We read more news on climate change, global warming, increase in sea levels, and species extinctions today than we did just five years ago. Environmental consciousness is at an all-time high. What used to be the politely tolerated doomsday views of scientists in their ivory towers have now become accepted facts and mainstream beliefs.

Former US Vice-President Al Gore has probably gained more international prominence than any other ex-Vice-President in history through his documentary An Inconvenient Truth, highlighting global environmental issues which have captured unprecedented attention. Nature and environmental issues are also gaining significance in international forums outside traditional international environmental meetings – environmental issues are discussed at global platforms like the World Trade Organization and the International Maritime Organization. In politics, Green Parties exist in many European countries and America. The German Green Party was the first in the world to achieve national prominence; that party was even part of the federal coalition government of Germany from 1998 to 2005.

Christians and the Environment

There have always been Christians who identify with nature and environmental causes. The term “creation care” is used in some circles to describe such causes from a Christian perspective. It was coined to emphasize the fact that nature and the environment are actually integral parts of Creation, and caring for them is caring for what God had created.

Though it is currently not of priority on the average evangelical agenda, the number of Christians interested in the environment, and organizations that provide platforms to translate this interest into action is not insignificant. The Evangelical Environmental Network (www.creationcare.org) provides information for Christians interested in caring for the environment; they also publish a quarterly magazine Creation Care, providing insightful articles on Christian perspectives on the environment. Christian conviction in response to environmental concerns has also gone beyond providing information resources – A Rocha is an international conservation organization that bases its existence and activities on Christian values like love, obedience, justice, and hope. It supports conservation projects, with a presence in at least 19 countries worldwide.

Christians are also joining other like-minded people to escalate the global environmental agenda. In 2006, Fortune reported on a coalition of evangelical Christians, Fortune 500 executives, and environmentalists who issued a joint “call to action” for the US to do more to curb global warming. Author of The Purpose-driven Life, Rick Warren, together with leaders of World Vision, and the Salvation Army in the US were among Christians who identified with this coalition.

Biblical Basis

Is this just the “flavor of the week” for international and local media? What should a Christian do? In the first place, should a Christian do anything at all about all this? Just because Christians elsewhere are doing it, should this be the reason for us to jump in? Is this an issue that we should politely look at, but not get too involved in?

What are the biblical foundations for a Christian response to global issues related to nature and the environment? How biblical is this idea of caring for the environment, anyway? I will not attempt anything remotely close to a biblical treatise on this topic, but will only highlight a few passages to illustrate some reference points for a creation care conviction.

It’s always good to start at the beginning and Genesis 1:1 tells us, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” God is the Creator – not just of humans but also of every living and non-living thing on the earth. Just as loving a person necessitates at least a caring respect for things he or she makes, loving God requires an aspect that respects and cares for His creation.

The Psalmist fills the 104th Psalm with poetic descriptions of God’s creation – indeed it expresses the tangible delight that God has as He directs and controls all that He has created. In his vision of heaven, John described the worship of the living creatures who express the fact that God created all things as a conscious act of His will (Rev 4:11). He created them because He wanted to.

Israel: An Illustration of Creation

I gained a new perspective on the value God places on nature when I visited Israel recently. We know that God unilaterally chose Israel to call His own among all the nations of the earth. He did this even though Israel was by no means among the most powerful or influential nations in the world or even the region – it was not blessed with a large population that could easily overrun other nations militarily; neither was it a technological or political force internationally.

While not simplistically suggesting that this was the reason God chose Israel, it is a fact that within its very small geographical boundaries (less than 21,000km2 in area – for comparison, peninsular Malaysia has an area of more than 131,000km2), it possesses natural habitats ranging from arid deserts to lush wetlands, coral reefs to snow-capped mountains. Indeed, Israel illustrates creation – it is a veritable demonstration site for the biological and habitat diversity of the world!

Environmental Stewardship

Francis Schaeffer in his 1970 book Pollution and the Death of Man writes, “… nature: it is not our own. 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. We are to use them realizing they are not ours intrinsically. Man’s dominion is under God’s dominion.”

This concept of stewardship carries with it a responsibility for the welfare of what has been placed in trust, and an accountability of the steward to the Master in the discharge of his duty. It is probably not too far-fetched to apply the account of the servant left in charge of his master’s possessions in Matthew 24:45-46 to the relationship of Man – who has been granted dominion over all other species (Gen 1:28-29) and everything else in creation.

Respect for Creation

Related to the attitude of environmental stewardship is that of recognizing that God values the whole world, including the environment because it is His creation. Francis Schaeffer, in the same book, writes, “The man who believes things are there only by chance cannot give things a real intrinsic value. But for the Christian, there is an intrinsic value. The value of a thing is not in itself autonomously, but because God made it. It deserves this respect as something which was created by God, as Man himself has been created by God.”

A detail that is not often noticed in the covenant God initiated with Noah after the Flood is that the covenant also included “every living creature” (Gen 9:12). In case we dismiss it as an extraneous oversight on God’s part, the inclusion of “all living creatures of every kind” as beneficiaries of the covenant was reiterated in verse 15. If God so chooses to honor these creatures, who are we to decide that they are not worthy of our respect? What are the implications to us if we knowingly destroy the world that God has sworn not to harm?

Apathy, Activism, Action

Given the situation, we should respond with action, not apathy. Most responses to environmental concerns we read of are expressed in activism. However, action need not be exclusively manifested as activism. Neither should a lack of activism for environmental causes be construed as apathy towards our stewardship obligations to creation or disrespect for the work of the Creator. Conversely, activism by itself is also not evidence of a lack of apathy. The adrenaline, allure, and acclaim of activism itself can corrupt the pure concern for nature and the environment as motivators for action.

What Can We Do?

Do something, however small and insignificant you may think it is – it does count. Some in Singapore think that since we are so small and have so little nature in comparison with what the rest of the world has, it does not matter what we do or not do. While this presumption is not based on fact and can be refuted (even though we are small, we do have a significant number of plant and animal species, and diverse natural habitats), what is more important is that this thinking may be akin to that of the last servant in the parable of the talents (Mt 25:18, 24-27). Five loaves and two fish have been shown to feed five thousand; not offering those five loaves and two fish could have meant that more than five thousand went hungry (Mt 14:14-21).

Live with an attitude of contentment in your purchasing decisions. Many global environmental problems are related to pollution and excessive use of energy resources; these in turn are directly linked to our own demand for goods. Many of the goods we have are necessary, but quite a few we purchase are more in response to values of the world like greed, lust, hoarding, and selfishness than we would care to admit.

Learn to appreciate the natural world. There are many opportunities for this, even within an urban context like Singapore. Visit a nature reserve, a park, your own backyard or even just take a closer look at one of the many trees in the city. Recognize the design, insight and creative molding that went into each plant and animal, habitat and natural landscape that we see around us and remind yourself that it was God the Creator who personally made these with His own Hands.

Nigel is a marine biologist by training and currently deals with marine conservation policy issues in Singapore. Together with his wife Christina, they worship at Bethesda Cathedral, Singapore.

The New International Version of the Bible has been referenced.