Posted by
Recreational Ranter on Friday, March 09, 2007 10:53:44 AM
I couldn't figure out what category to post this under, but I finally settled on "Faith & Family". The truth is this has implications for a number of areas in our lives, culture and world.
I have been thinking more and more about how we use our land. Now, I'm a conservative in my politics and my faith. "Conservatives don't do environmentalism, Dave!"
Yeah, I know.
Stereotypically, you're one extreme or another. You're either a tree-huggin'-nature-deifyin'-environmentalist-whacko or you're a use-it-all-up-make-money-at-any-cost-it's-all-gonna-burn-anyway-conservative-capitalist-pig. I have trouble with both extremes.
The extreme environmentalist fringe views our world without reference to a Creator who has ultimate control. It's all about what we as mankind do, since it's probably founded on evolutionary theory. I think some of them do want more and more control over our lives at the expense of our Constitutionally mandated freedoms.
If they do adhere to anything spiritual, it really does tend to be pagan, deifying the "Earth Mother", etc.
For obvious reasons, I just can't go there.
Oh yeah, and I believe this whole Global Warming thing is a crock! (Sorry, I just had to get that in)
With the conservative side (at least the stereotype), it really does seem to come down to "supply and demand" ruling everything. Many Christians seem to have a possibly confused attitude, "Yeah, it's too bad that we're cutting down all those forests, but, you know, it's all gonna burn someday anyway. This is the world. God doesn't want us to get too attached to it. He'll make it right in Glory." In the meantime, use it up!
Yeah, I have tons of problems with this view, too. I'm a capitalist, but some people seem to view "supply and demand" (particularly the "demand" part) as if it's an inevitable mandate for whatever they want to do economically, environmentally, morally, etc. I understand that, and I don't want the increasing controls of the socialistic Left in this country, let alone the old Soviet Union. But as a Christian (and I think the Founders of this nation would agree), I do need to control and restrain my appetites. Children demand many things; that doesn't mean they do or should get them!
What to do? Is it a middle ground I'm looking for? A new (or revived?) conservative and Christian vocabulary that treats environmental issues seriously?
I have to start at my level with things I can understand. I love my land. Yeah, I mean rolling hills, hardwood forests, creeks and springs gushing out of limestone bluffs, mountains, wild trout, bream, whitetails, hawks, Carolina chicadees, wild irises, honeybees, dogwoods - okay, you get the picture!
I also love what that land can produce if given a chance. vegetables, grain, milk and other dairy products, wool, leather, etc. And let's face it, a farm or ranch can be aesthetically appealing.
Now, for those of you inclined to belittle my romanticizing here, please understand, there's no doubt that as awesome as nature is, it's laws can be brutal. Mountain lion's gotta eat; too bad about that fuzzy little rabbit!
And I also understand that farming and ranching is hard work. My Grandaddy McCarty used to say something like, "They can talk about the good ol' days all they want. But I see nothin' good about bendin' over all day cuttin' sprouts! [i.e. weeds among the rows of corn, tobacco, etc.].
For all that, our God gets plumb romantic, waxing poetic about the Natural Order He created as in Job 38:31 - 33
Can you bind the chains of Orion? Can you lead forth a constellation in its season, and guide
the Bear with her satellites? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens, or fix their rule over
the earth?
Or in Chapter 39:19 - 21?
Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane? Do you make him leap
like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrible. He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his
strength; he goes out to meet the weapons. He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; and he does
not turn back at the sword.
And what can be said about a God who creates a garden and enjoys a pleasant stroll there "in the cool of the day"?
He made it and us of the same "stuff", except we have that vital spark, the imago dei so that, among other things, we can have dominion, stewardship over and tend this, His creation. As such, we are inextricably connected to the Creation. We are to make our living from the earth. God set up a gloriously beautiful and intricate system - even in its fallen state - whereby we can draw life and sustenance from it.
Even the horribly tragic story of the first murder attests to this connection when God confronts Cain with his brother's slaying: "The voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground."
We belong here. We belong here as much as the hawk, the dogwood, the whale, that mountain. We aren't some mere infestation on the "Earth Mother", nor a result of evolutionary determination. We are privileged to be here; it's a gift.
But with this gifting comes responsibility. I have to believe that His placing Adam in the Garden to cultivate and tend it - have dominion over it, didn't imply allowing his appetites to run amok, thus abusing it.
Am I saying I think no tree should ever be cut down? Does this mean we can never mine for metals and other minerals? No more houses built? No more businesses?
Hey, people have got to live! They need shelter! We have to have means of transport. We have to have ways to fuel those means of transport.
But do we really need one more strip mall, one more Wal-Mart (No, I'm not altogether anti Wal-Mart), because, Oh my gosh, it will save me ten minutes driving time from having to shop at that other one!
Christians, you and I live in a society and culture that has, I believe, become so idolotrously devoted to prosperity, convenience and the sating of our appetites, that we don't see anything wrong with one more strip mall, one more ugly subdivision at the expense of farm land, one more stand of hardwoods cut down in order to plant more profitable pines . . . one more mega-church building complex with all the self-contained services of a small city.
I'm afraid we've become so artificially insulated from the reality of our connectedness to the created order that many of us don't appreciate fully just where that loaf of bread ultimately comes from, that bunch of carrots, those eggs, or that pot roast. We continue in our consumption, our never-ending pursuit of pleasure, convenience, bigger, better, faster . . .
"Hey, we can't all go back to the farm!" No, but somebody had better! I read in one of our North Carolina agricultural periodicals the other day that we're not only losing farm land at an alarming rate but the average age of farmers themselves is going way up. We need more youngsters willing and able to get into farming!
That's kinda hard when the average suburbanite family has no more idea about agriculture than some vague since of nature that comes via HGTV and the price they have to pay for lawn maintenance, let alone growing a tomato.
And there's mounting evidence that that mass produced, processed food is bad for you. I recently learned, for example, that since 1910 and the beginning of the mass production of white flour (i.e. separating the wheat germ with its highly nutritious but quickly spoiling essential oils and the bran leaving the white endosperm that allows for convenience and a long shelf life), the rise in diabetes, cancer, heart problems, etc. have risen dramatically. Jesus refers to Himself as the vital Bread of Life. That makes no since if you're thinking of Wonder Bread! But if you're eating freshly milled whole grain bread you've baked yourself, then His methaphor takes on a whole new meaning! Suffice it to say, it's nutritionally phenomenal, and it tastes (and smells) great too! (For a fuller discussion of this, I refer you to Brad and Sue Becker's company website, www.breadbeckers.com. Read her article "Do Not Eat the Bread of Idleness". I also suggest Dr. Jordan Rubin's book The Maker's Diet).
This has implications (Constitutional ones, too!) for our zoning and tax laws. And what about legalized theft? Remember Kino vs. New London, CT? How can you grow food if your dirt-rich and comparitively cash-poor when the local zoning board decides to basically tax you off your property in order to give it to some entity that will give them more revenue?
I'm actually praying about getting my own piece of land, possibly raising organically grown vegetables and some livestock, and beekeeping. Yeah, I'm good at dreaming; that's why I'm praying about it and asking God to help me to be a good steward of what I have now, i.e. my own little vegetable garden at my house. Gotta start somewhere!
And what about our priority to win souls to Christ? Don't we run the risk of placing environmental concerns over the obvious need to share Hiim with those for whom He died? Yeah, it can be a risk. But I believe that is a needless dichotomy, an either/or that God doesn't endorse. What about both/and thinking?
I know, there are lots of assertions (possible inconsistencies) here in my ramblings and a dearth of evidence and proof. That's why I say I'm very much "in process" on all of this, a little afraid of too much dogmatism. Some of this is still raw, unrefined. Again, that's why I'm praying a great deal about this so that God will guide my thinking - I'll mess it up otherwise!
Gosh, now I feel this urge to go hug a tree!