Peter wrote to the Christians in what is now Turkey, saying “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” (1 Peter 2:12)
Think about the pagans (or non-Christians) that we regularly come into contact with. Given that they’re not Christians, it’s quite unlikely that they’d know anything about how we worship or what doctrine we believe in. Those are things that they’d really only know if they attended church events with us. On the contrary, what they see of us is the day-to-day, mundane choices that we make in life. Non-Christians might not know which hymns we sing on a Sunday morning, but they know what car we drive (and how much we drive it). They might not know what topic we covered in Sunday school, but they know what food we eat (and how much we eat it). They might not know our opinions on the fall of man and the salvific work of Christ, but they know how we treat our misbehaving kids in the grocery store and how we deal with a difficult client at work. These little things that we might not even give a second thought to go a long way toward informing non-Christians about who we are and what we believe.
The purpose of this Bible study has been to focus primarily on the environment – what the Bible says about it and how we as believers should think about it. But it’s important to know also what non-Christians have in mind when they consider environmental issues, because more often than not, no matter why the non-Christian is interested in these issues (whether they think it’s because we’re all connected to some great Mother Earth or because they recognize that environmental issues today have physical repercussions to the future of humanity), there are certain overarching values that environmentalists hold dear and that are intimately linked, in their minds, with living a moral life.
One of these is justice. In the mind of the environmentalist, pollution is not just a nasty by-product of industrialization, it’s morally wrong. It causes sickness, deformities, even death. People who are being polluted against their will (such as those whose drinking water has been affected by a nearby factory or children growing up in high traffic areas with higher rates of asthma) are the recipients of injustice. And those who contribute to that injustice are themselves unjust. So when a non-Christian sees a Christian who doesn’t seem to care about pollution, they believe right away that Christians have no care for justice. Whether accurate or not, that is the perception.
Another important value environmentalists hold to is love. They tend to get mushy gushy when they talk about it (“We are all connected.” “We are all children of the Earth Mother.”) but the value itself, love for one another, is admirable. [D] All people hold love to be important. Whether it's family, friends, faith or even the environment, everybody values some thing greatly.[/D] So think of what they see when their Christian neighbors spray pesticides on the peach tree in their own yard and the poisons float down onto the non-Christian’s raspberry bushes. The environmentalist non-Christian is immediately convinced that the Christians don’t even take seriously their own belief that they should “love their neighbor” because they didn’t take into consideration the damage their actions would cause to their neighbor.
So as you read through the following Scripture passages and examples from current news stories, put yourself in the shoes of your non-Christian neighbors. What values do they see in you as they’re reflected in your day-to-day decisions and activities – especially as they pertain to the environment? How does your church come across to environmentalists who live in the same neighborhood and see the regular meetings and activities of the church body?
| Christianity and the Food We Eat What does Christianity have to do with food? Well, everything and nothing. Christians don't have diet restrictions in the same way that Jews, Muslims or Hindus do. And eating or not eating a certain food (even communion) neither makes you a Christian nor bars you from being a Christian. But for a Christian, a follower of Christ, the choices that are made in terms of what and how much to eat can possibility have quite a lot to do with having integrity. If I pray for the poor coffee pickers in Mexico and yet continue to buy coffee that was grown with the use of pesticides (which is killing those same coffee pickers) how compassionate am I really? And if I pray for the poor of Calcutta, but choose to buy the rug from India that was woven by a child laborer just because it is cheaper, am I really showing the integrity that befits one who bears God's name? We no longer live in a local economy where the guy who made my shoes is the same guy who lives across the street. In a global economy you can buy a product that is several steps (and probably several countries) away from the person who actually made it. I not only can not talk to the maker of the shoe and see how he or she is doing, I'd be lucky to be able to track the person down at all. In a global economy, we have to look beyond which product might be best for us and determine what unconscious choices are we making with our purchase? Am I choosing to buy a product that has or will adversely affect others because of its creation, transportation, or sale? Perhaps I choose to by the organic tomatoes from Italy. I have chosen well to buy organic produce, but how much gasoline was used just to cart those tomatoes from Italy to my local grocer? If I choose to buy at the large chain store because their items are cheaper, and I putting my neighbor's mom and pop shop out of business? (And would those items have cost about the same once I figured in how much gas I had to use just to get to the chain store?) And in determining the cost of items that involve transportation, I might also want to consider the other hidden costs such as the amount of taxes I will have to pay to upgrade the roads because of their use (as opposed to the wear and tear the road would receive if people mostly bicycled on it or took the bus). Or the increase in medical costs or 911 costs or police department costs because of accidents on the road that either wouldn't happen if traffic was reduced or that wouldn't be so deadly. (If two bikes collide, it can be ugly. But if two cars collide, the accident is more likely to be deadly. And if two pedestrians collide? !! If only our neighborhoods were walkable!) Calling yourself a Christian means that you have to consider your choices. Granted, we can't always make the best choice. I may not have the money that eating organically requires these days. But at least I could be shopping locally and cutting down on the amount my food has to travel before reaching my mouth. (Local farmers markets are often cheaper than the grocery stores.) If I call myself a Christian, I should, at the very least, make myself aware of the consequences of the decisions I make. Organizations like the Christian Coalition like to point out that Christians should weigh their decisions in choosing presidents, congress people, etc. but how often do we advocate using that same amount of brain power to make everyday choices that in the end could effect our planet (rather, God's planet) far more? In fact, why aren't Christians leading the way in helping people make wise consumer choices? Why aren't we the chief advocates in protecting the environment (it is, after all, God's creation)? Why aren't we bringing poor working conditions to light? Why are we sitting around folding tables in the church all purpose room eating highly processed, pesticide laden food when we could be eating locally grown, organic (fresher and safer) foods and be accomplishing just as much "fellowship" and making globally sensitive choices at the same time (and healthier choices as well!)? There are some Christian organizations that are trying to do exactly that. And there are even more nonChristian organizations that would happily accept any Christians who wanted to join their ranks. Look them up. Get involved. Think before you choose.
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