In today’s world, there is a growing need to protect the environment and the elements in the environment. The environment as a whole reflects the animals, plants and people and each element live and survive as a result of the actions of others. The continued depletion of the environment continues slowly each day as persons are unaware of their Christian obligation to maintain the environment. Regardless of religion, race or social background, persons need to deviate from the ignorance that plagues the society and move towards putting a halt to the elements that seek to destroy the natural environment. Industrialization has created a rise in the demand for natural resources and waste products and this has led to the degradation of the environment. But, it is the job of Christians to restore and to protect the environment of the world that God in his divine abundance create for us. Genesis 2:15 says “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Persons can preserve and restore the environment through: preserving energy and decreasing waste through a recycling program as recycling programs involve everyone in every place: houses, work places, schools, parks trough using less and by re-using paper, plastic bottles. As Christians we should intensely promote and influence these types of programs in our communities so as to effectuate positive initiatives to protect the environment.
Introduction
The earth belongs to the people and the people belong to the earth. Yet, persons continue to degrade the environment and its natural resources. Christians must be reminded that all that God created was good and that these are valuable and worthy to everyone despite personal need and wants of mankind. Arguably, “the natural world receives God’s care” (Hubert 1992: 2) and this care are common to the compassion, love and beauty that God gives to plants and animals (Hubert 1992). But this gift comes with a cost and mankind must remember that God placed each creature on earth to protect the earth and all its inhabitants. The earth and everything in it belongs to us and was inherited to us to protect it. Therefore, one cannot protect human life and not choose to protect the lives of animals. Likewise, one cannot protect animals and humans and not be prepared to protect the plant life. The ongoing degradation of the environment and natural resources is an issue of concern for all persons as the earth needs the overall protection of all its creatures in order to restore and preserve the whole world.
The church and Christians alike must come together to conserve the environment. Christianity teaches sound moral values and ethical obligations that can help to protect the environment. But, man’s demands on the energy and the plant life for food lead to the continual depletion of the forests and in turn lead to degradation in the environment. The earth must face the natural destruction of volcanoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and intense storms and at the same time humans continue to misuse the natural gases. The future looks dismal as there is the human race will ultimately destroy the environment because of the reality that “their large and highly developed brains, are in a much more influential position than any other group of life forms” (Noel, M. A. 2008). Yet, persons cut down trees to build extremely large houses that persons do not need. Additionally, persons destroy forests to generate materials for the basic needs of the society. In many cases, the needs are not justified as persons use excessive products to satisfy their wants and mask these wants as needs.
Arguably, humans have been ordained as stewards of the earth and as stewards of Christ, it is important to meet the needs of the society instead of the issues relating to the environment. Still, the ecosystems are also communities that include the living and nonliving organisms and not just the living organisms. Non –living organisms are also essential to the development of relationships with one another, regardless of whether or not each organism is cognizant of the other's existence and need for survival (Noel, M. A. 2008). Nonetheless, modern technology and the improvements in modern technology allow for a number of new inventions that warrant excessive use of the natural resources and in turn lead to the intentional and unintentional destruction of the environment. God place mankind in charge of His creation as he took man and placed Him in the Garden of Eden to take care of it (Genesis 2:15). Some persons may argue that humans are at the higher rung of the proverbial ladder and therefore are more important to the ecosystem. These persons are allowed to make decisions that will benefit mankind. But the truth is that persons often abuse this responsibility and deviate from the task of being accountable to God for the protection of the environment.
Although mankind believes that humans are more important to the ecosystem, the truth is that natural environment is just as important. The natural environment includes physical, chemical, and biotic factors that act on an organism of an ecological community and that ultimately determine its form and survival (Noel, M. A. 2008). With this in mind, one must accept that there is a great need to assess the ways in which the environmental problems can have a negative impact people and understand that failure to care for the environment will result in the direct and indirect suffering of the people. Conversely, God has a deep concern for the protection of the spiritual and the physical world and mankind must make the efforts to preserve the natural order of the world.
The harsh reality is that people are the actual cause and the main damaging factor in the depletion of the environment. The world and its resources are a creation of God, as a Christians we are call to preserve and protect not to extinguish, and yet our selfish desires force us to forget the role that the spirituality plays in our lives. According to Dewitt and Nash “God created the world, holds everything together, and reconciles all things through Jesus Christ” (Dewitt & Nash 2016: 2). But, the changes in technology allow mankind to delve into the resources of the earth to satisfy their basic needs. There is a need then to remind the world of the benefits of the earth resources and to further remind people of their role as primary caretakers of the environment. But, the growing concern in these arguments lies in the role of major corporations raping the environment for financial gains and less of the needs of the people. Persons no longer recycle paper and plastic because these large organizations continue to create new and innovative materials that will make the life of persons easier. But, the ease of our daily lives comes at the cost of destroying the environment.
In concluding, the environmental abuse has led to an increase in the destruction of the world’s resources. Persons have deviated from the teachings of the Bible and have become selfish in their thoughts. In other words, many persons have begun to believe that mankind’s superior role in the society means that they are allowed to abuse the earth’s natural resources. But as stewards of Christ, the church needs to renew their efforts in creating a world that is free from abuse. It is clear that global destruction including climate changes is a complex and worldwide problem that carries consequences for everyone and this cannot be ignored because mankind continue to meet the greed for wealth and have become ignorant of the need to preserve the environment. Educational campaigns should be created and reinforced, guidelines to the parishioners on the effects of environmental degradation and our role in this issue should be established. We should change our lifestyles, this will include recycling most of the waste products including papers, plastics, biodegradable products, eco-friendly products etc.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hubert, D., (2016) The Environment: What Can Christians Do? Fall 1992 · Vol. 21 No. 2 · pp.
54–59 Retrieved from http://www.directionjournal.org/21/2/environment-what-can-
christians-do.html
Noel, M. A. (2008). A Christian reflection on the environment. Journal of Religious Thought,
60-63(1-2), 233-246. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1313216064?accountid=12085
