures in general, and over man as the most noble amongst those which are visible. And being clearly convinced in my judgment that to place my whole trust in God was best for me, I felt renewed engagements that in all things I might act on an inward principle of virtue, and pursue worldly business no further than as truth opened my way..
In my youth I was used to hard labor, and though I was middling healthy, yet my nature was not fitted to endure so much as many others. Being often weary, I was prepared to sympathize with those whose circumstances in life, as free men, required constant labor to answer the demands of their creditors, as well as with others under oppression. In the uneasiness of body which I have many times felt by too much labor, not as a forced but a voluntary oppression, I have often been excited to think on the original cause of that oppression which is imposed on many in the world. The latter part of the time wherein I labored on our plantation, my heart, through the fresh visitations of heavenly love, being often tender, and my leisure time being frequently spent in reading the life and doctrines of our blessed Redeemer, the account of the sufferings of martyrs, and the history of the first rise of our Society, a belief was gradually settled in my mind, that if such as had great estates generally lived in that humility and plainness which belong to a Christian life, and laid much easier rents and interests on their lands and moneys, and thus led the way to a right use of things, so great a number of people might be employed in things useful, that labor both for men and other creatures would need to be no more than an agreeable employ, and divers branches of business, which serve chiefly to please the natural inclinations of our minds, and which at present seem necessary to circulate that wealth which some gather, might, in this way of pure wisdom, be discontinued. As I have thus considered these things, a query at times hath arisen: Do I, in all my proceedings, keep to that use of things which is agreeable to universal righteousness? And then there hath some degree of sadness at times come over me, because I accustomed myself to some things which have occasioned more labor than I believe Divine wisdom intended for us….
In the fall of this year, having hired a man to work, I perceived in conversation with him that he had been a soldier in the late war on this continent; and he informed me in the evening, in a narrative of his captivity among the Indians, that he saw two of his fellow-captives tortured to death in a very cruel manner. This relation affected me with sadness, under which I went to bed; and the next morning, soon after I awoke, a fresh and living sense of Divine love overspread my mind, in which I had a renewed prospect of the nature of that wisdom from above which leads to a right use of all gifts, both spiritual and temporal, and gives content therein. Under a feeling thereof, I wrote as follows:- “Hath He who gave me a being attended with many wants unknown to brute creatures given me a capacity superior to theirs, and shown me that a moderate application to business is suitable to my present condition; and that this, attended with his blessing, may supply all my outward wants while they remain within the bounds he hath fixed, and while no imaginary wants proceeding from an evil spirit have any place in me? Attend then, O my soul! to this pure wisdom as thy sure conductor through the manifold dangers of this world.
Doth pride lead to vanity? Doth vanity form imaginary wants? Do these wants prompt men to exert their power in requiring more from others than they would be willing to perform themselves, were the same required of them? Do these proceedings beget hard thoughts? Do hard thoughts, when ripe, become malice? Does malice, when ripe, become revengeful, and in the end inflict terrible pains on our fellow-creatures and spread desolations in the world?
Do mankind, walking in uprightness, delight in each other’s happiness? And do those who are capable of this attainment, by giving way to an evil spirit, employ their skill and strength to afflict and destroy one another? Remember then, O my soul! the quietude of those in whom Christ governs, and in all thy proceedings feel after it.
Doth he condescend to bless thee with his presence? To move and influence thee to action? To dwell and to walk in thee? Remember then thy station as being sacred to God. Accept of the strength freely offered to thee, and take heed that no weakness in conforming to unwise, expensive, and hard-hearted customs, gendering to discord and strife, be given way to. Doth he claim my body as his temple, and graciously require that I may be sacred to him? O that I may prize this favor, and that my whole life may be conformable to this character! Remember, O my soul! that the Prince of Peace is thy Lord; that he communicates his unmixed wisdom to his family, that they, living in perfect simplicity, may give no just cause of offence to any creature, but that they may walk as He walked!”….
Some fowls yet remained of those the passengers took for their sea-store. 1 believe about fourteen perished in the storms at sea, by the waves breaking over the quarter-deck, and a considerable number with sickness at different times. I observed the cocks crew as we came down the Delaware, and while we were near the land, but afterwards I think I did not hear one of them crow till we came near the English coast, when they again crowed a few times. In observing their dull appearance at sea, and the pining sickness of some of them, I often remembered the Fountain of goodness, who gave being to all creatures, and whose love extends to caring for the sparrows. I believe where the love of God is verily perfected, and the true spirit of government watchfully attended to, a tenderness towards all creatures made subject to us will be experienced, and a care felt in us that we do not lessen that sweetness of life in the animal creation which the great Creator intends for them under our government.
Excerpts from the journal of Quaker, John Woolman,
University of Virginia Library Electronic Text Center.
University of Virginia Library.
Charlottesville, Va.
John Woolman [1720-1772] was an American Quaker clergyman and reformer who traveled within the colonies preaching against slavery, advocating just Indian policy, and opposing the rum trade.
Jeremy Rifkin
A Second Christian Reformation
Sin is people’s hubris in believing that they can treat God’s creations differently than God does; namely, manipulate and exploit them for purposes other than what they were created for. Sin is also people’s hubris in believing that they can reorder this world and redefine its purpose to suit their own whims and fancies. The Christian life must be one of conserving wholeness over fragmentation, balance over imbalance, and harmony over disharmony. A Christian must love God’s creation and treat it with respect because God created it with love.
Dominion, then, does not mean the right to exploit nature. Far from it, say the scholars. Dominion means stewardship over nature. Henlee H. Barnett, in his book The Church and the Ecological Crisis, points out that the Biblical view of humankind “is that of a keeper, caretaker, custodian . . . of the household earth.” Stewardship, says Barnett is “the New Testament term for this role of human beings in relation to the natural order.” The first requisite of a steward, according to Barnett, “is faithfulness, because he handles that which belongs to another.” The concept of stewardship leads directly to the Biblical notion of covenant. In Genesis, God says, “I established my Covenant with you [humankind], and with your seed after you and with every living created thing.”
God, then, has a covenant with humanity. Men and women are to act as His stewards on earth, preserving and protecting all of God’s creations. This covenant puts human beings in a special relationship to God. Since people are a creation of God, just like all of God’s other creations, they are equal to them in their finite nature; only God is infinite. While all creations are equal in that they owe their existence to the same source - God - human beings are nonetheless different. The difference, as Francis Schaeffer points out in his book Pollution and the Death of Man, is that human beings are made by God in his image and are given the responsibility to act as stewards over the rest of God’s creation. Therefore, people are both part of nature, equal to and dependent on all other living creatures, and at the same time separate from nature with a responsibility to protect and take care of it. As long as people accept both relationships, they are faithful to God’s purpose and are carrying out the covenant God made with them. However, when people take advantage of their special relationship by taking over God’s creation as their own, using it for their own ends rather than God’s glory, they have broken the covenant and are rebelling against God.
The new stewardship doctrine and the laws of thermodynamics, when combined with more orthodox theology, set the tone for a new, reformulated Christian doctrine and covenant suited to the ecological prerequisites of an entropic world view. Most of all, the stewardship doctrine provides an answer to the ultimate question, “Why should I take the responsibility of caring for and preserving the natural order?” Because it is God’s order. God created it and God entrusted human beings with the responsibility of overseeing it. It comes down to a question of serving God or rejecting Him.
The new stewardship doctrine turns the modern worldview upside down. The rules and relationships that are used to exploit nature are diametrically opposed to those that are necessary to conserve nature. For example, private ownership of resources, increased centralization of power over nature, the elimination of biological diversity, the refusal to set limits on production and consumption, the fragmentation of human labor into separate and autonomous spheres of operation, the reductionist approach to understanding life and the interrelationships between phenomena, and the concept of progress as a process of continually transforming the natural world into a more exploitable human‑made environment have long been considered as valid pursuits and goals in the modern world. Every single one of these items and scores of others that make up the operating assumptions of the age of growth are inimical to the principles of ecology, a low‑entropy economic framework, and, most important, the newly defined stewardship doctrine.
Stewardship requires that humankind respect and conserve the natural workings of God’s order. The natural order works on the principles of diversity, interdependence, and decentralization. Maintenance replaces the notion of progress, stewardship replaces ownership, and nurturing replaces engineering. Biological limits to both production and consumption are acknowledged, the principle of equitable distribution of resources is accepted, and the concept of wholeness becomes the essential guideline for measuring all relationships and phenomena. In reality, the new stewardship doctrine represents a fundamental shift in humanity’s frame of reference. It establishes a new set of governing principles for how human beings should behave and act in the world.
If the Christian community fails to embrace the concept of a New Covenant vision of stewardship, it is possible that the emerging religious fervor could be taken over and ruthlessly exploited by right‑wing and corporate interests. The evangelical awakening could end up providing the essential cultural backdrop that a fascist movement in the United States would require to maintain control over the country during a period of long‑range economic decline.
Even a thoughtful and respected evangelical theologian of the stature of Francis Schaeffer believes that fascism is a very real possibility for the United States in the troubled economic years that lie ahead. In reflecting on America’s inability to find a solution to the problem of worsening inflation and recession cycles, Schaeffer concludes: “I cannot get out of my mind the uncomfortable parallel to the German’s loss of confidence in the Weimar Republic just before Hitler, which was caused by unacceptable inflation. History indicates that at a certain point of economic breakdown people cease being concerned with individual liberties and are ready to accept regimentation.”‘
Schaeffer is pessimistic about the prospect for the United States. He believes that the overriding value Americans place on their own “personal peace and affluence” will likely lead to a fascist type order as the economy continues to contract: “I believe the majority . . . will sustain the loss of liberties without raising their voices as long as their own lifestyles are not threatened.”
What Schaeffer fails to say is that there are already many disturbing signs within the evangelical movement pointing to just such a possibility. For example, many middle‑class Christians are falling back more and more on the old notion of the “gospel of wealth,” equating Biblical doctrine with rugged individualism, free enterprise, and unlimited material accumulation. This kind of expansionist theology is still very much a dominant motif in American Christianity. The ”gospel of wealth” theme will likely continue to be used by individual Christians to justify a lack of concern or involvement with the pressing economic needs ahead, needs that require a communal and not merely an individual or free‑enterprise response. For these Christians, the evangelical movement will serve as a sanctuary for withdrawal from the turmoil around them. If economic conditions become so bad that they begin to threaten even this last refuge of the middle class, chances are good that withdrawal will quickly translate into active support of the right‑wing and capitalist interests even to the point of accepting whatever authoritarian measures are deemed necessary by the state to maintain social order.
By radically redefining humanity’s relationship to the rest of God’s creation, contemporary Christian scholars are challenging our expansionist epoch. The new concept of dominion as stewardship and conservation rather than ownership and exploitation is at loggerheads with both traditional Christian theology and the mechanical worldview of the past several hundred years. By refocusing the story of Creation and humanity’s purpose in the world, Christian theologians have committed an act of open rebellion against their own doctrinal past. The Christian individual who for hundreds of years sought salvation through productivity and the subduing of nature is now being challenged by a new Christian person who seeks salvation by conserving and protecting God’s creation. The Christian work ethic is being replaced by the Christian conservation ethic. This new emphasis on stewardship is providing the foundation for the emergence of a new Christian Reformation and a New Covenant vision for society.”
From Entropy: Into the Greenhouse World
Bantam Books, 1980 (revised in 1989)
Margaret Clarkson
Expectation
[Romans. 8:19-22]
This glowing dawn,
all nature stands on tiptoe
waiting
drenched in wonder.
Soft air breathes
mists rise
waters ripple
petals stir
grasses and
leaves sigh.
Birds loose shining shafts of song.
High in the blue
bright wings drift
hover and dart.
By fragrant brier
furred bodies freeze
nostrils twitch
whiskers quiver and stiffen
sharp eyes glance
sure paws flash.
Shimmering insects flit and fall.
On dewy thorn
the patient spider weaves
her jeweled web.
In weedy depths
of still green waters
shadowy forms gleam
silently gliding.
Breezes freshen
the morning quickens.
Washed in new gold
all nature waits on tiptoe
watching
wordlessly questing:
Is this the day?
will it be soon,
the hour of earth’s redemption,
Life’s return?
John Wesley, 1703-1791
The General Deliverance
Sermon #60 [text of the 1872 edition]
“The earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him that subjected it: Yet in hope that the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth, and travaileth in pain together until now.” Romans. 8:19-22.
1. Nothing is more sure, than that as “the Lord is loving to every man,” so “his mercy is over all his works;” all that have sense, all that are capable of pleasure or pain, of happiness or misery. In consequence of this, “He openeth his hand, and filleth all things living with plenteousness. He prepareth food for cattle,” as well as “herbs for the children of men.” He provideth for the fowls of the air, “feeding the young ravens when they cry unto him.” “He sendeth the springs into the rivers, that run among the hills, to give drink to every beast of the field,” and that even “the wild asses may quench their thirst.” And, suitably to this, he directs us to be tender of even the meaner creatures; to show mercy to these also. “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn:” — A custom which is observed in the eastern countries even to this day. And this is by no means contradicted by St. Paul’s question: ”Doth God take care for oxen?” Without doubt he does. We cannot deny it, without flatly contradicting his word. The plain meaning of the Apostle is, Is this all that is implied in the text? Hath it not a farther meaning? Does it not teach us, we are to feed the bodies of those whom we desire to feed our souls? Meantime it is certain, God “giveth grass for the cattle,” as well as “herbs for the use of men.”
2. But how are these Scriptures reconcilable to the present state of things? How are they consistent with what we daily see round about us, in every part of the creation? If the Creator and Father of every living thing is rich in mercy towards all; if he does not overlook or despise any of the works of his own hands; if he wills even the meanest of them to be happy, according to their degree; how comes it to pass, that such a complication of evils oppresses, yea, overwhelms them? How is it that misery of all kinds overspreads the face of the earth? This is a question which has puzzled the wisest philosophers in all ages: And it cannot be answered without having recourse to the oracles of God. But, taking these for our guide we may inquire,
I. What was the original state of the brute creation?
II. In what state is it at present? And,
III. In what state will it be at the manifestation of the children of God?
I. 1. We may inquire, in the First place, What was the original state of the brute creation? And may we not learn this, even from the place which was assigned them; namely, the garden of God? All the beasts of the field, and all the fowls of the air, were with Adam in paradise. And there is no question but their state was suited to their place: It was paradisiacal; perfectly happy. Undoubtedly it bore a near resemblance to the state of man himself. By taking, therefore, a short view of the one, we may conceive the other. Now, “man was made in the image of God.” But “God is a Spirit:” So therefore was man. (Only that spirit, being designed to dwell on earth, was lodged in an earthly tabernacle.) As such, he had an innate principle of self-motion. And so, it seems, has every spirit in the universe; this being the proper distinguishing difference between spirit and matter, which is totally, essentially passive and inactive, as appears from a thousand experiments. He was, after the likeness of his Creator, endued with understanding; a capacity of apprehending whatever objects were brought before it, and of judging concerning them. He was endued with a will, exerting itself in various affections and passions: And, lastly, with liberty, or freedom of choice; without which all the rest would have been in vain, and he would have been no more capable of serving his Creator than a piece of earth or marble; he would have been as incapable of vice or virtue, as any part of the inanimate creation. In these, in the power of self-motion, understanding, will, and liberty, the natural image of God consisted.
2. How far his power of self-motion then extended, it is impossible for us to determine. It is probable, that he had a far higher degree both of swiftness and strength, than any of his posterity ever had, and much less any of the lower creatures. It is certain, he had such strength of understanding as no man ever since had. His understanding was perfect in its kind; capable of apprehending all things clearly, and judging concerning them according to truth, without any mixture of error. His will had no wrong bias of any sort; but all his passions and affections were regular, Being steadily and uniformly guided by the dictates of his unerring understanding; embracing nothing but good, and every good in proportion to its degree of intrinsic goodness. His liberty likewise was wholly guided by his understanding: He chose, or refused, according to its direction. Above all, (which was his highest excellence, far more valuable than all the rest put together,) he was a creature capable of God; capable of knowing, loving, and obeying his Creator. And, in fact, he did know God, did unfeignedly love and uniformly obey him. This was the supreme perfection of man; (as it is of all intelligent beings;) the continually seeing, and loving, and obeying the Father of the spirits of all flesh. From this right state and right use of all his faculties, his happiness naturally flowed. In this the essence of his happiness consisted; But it was increased by all the things that were round about him. He saw, with unspeakable pleasure, the order, the beauty, the harmony, of all the creatures; of all animated, all inanimate nature; the serenity of the skies; the sun walking in brightness; the sweetly variegated clothing of the earth; the trees, the fruits, the flowers,
And liquid lapse of murmuring streams.
Nor was this pleasure interrupted by evil of any kind. It had no alloy of sorrow or pain, whether of body or mind. For while he was innocent he was impassive; incapable of suffering. Nothing could stain his purity of joy. And, to crown all, he was immortal.
3. To this creature, endued with all these excellent faculties, thus qualified for his high charge, God said, “Have thou dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” (Gen. 1:28.) And so the Psalmist: “Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands: Thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.” (Psalm 8:6, &c.) So that man was God’s vicegerent upon earth, the prince and governor of this lower world; and all the blessings of God flowed through him to the inferior creatures. Man was the channel of conveyance between his Creator and the whole brute creation.
4. But what blessings were those that were then conveyed through man to the lower creatures? What was the original state of the brute creatures, when they were first created? This deserves a more attentive consideration than has been usually given it. It is certain these, as well as man, had an innate principle of self-motion; and that, at least, in as high a degree as they enjoy it at this day. Again: They were endued with a degree of understanding; not less than that they are possessed of now. They had also a will, including various passions, which, likewise, they still enjoy: And they had liberty, a power of choice; a degree of which is still found in every living creature. Nor can we doubt but their understanding too was, in the beginning, perfect in its kind. Their passions and affections were regular, and their choice always guided by their understanding
5. What then is the barrier between men and brutes? The line which they cannot pass? It was not reason. Set aside that ambiguous term: Exchange it for the plain word, understanding: and who can deny that brutes have this? We may as well deny that they have sight or hearing. But it is this: Man is capable of God; the inferior creatures are not. We have no ground to believe that they are, in any degree, capable of knowing, loving, or obeying God. This is the specific difference between man and brute; the great gulf which they cannot pass over. And as a loving obedience to God was the perfection of man, so a loving obedience to man was the perfection of brutes. And as long as they continued in this, they were happy after their kind; happy in the right state and the right use of their respective faculties. Yea, and so long they had some shadowy resemblance of even moral goodness. For they had gratitude to man for benefits received, and a reverence for him. They had likewise a kind of benevolence to each other, unmixed with any contrary temper. How beautiful many of them were, we may conjecture from that which still remains; and that not only in the noblest creatures, but in those of the lowest order. And they were all surrounded, not only with plenteous food, but with every thing that could give them pleasure; pleasure unmixed with pain; for pain was not yet; it had not entered into paradise. And they too were immortal: For “God made not death; neither hath he pleasure in the death of any living.”
6. How true then is that word, “God saw everything that he had made: and behold it was very good!” But how far is this from being the present case! In what a condition is the whole lower world! — to say nothing of inanimate nature, wherein all the elements seem to be out of course, and by turns to fight against man. Since man rebelled against his Maker, in what a state is all animated nature! Well might the Apostle say of this: “The whole creation groaneth and travaileth together in pain until now.” This directly refers to the brute creation In what state this is at present we are now to consider.
II. 1. As all the blessings of God in paradise flowed through man to the inferior creatures; as man was the great channel of communication, between the Creator and the whole brute creation; so when man made himself incapable of transmitting those blessings, that communication was necessarily cut off. The intercourse between God and the inferior creatures being stopped, those blessings could no longer flow in upon them. And then it was that “the creature,” every creature, “was subjected to vanity,” to sorrow, to pain of every kind, to all manner of evils: Not, indeed, “willingly,” not by its own choice, not by any act or deed of its own; “but by reason of Him that subjected it,” by the wise permission of God, determining to draw eternal good out of this temporary evil.
2. But in what respect was “the creature,” every creature, then “made subject to vanity?” What did the meaner creatures suffer, when man rebelled against God? It is probable they sustained much loss, even in the lower faculties; their vigour, strength, and swiftness. But undoubtedly they suffered far more in their understanding; more than we can easily conceive. Perhaps insects and worms had then as much understanding as the most intelligent brutes have now: Whereas millions of creatures have, at present, little more understanding than the earth on which they crawl, or the rock to which they adhere. They suffered still more in their will, in their passions; which were then variously distorted, and frequently set in flat opposition to the little understanding that was left them. Their liberty, likewise, was greatly impaired; yea, in many cases, totally destroyed. They are still utterly enslaved to irrational appetites, which have the full dominion over them. The very foundations of their nature are out of course; are turned upside down. As man is deprived of his perfection, his loving obedience to God; so brutes are deprived of their perfection, their loving obedience to man. The far greater part of them flee from him; studiously avoid his hated presence. The most of the rest set him at open defiance; yea, destroy him, if it be in their power. A few only, those we commonly term domestic animals, retain more or less of their original disposition, (through the mercy of God,) love him still, and pay obedience to him.
3. Setting these few aside, how little shadow of good, of gratitude, of benevolence, of any right temper, is now to be found in any part of the brute creation! On the contrary, what savage fierceness, what unrelenting cruelty; are invariably observed in thousands of creatures; yea, is inseparable from their natures! Is it only the lion, the tiger, the wolf, among the inhabitants of the forest and plains — the shark, and a few more voracious monsters, among the inhabitants of the waters, — or the eagle, among birds, — that tears the flesh, sucks the blood, and crushes the bones of their helpless fellow-creatures? Nay; the harmless fly, the laborious ant, the painted butterfly, are treated in the same merciless manner, even by the innocent songsters of the grove! The innumerable tribes of poor insects are continually devoured by them. And whereas there is but a small number, comparatively, of beasts of prey on the earth, it is quite otherwise in the liquid element. There are but few inhabitants of the waters, whether of the sea, or of the rivers, which do not devour whatsoever they can master: Yea, they exceed herein all the beasts of the forest, and all the birds of prey. For none of these have been ever observed to prey upon their own species:
Saevis inter se convenit ursis: Even savage bears will not each other tear.
But the water-savages swallow up all, even of their own kind, that are smaller and weaker than themselves. Yea, such, at present, is the miserable constitution of the world, to such vanity is it now subjected, that an immense majority of creatures, perhaps a million to one, can not otherwise preserve their own lives, than by destroying their fellow-creatures!
4. And is not the very form, the outward appearance, of many of the creatures, as horrid as their dispositions? Where is the beauty which was stamped upon them when they came first out of the hands of their Creator? There is not the least trace of it left: So far from it, that they are shocking to behold! Nay, they are not only terrible and grisly to look upon, but deformed, and that to a high degree. Yet their features, ugly as they are at best, are frequently made more deformed than usual, when they are distorted by pain; which they cannot avoid, any more than the wretched sons of men. Pain of various kinds, weakness, sickness, diseases innumerable, come upon them; perhaps from within; perhaps from one another; perhaps from the inclemency of seasons; from fire, hail, snow, or storm; or from a thousand causes which they cannot foresee or prevent.
5. Thus, “as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; even so death passed upon all men;” and not on man only, but on those creatures also that “did not sin after the similitude of Adam’s transgression.” And not death alone came upon them, but all of its train of preparatory evils; pain, and ten thousand sufferings. Nor these only, but likewise all those irregular passions, all those unlovely tempers, (which in men are sins, and even in the brutes are sources of misery,) “passed upon all” the inhabitants of the earth; and remain in all, except the children of God.
6. During this season of vanity, not only the feebler creatures are continually destroyed by the stronger; not only the strong are frequently destroyed by those that are of equal strength; but both the one and the other are exposed to the violence and cruelty of him that is now their common enemy, — man. And if his swiftness or strength is not equal to theirs, yet his art more than supplies that defect. By this he eludes all their force, how great soever it be; by this he defeats all their swiftness; and, notwithstanding their various shifts and contrivances, discovers all their retreats. He pursues them over the widest plains, and through the thickest forests. He overtakes them in the fields of air, he finds them out in the depths of the sea. Nor are the mild and friendly creatures who still own his sway, and are duteous to his commands, secured thereby from more than brutal violence; from outrage and abuse of various kinds. Is the generous horse, that serves his master’s necessity or pleasure with unwearied diligence, — is the faithful dog, that waits the motion of his hand, or his eye, exempt from this? What returns for their long and faithful service do many of these poor creatures find? And what a dreadful difference is there, between what they suffer from their fellow-brutes, and what they suffer from the tyrant man! The lion, the tiger, or the shark, gives them pain from mere necessity, in order to prolong their own life; and puts them out of their pain at once: But the human shark, without any such necessity, torments them of his free choice; and perhaps continues their lingering pain till, after months or years, death signs their release.
III. 1. But will “the creature,” will even the brute creation, always remain in this deplorable condition? God forbid that we should affirm this; yea, or even entertain such a thought! While “the whole creation groaneth together,” (whether men attend or not,) their groans are not dispersed in idle air, but enter into the ears of Him that made them. While his creatures “travail together in pain,” he knoweth all their pain, and is bringing them nearer and nearer to the birth, which shall be accomplished in its season. He seeth “the earnest expectation” wherewith the whole animated creation “waiteth for” that final “manifestation of the sons of God;” in which “they themselves also shall be delivered” (not by annihilation; annihilation is not deliverance) “from the” present ”bondage of corruption, into” a measure of “the glorious liberty of the children of God.”
2. Nothing can be more express [firmly stated]: Away with vulgar prejudices, and let the plain word of God take place. They “shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into glorious liberty,” — even a measure, according as they are capable, — of “the liberty of the children of God.”
A general view of this is given us in the twenty-first chapter of the Revelation. When He that “sitteth on the great white throne” hath pronounced, “Behold, I make all things new;” when the word is fulfilled, “The tabernacle of God is with men, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God;” — then the following blessing shall take place (not only on the children of men; there is no such restriction in the text; but) on every creature according to its capacity: “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying. Neither shall there be any more pain: For the former things are passed away.”
3. To descend to a few particulars: The whole brute creation will then, undoubtedly, be restored, not only to the vigour, strength, and swiftness which they had at their creation, but to a far higher degree of each than they ever enjoyed. They will be restored, not only to that measure of understanding which they had in paradise, but to a degree of it as much higher than that, as the understanding of an elephant is beyond that of a worm. And whatever affections they had in the garden of God, will be restored with vast increase; being exalted and refined in a manner which we ourselves are not now able to comprehend. The liberty they then had will be completely restored, and they will be free in all their motions. They will be delivered from all irregular appetites, from all unruly passions, from every disposition that is either evil in itself, or has any tendency to evil. No rage will be found in any creature, no fierceness, no cruelty, or thirst for blood. So far from it that “the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall feed together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.” (Isaiah 11:6, &c.)
4. Thus, in that day, all the vanity to which they are now helplessly subject will be abolished; they will suffer no more, either from within or without; the days of their groaning are ended. At the same time, there can be no reasonable doubt, but all the horridness of their appearance, and all the deformity of their aspect, will vanish away, and be exchanged for their primeval beauty. And with their beauty their happiness will return; to which there can then be no obstruction. As there will be nothing within, so there will be nothing without, to give them any uneasiness: No heat or cold, no storm or tempest, but one perennial spring. In the new earth, as well as in the new heavens, there will be nothing to give pain, but everything that the wisdom and goodness of God can create to give happiness. As a recompence for what they once suffered, while under the “bondage of corruption,” when God has “renewed the face of the earth,” and their corruptible body has put on incorruption, they shall enjoy happiness suited to their state, without alloy, without interruption, and without end.
5. But though I doubt not that the Father of All has a tender regard for even his lowest creatures, and that, in consequence of this, he will make them large amends for all they suffer while under their present bondage; yet I dare not affirm that he has an equal regard for them and for the children of men. I do not believe that
He sees with equal eyes, as Lord of all,
A hero perish, or a sparrow fall.
By no means. This is exceeding pretty; but it is absolutely false. For though
Mercy, with truth and endless grace,
O’er all his works doth reign,
Yet chiefly he delights to bless
His favourite creature, man.
God regards his meanest creatures much; but he regards man much more. He does not equally regard a hero and a sparrow; the best of men and the lowest of brutes. “How much more does your heavenly Father care for you!” says He “who is in the bosom of his Father.” Those who thus strain the point, are clearly confuted by his question, “Are not ye much better than they?” Let it suffice, that God regards everything that he hath made, in its own order, and in proportion to that measure of his own image which he has stamped upon it.
6. May I be permitted to mention here a conjecture concerning the brute creation? What, if it should then please the all-wise, the all-gracious Creator to raise them higher in the scale of beings? What, if it should please him, when he makes us “equal to angels,” to make them what we are now, — creatures capable of God; capable of knowing and loving and enjoying the Author of their being? If it should be so, ought our eye to be evil because he is good? However this be, he will certainly do what will be most for his own glory.
7. If it be objected to all this, (as very probably it will,) “But of what use will those creatures be in that future state?” I answer this by another question, What use are they of now? If there be (as has commonly been supposed) eight thousand species of insects, who is able to inform us of what use seven thousand of them are? If there are four thousand species of fishes, who can tell us of what use are more than three thousand of them? If there are six hundred sorts of birds, who can tell of what use five hundred of those species are? If there be four hundred sorts of beasts, to what use do three hundred of them serve? Consider this; consider how little we know of even the present designs of God; and then you will not wonder that we know still less of what he designs to do in the new heavens and the new earth.
8. “But what end does it answer to dwell upon this subject, which we so imperfectly understand?” To consider so much as we do understand, so much as God has been pleased to reveal to us, may answer that excellent end — to illustrate that mercy of God which “is over all his works.” And it may exceedingly confirm our belief that, much more, he “is loving to every man.” For how well may we urge our Lord’s words, “Are not ye much better than they?” If, then, the Lord takes such care of the fowls of the air, and of the beasts of the field, shall he not much more take care of you, creatures of a nobler order? If “the Lord will save,” as the inspired writer affirms, “both man and beast,” in their several degrees, surely “the children of men may put their trust under the shadow of his wings!”
9. May it not answer another end; namely, furnish us with a full answer to a plausible objection against the justice of God, in suffering numberless creatures that never had sinned to be so severely punished? They could not sin, for they were not moral agents. Yet how severely do they suffer! — yea, many of them, beasts of burden in particular, almost the whole time of their abode on earth; So that they can have no retribution here below. But the objection vanishes away, if we consider that something better remains after death for these poor creatures also; that these, likewise, shall one day be delivered from this bondage of corruption, and shall then receive an ample amends for all their present sufferings.
10. One more excellent end may undoubtedly be answered by the preceding considerations. They may encourage us to imitate Him whose mercy is over all his works. They may soften our hearts towards the meaner creatures, knowing that the Lord careth for them. It may enlarge our hearts towards those poor creatures, to reflect that, as vile as they appear in our eyes, not one of them is forgotten in the sight of our Father which is in heaven. Through all the vanity to which they are now subjected, let us look to what God hath prepared for them. Yea, let us habituate ourselves to look forward, beyond this present scene of bondage, to the happy time when they will be delivered therefrom into the liberty of the children of God.
11. From what has been said, I cannot but draw one inference, which no man of reason can deny. If it is this which distinguishes men from beasts, — that they are creatures capable of God, capable of knowing and loving and enjoying him; then whoever is ”without God in the world,” whoever does not know or love or enjoy God, and is not careful about the matter, does, in effect, disclaim the nature of man, and degrade himself into a beast. Let such vouchsafe a little attention to those remarkable words of Solomon: “I said in my heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, — They might see that they themselves are beasts.” (Eccles. 3:18.) These sons of men are undoubtedly beasts; and that by their own act and deed; for they deliberately and wilfully disclaim the sole characteristic of human nature. It is true, they may have a share of reason; they have speech, and they walk erect; but they have not the mark, the only mark, which totally separates man from the brute creation. “That which befalleth beasts, the same thing befalleth them.” They are equally without God in the world; “so that a man” of this kind “hath no pre-eminence above a beast.”
12. So much more let all those who are of a nobler turn of mind assert the distinguishing dignity of their nature. Let all who are of a more generous spirit know and maintain their rank in the scale of beings. Rest not till you enjoy the privilege of humanity – the knowledge and love of God. Lift up your heads, ye creatures capable of God! Lift up your hearts to the Source of your being!
Know God, and teach your souls to know
The joys that from religion flow. Give your hearts to Him who, together with ten thousand blessings, has given you his Son, his only Son! Let your continual ”fellowship be with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ!” Let God be in all your thoughts, and ye will be men indeed. Let him be your God and your All, — the desire of your eyes, the joy of your heart, and your portion forever.
[Edited by Sarah Anderson, student at Northwest Nazarene College (Nampa, ID),
with corrections by George Lyons for the Wesley Center for Applied Theology.]
This document (last modified September 30, 1995) from the
Christian Classics Ethereal Library server, at Wheaton College
Francis A. Schaeffer, 1912-1984
The Christian View of Ecology
In Romans 8 Paul looks ahead to what is going to happen when Jesus Christ comes back again. He writes, “For the earnest expectation of creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God [Christians]. For creation was made subject to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who has subjected it in hope. Because creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, and not only that, but ourselves also which had the first fruits of the Spirit [Christians], even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, that is, the redemption of the body” (Romans 8:20-23).
What Paul says here is that when our bodies — bodies of men — are raised from the dead, at that time nature, too, will be redeemed. The blood of the Lamb will redeem man and nature together, as it did in Egypt at the time of the Passover, when the blood applied to the doorposts saved not only the sons of the Hebrews, but also their animals. . . . As Christ’s death redeems men, including their bodies, from the consequences of the Fall, so His death will redeem all nature from its evil consequences, at the time when we are raised from the dead.
Now in Romans 6 Paul applies this future principle to our present situation. It is the great principle of Christian spirituality. Christ died, Christ is your Savior, Christ is coming back again to raise you from the dead. So by faith — because this is true to what has been in Christ’s death and to what will be when He comes again, by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit — you are to live this way substantially now. “Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him . . . . Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:9,11). So we look forward to this, and one day it will be perfect. But we should be looking now, on the basis of the work of Christ, for substantial healing in every place affected by the Fall.
Now we must understand that even in our relationship with God a distinction has to be made here. By justification our guilt was completely removed, in a forensic way, as God declared our guilt gone when we accepted Christ as our Savior. But in practice, in our lives between becoming a Christian and the Second Coming of Christ or our death, we are not in a perfect relationship to God. Therefore real spirituality lies in the existential, moment-by-moment looking to the blood of Christ, and upon the basis of the work of Christ seeking and asking God in faith for a substantial reality in our relationship with Him at the existential moment. I must be doing this so that substantially, in practice, at this moment, there will be a reality in my relationship with the personal God who is there.
Now this is also true in other areas, because the Fall, as the Reformation theology has always emphasized, not only separated man from God, but also caused other deep separations. It is interesting that almost the whole “curse” in Genesis 3 is centered upon the outward manifestations. It is the earth that is going to be cursed for man’s sake. It is the woman’s body that is involved in the greatly multiplied conception and pain in childbirth.
So there are other divisions. Man was divided from God first; and then, ever since the Fall, man is separated from himself. These are the psychological divisions. I am convinced that this is the basic psychosis: that the individual man is divided from himself as a result of the Fall.
The next division is that man is divided from other men; these are the sociological divisions. And then man is divided from nature, and nature is divided from nature. So there are these multiple divisions, and one day, when Christ comes back, there is going to be a complete healing of all of them, on the basis of the “blood of the Lamb.”
But Christians who believe the Bible are not simply called to say that “one day” there will be healing, but that by God’s grace substantially, upon the basis of the work of Christ, substantial healing can be a reality here and now.
Here the Church — orthodox, Bible-believing Church — has been really poor. What have we done to heal sociological divisions? Often our churches are a scandal: they are cruel not only to the man “outside,” but also to the man “inside.”
The same thing is true psychologically. We load people with psychological problems by telling them that “Christians don’t have breakdowns” . . . and that is a kind of murder.
On the other hand, what we should have, individually and corporately, is a situation where, on the basis of the work of Christ, Christianity is seen to be not just “pie in the sky,” but something that has in it the possibility of substantial healing now in every area where there are divisions because of the Fall. First of all, my division from God is healed by justification, but then there must be the “existential reality” of this, moment by moment; second, there is the psychological division of man from himself; third, there are the sociological divisions of man from other men; and last, there is the division of man from nature, and nature from nature. In all of these areas we should expect to see substantial healing.
I took a long while to settle on that word “substantial,” but it is, I think, the right word. It conveys the idea of a healing that is not perfect, but that is real, evident, and substantial. Because of past history and future history, we are called upon to live this way now by faith.
When we carry these ideas over into the area of our relationship to nature, there is an exact parallel. On the basis of the fact that there is going to be total redemption in the future, not only of man but of all creation, the Christian who believes the Bible should be the man who — with God’s help and in the power of the Holy Spirit — is treating nature now in the direction of the way nature will be then. It will not now be perfect, but it must be substantial, or we have missed our calling. God’s calling to the Christian now, and to the Christian community, in the area of nature — just as it is in the area of personal Christian living in true spirituality — is that we should exhibit a substantial healing here and now, between man and nature and nature and itself, as far as Christians can bring it to pass.
In Novum Organon Francis Bacon wrote this: “Man by the Fall fell at the same time from his state of innocency and from his dominion over nature. Both of these losses, however, even in this life, can in some part be repaired; the former by religion and faith, the later by the arts and sciences.” It is a tragedy that the Church, including the orthodox, evangelical Church, has not always remembered that. Here, in this present life, it is possible for the Christian to have some share, through sciences and the arts, in returning nature to its proper place.
But how is this to be achieved? First, as we have seen, it is by the emphasis upon creation. Then second, it is by a fresh understanding of man’s “dominion” over nature (Genesis 1:28). Man has dominion over the “lower” orders of creation, but he is not sovereign over them. Only God is the Sovereign Lord, and the lower orders are to be used with this truth in mind. Man is not using his own possessions.
A parallel is the gift of talents. They are to be used as God means them to be used. In the Parable of the Talents, told by Jesus (Matthew 25:15ff), the talents or money did not belong to the man with whom they were left. He was a servant and a steward, and he held them only in stewardship for the true Owner.
When we have dominion over nature, it is not ours either. It belongs to God, and we are to exercise our dominion over these things not as though entitled to exploit them, but as things borrowed or held in trust, which we are to use realizing that they are not ours intrinsically. Man’s dominion is under God’s Dominion and in God’s Domain. . . .
An essential part of a true philosophy is a correct understanding of the pattern and plan of creation as revealed by the God who made it. For instance, we must see that each step “higher” — the [mechanical], the plant, the animal, and man — has the use of that which is lower than itself. We find that man calls upon and utilizes the animal, the plant, and the [mechanical]. The animal eats the plant. The plant utilizes the [mechanical] portion of the universe. Each thing in God’s creation utilizes the thing that God has made under it.
We must also appreciate that each thing is limited by what it is. That is, a plant is limited by being a plant, but it is also limited by the properties of those things under it that it uses. So the plants can only use the chemicals on the basis of the boundary condition of the chemical’s properties. There is nothing else it can do.
But this is true also for man. We cannot make our own universe; we can only use what is under us in the order of creation. But there is a difference, and this is that the animal, for example, must use the lower as what it is. Man has to accept some necessary limitation of what is under him, but he can consciously act upon what is there. That is a real difference. The animal simply eats the plant. He cannot change its situation or properties. The man, on the other hand, has to accept some limitations, but nevertheless is called upon in his relationship to nature to treat the thing that is under him consciously, on the basis of what God has made it to be. The animal, the plant must do it; the man should do it. We are to use it, but we are not to use it as though it were nothing in itself.
Now let us look at it in another way. Man was given dominion over creation. This is true. But since the Fall, man has exercised this dominion wrongly. He is a rebel who has set himself at the center of the universe. By creation man has dominion; but as a fallen creature he has used that dominion wrongly. Because he is fallen, he exploits created things as though they were nothing in themselves, and as though he has an autonomous right to them.
Surely then, Christians, who have returned through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ to fellowship with God, and have a proper place of reference to the God who is there, should demonstrate a proper use of nature. We are to have dominion over it, but we are not going to use it as fallen man uses it. We are not going to act as though it were nothing in itself or as though we will do to nature everything we can do. . . .
So man has dominion over nature, but he uses it wrongly. The Christian is called upon to exhibit this dominion, but exhibit it rightly: treating the thing as having value in itself, exercising dominion without being destructive. The church should always have taught and done this, but she has generally failed to do so, and we need to confess our failure. Francis Bacon understood this, and so have other Christians at different times, but by and large we must say that for a long, long time Christian teachers, including the best orthodox theologians, have shown a real poverty here.
As a parallel example, what would have happened if the Church at the time of the Industrial Revolution had spoken out against the economic abuses which arose from it? This is not to suggest that the Industrial Revolution was wrong, or that capitalism as such is necessarily wrong, but that the Church, at a point in history when it had the consensus, as it does not have now, failed (with some notable exceptions) to speak against the abuse of economic dominion. So also the Church has not spoken out as it should have done throughout history against the abuse of nature.
But when the Church puts belief into practice, in man and in nature, there is a substantial healing. One of the first fruits of that healing is a new sense of beauty. The aesthetic values are not to be despised. God has made man with a sense of beauty, in a way no animal has: no animal has ever produce a work of art. Man as made in the image of God has aesthetic quality, and as soon as he begins to deal with nature as he should — as having dominion but not exploiting nature as though it had no value in itself, and realizing it is also a creature of God as man is — beauty is preserved in nature. But also economic and human value will accrue, for the problems of ecology that we have now will diminish.
Christians should be able to exhibit individually and corporately that, on the basis of the work of Christ, dealing with things according to the world view and basic philosophy of the Bible, they can produce something that the world has tried, but failed, to produce. The Christian community should be a living exhibition of the truth that in our present situation it is possible to have substantial sociological healings — healings that humanism longs for but has not been able to produce. Humanism is not wrong in its cry for sociological healing, but humanism is not producing it. And the same thing is true in regard to a substantial healing where nature is concerned.
So we find that when we begin to deal on a Christian basis, things begin to change; not just theoretical things, important as they are, but practical things. Man is not to be sacrificed, as pantheism sacrifices him, because, after all, he was made in the image of God, and given dominion. Yet nature is to be honored, each thing on its own level. In other words, there is a balance here. Man has dominion; he has a right by choice, because he is a moral creature, a right by choice to have dominion. But he is also by choice to exercise it rightly. He is to honor what God has made, up to the very highest level that he can honor it, without sacrificing man.
Christians, of all people, should not be the destroyers. We should treat nature with an overwhelming respect. We may cut down a tree to build a house or to make a fire to keep the family warm. But we should not cut down the tree just to cut down the tree. We may, if necessary, bark the cork tree in order to have the use of the bark. But what we should not do is to bark the tree simply for the sake of doing so, and let it dry and stand there a dead skeleton in the wind. To do so is not to treat the tree with integrity. We have the right to rid our houses of ants; but what we have no right to do is to forget to honor the ant as God made it, out in the place where God made the ant to be. When we meet the ant on the sidewalk, we step over him. He is a creature, like ourselves; not made in the image of God, it is true, but equal with man as far as creation is concerned. The ant and the man are both creatures. . . .
One does not deface things simply to deface them. One would not willingly with no reason deface the rock. After all, the rock has a God-given right to be a rock as He made it. If you must move the rock in order to build the foundation of a house, then, by all means, move it. But on a walk in the woods do not strip the moss from it for no reason and leave it to lie by the side and die. Even the moss has a right to live. It is equal with man as a creature of God.
Hunting game is another example of the same principle. Killing of animals for food is one thing, but on the other hand they do not exist simply as things to be slaughtered. This is true of fishing, too. Many men fish and leave their victims to rot and stink. But what about the fish? Has it no rights — not to be romanticized as though it were a man — but real rights? On the one hand it is wrong to treat the fish as though it were a human baby; on the other hand, neither is it merely a chip of wood.
When we consider the tree, which is “below” the fish, we may chop it down, so long as we remember it is a tree, with its own value as a tree. It is not a zero. Some of our housing developments demonstrate the practical application of this. Bulldozers have gone in to flatten everything and clear the trees before the houses are begun. The end result is ugliness. It would have cost another thousand dollars to bulldoze around the trees, so they are simply bulldozed down without question. And then we wonder, looking at the result, how people can live there. It is less human in its barrenness, and even economically it is poorer as the top soil washes away. So when man breaks God’s truth, in reality he suffers.
The hippies are right in their desire to be close to nature, even walking in bare feet in order to feel it. But they have no sufficient philosophy, so it drifts into pantheism and soon becomes ugly. But Christians, who should understand the creation principle, have a reason for respecting nature, and when they do, it results in benefits to man. Let us be clear: it is not just a pragmatic attitude; there is a basis for it. We treat it with respect because God made it. When an orthodox, evangelical Christian mistreats or is insensible to nature, at that point he is more wrong than the hippie who has no real basis for his feeling for nature and yet senses that man and nature should have a relationship beyond that of spoiler and spoiled. You may, or may not, want to walk barefoot to feel close to nature, but as a Christian what relationship have you thought of and practiced toward nature as your fellow creature, over the last ten year