Slap Mother Earth

“Ownership” is touted as one of the pillars on which our peerless Republic stands. The fact that home ownership among blacks rose to an all-time high under President Bush’s first term was proffered as evidence of a succeeding G.O.P. economic policy. The repetitive remonstrance from the unimpressed frequently espouses the widely-held but damningly unsubstantiated feeling that the current administration cares not for our environment. How are all these eclectic tunes arranged as a harmonious song unto the Lord? I’m not sure, but my new main man Vishal Mangalwadi has a word or two hundred thousand to share.

Visit his website and click on “Spiritual Journey” to the right. You won’t regret it.

He recounts in the book I’m currently taste-testing, Truth and Social Reform (link to an excerpt), how he visited a poor village in his native country, India. The village lay close to a flowing river. In conversation with some destitute villagers, Vishal poured out some rushing truth. He asked them if they knew why they were poor. They replied that they did not. He informed them it is because their forefathers worshipped the river instead of harnessing it as a resource!

Much of the current clamor over environmental concerns in the U.S. is rooted fatally in the eastern philosophy-inspired idolatrous worship of Gaia, or Mother Earth. Driving around Chicago, you can see green boxes that collect clothing on behalf of the "Gaia-Movement Living Earth Green World Action Inc." This lie has traveled well especially on the north side. The Church must remain separate and holy even when it's immediate goals coincide with those who reject the Living God.

As sons and daughters of God, we are to be responsible stewards of the earth our Father created. There is merit to reducing toxic emissions, saving rainforests, and not being wasteful in general only unto the end of glorifying God. But do not be deceived, God created humanity to have dominion over the earth. We must view creation according to the hieracrchy God created placing Man above the rest of nature as the only blessed image bearers of the Lord.

Any demand for environmental protection without heartfelt gratitude for the western concept of natural resources that in part provides the luxury to even consider the sacrifice of monetary profit in order to create an aberration such as national forests is utterly naïve. It is precisely due to the wealth of the industrialized nations that they can morally turn towards leaving sections of the earth untouched for preserving nature. In third world countries, decisions alien to those blessed enough to live in the West must be made, such as chopping down a forest of ancient trees in order to provide heat for the inexorable winter. Tree-hugging in these situations is not recommended.

It turns out, providentially, that there is real value in, say, leaving trees in place such as erosion control, shade, natural barriers, photosynthesis, etc. These considerations must be weighed by those who must live with the consequences. They would do well to learn from the mistakes the Western nations made in abusing certain resources. But it is easy to get carried away in the apotheosis of nature that the lost promote. Let's remember that God will demand an account for how we use what He gives us, and that God values humanity more than the rest of creation.

God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth." (Genesis 1:27,28)

Francis Schaeffer on a Christian's Ecology