Under the Tower of Babel
Copyright ©1995 by Dean Isaacson : All rights reserved - ISBN 1-887008-00-4
Chapter Nine :: An Unholy Union
After the fall of man, God told Adam that by the sweat of his brow, he would eat his food.[1] As late as the early 1800s, farming required 73.6 percent of the labor force. By 1980, it had dropped to 2.7 percent.[2]
Now that food production is not an integral part of life for most people, they are no longer connected to the soil. The popular mode to refresh this physical connection is through recreation. Many of these people find their pleasures in aesthetics, rather than industry. They are convinced that any alteration debases the natural resources. It horrifies the recreationists to see what the producers have done to this pristine earth.
The media bombards us with daily accounts of greed, excess and destruction. They try to persuade us that this planet is being destroyed beyond repair. This 'information' we receive from them is a Malthusian worldview. The media wants us to believe that we have too many people on the earth.
In their book, Environmental Overkill, the authors give an example of this philosophy as professed by Paul Ehrlich of Stanford University.
- We must institute the Communist Chinese system of compulsory abortion;
- We must return to the state of endless drudge, because the labor saving devices consume fossil fuels, poisoning the earth;[3]
- Business air travel must be replaced by closed circuit television;
- Automotive based family vacations must cease;
- The rich and intelligent must not propagate, poverty is beautiful;
- Responsible parents will have only 1.5 children.[4]
Christians can be especially susceptible to this worldview when the arguments are painted with the color of compassion and protection. This is because twentieth century Christians are less prone to read the Bible. So spiritual discernment comes from feeling and reasoning rather than from the Word of God. Compounding this problem, many church pastors, acting as builders, strive for physical growth rather than spiritual. So they paint Jesus as the Christ of love and compassion, disregarding personal obedience, to attract the masses.
This explains why liberal Christians will fight for government sponsored social programs.[5] They have forgotten Christ's command to personally look after the poor.[6] We are to make voluntary allotments to help the poor, the widow and the orphan.[7] He never told us to rob from the unwilling to give to the ungrateful.
The personal dynamic of willing people, churches and communities helping the needy, incorporates the necessary element of responsibility. With personal accountability few would be able to abuse charity. Those who are capable would have to work if they want to eat.[8] Charity is the role of the church and personal obedience.
When it comes to the environment there are Christians who are sensitive about the destruction of God's creation. They enter the environmental movement hoping to resolve problems that they believe are caused by greed and excess. Unwittingly, they align themselves with the Malthusians. This is an unholy alliance. Environmentalism is couched in religious language to sway the churched masses to buy into pagan religions and socialist politics.
Christian Environmentalism
Years ago I belonged to what was claimed to be a Christian environmental group. Their newsletters, however, were little different from the secular groups. So I contacted the organizer and he told me that he was a member of the Audubon Society. He claimed to be an environmentalist in the Audubon tradition, but he was looking to lend a Christian perspective to it. He felt that Christians should be leading in the work of saving the earth. We should do it for the 'right' reasons and Christ should get the glory. At this point, I decided to search the Scriptures instead of taking another Christian's word about my environmental responsibility.
Now several 'Christian' groups are jumping onto the environmental bandwagon. Many organizations which used to evangelize and care for the needy are now specializing in environmental problems. They are promoting pagan and secular groups that are working actively for the confiscation of private property, elimination of mining, timber harvesting and ranching and the establishing of international parks.
Recently, I received a complimentary newsletter from one of these 'Christian' environmental groups. The headline was: "Target Earth, Mission Groups Join Forces For 1995."[9] The subheading under the newsletter title describes the publication to be, "Information on caring for creation from a Biblical Orientation."
The article had nothing to do with evangelism.[10] In fact, no Scripture was to be found anywhere in the publication. As I read the newsletter, it became clear that they were bent upon saving the earth, not the souls of people. They tried to justify, or even disguise, their pagan philosophy by using liberal doses of key words, such as, 'God' and 'Christian.'
This group recently hosted a youth leadership camp. "Much attention was given to the linkages between ecological questions, world health, hunger issues, population growth, sustainable lifestyles, economic policy, and international development. Each invitee had a demonstrated interest in and capacity for multi issue thinking, and the retreat's proceedings regularly underlined the importance of this integrated approach to the complexities of modern living."[11]
Why do we think that life is so much more complex than 2000 years ago? Is it more complicated or is this argument a ploy to make the simple construction of Biblical law to be irrelevant?
"If the senior leaders of the North American Church were assembled here, what would you say to them?" This was a question posed at the youth leadership camp. It is an important question for the future leaders of the Christian church. So, should this question be answered according to our feelings, or is there a Scriptural basis for this? I think Jesus Christ answered that question. One day He called the future Christian church leaders together. He showed them the crowds that were harassed and tired.[12] He told them that these people are sheep without a shepherd. He said that the fields are white and ready for harvest, pray that God will send out more workers to harvest.[13]
Christ was not talking about the environment. He was referring to souls. Never did Christ or a prophet warn the people that they were overlogging, overranching, overfarming, destroying wetlands, etc. Wherever the Scriptures talk about pollution or defiling the land, it is clear that pollution originates within the heart.
If we could clean up the planet, but failed to reach the heart of man, the planet is most certainly lost. Yes, there is one place where God tells us to 'think globally,' when Christ commanded us to disciple all nations.[14] God's interest is to redeem a lost humanity, not a lost planet. He has no love for the land. He destroyed it once with a flood.[15] He will destroy it again with fire.[16]
We can try to make environmentalism sound Godly, but God and the world cannot be joined! God does not call us to pray for the physical earth nor to work for its restoration. Trying to find oneness[17] with the earth is to set ourselves apart for Gaea, or the devil.[18] No one can serve two masters.[19] We can choose to be one with the earth, which leads to death, or we can choose to be one in Christ, which leads to life.[20] It is impossible for Christians to 'rescue the earth without worshipping nature.'
I should mention at his point that I do pick up litter, sort my trash and recycle. This is done out of a civic obligation as opposed to an intimate love for, or worship of, the earth. It is not done out of a fear that the earth will be doomed if I don't do my part. However, I wonder if decay may not be better for the earth than reuse, in some cases.[21] In any event, stewardship is important, but the souls of our family, community, business friends, etc. is a much more serious matter.
If our involvement in the environmental movement is to rid the world of greed and excess, we need to consider a few ideas:
- Selfishness and greed are unhealthy and excessive but they are not limited to people of free markets and individualism. In fact, these traits can be quite accentuated in a democratic tyranny where the community decides how big to make the pot and how to spend it.
- Training our children to be Christian socialists will not solve the evils of the world. This will only contribute to society's paganism, in violation of Matthew 28:18 20.
- We are responsible to fight innate evil by living Godly lives, not imposing physical restrictions on the people we perceive to be selfish or greedy.
- God calls us to be productive.[22] Environmentalism is restrictive and counterproductive, both materially and spiritually. We do not need a nation of bureaucrats, analyzing and regulating our every action. It is wrong for us to impute our ideals upon others at the expense of their God given rights, jobs and money.
- While work environments should not become dump sites for trash and toxins, we cannot expect them to remain spotless, nor pristine.[23] You cannot expect to keep the barn unsullied with animals in it. The same goes for equipment, if you want to keep them spotless you can't keep them working, etc.
- None of this is meant to mean that we can ignore negligent polluters either. We are supposed to be responsible stewards, but this calls for reasonableness. We have a Common Law responsibility to protect our neighbor from our pollution. For violators we have Common Law remedies. We do not need to empower admiralty bureaucracies to intrude into our lives and property to enforce this.
It is clear in the Word of God that the law we live by affects the environment around us. If we live according to God's law, He will protect the land. When a society abandons the principles of God, the earth around them will spit them out of the land and be filled with pollution.[24] How long will we ignore God's warning to heed Biblical laws and live accountable lives before Him?
Biblical Answers to Environmental Problems
We have no reason to apologize for making our livelihoods off the resources of this great land that God has given us. God has gifted man with the ability to produce from the resources that He provided.[25] Our creativity is a reflection of the One who created us. We honor Him by being stewardly and productive.
After God created Adam, He instructed him to name the animals.[26] God named all the stars,[27] so He could have named the animals Himself. He chose instead to delegate this authority to man. He placed the animals under the dominion of man. Naming the animals is the first act of environmental management mentioned in the Bible. The act implies authority and dominion, because the one who names is superior to the one who is named. Naming the animals also infers understanding and responsibility, because Adam would have to know the animals in order to name them. The act endows that animal to his care.
The first occupations that the Bible mentions are ranching and farming.[28] He gifted Tubal Cain, while Adam was still alive, with advanced metallurgical abilities.[29] He gave us plants and animals for food.[30] God gave us iron and copper[31] and blessed us with the ability to manufacture hardware and tools.[32] He gave us the hills and the forests to clear and make a place to live.[33] He gave us the trees to build homes.[34] He instructed Solomon to use the finest stone, cedar, pine, bronze and gold for His temple.[35] The Bible is profuse with Scripture that affirms that natural resources are a blessing from God. It is our obligation to be productive and creative with these blessings. This is not the source of our pollution.
The Bible tells us clearly why we have pollution. Numbers 35:33 warns us that bloodshed and our unwillingness to punish murderers pollutes the land. Selfish living, idolatry and bloodshed are pollution according to Ezekiel 36:17 18. Jeremiah 2:6 8 describes pollution as forsaking God and His laws. Rejecting God, cursing, lying, murder, stealing and adultery is accounted as pollution in Hosea 4:1 6. Immorality, idolatry and materialism are added to the list in Jeremiah 3:9 and Jeremiah 16:18. Leviticus Chapter 18 establishes clearly that sexual sins and abortion are the primary cause of pollution in the land. In verse 28, God warns that if the people engage in these detestable practices, the land will vomit them out of it. Jeremiah 3:1 3 warns against divorce, promiscuous living and compromising our values for money and career. All these things completely defile the land.
Using the admonition of Jeremiah 16:18, that God would punish double for the sin of idolatry, how much more will He punish our land, when the land is our idol? We cannot accept oneness with the earth. If we do, God will smite our efforts to clean up the earth with confusion and frustration just as He did at Babel. With noble intent, we will oppress each other, stealing from some, bankrupting others, tearing families, industries and communities apart.
Hosea tells us, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge."[36] He tells us further that we have rejected knowledge because we have rejected God's law. Because of this, the land mourns and the animals, birds and fish are dying. Deuteronomy 28:22 24 warns that if we do not obey God our sky will be bronze and our soil like iron. That is, we will have pollution in the sky and the soil will not be fertile. Jeremiah[37] affirms the warnings of Hosea and talks about the disgrace that besets a nation that rejects God. They will lose their homes to foreigners. Water will be for a price and wood will be expensive. They are not able to rest from those who pursue them. Slaves or bureaucrats[38] will rule over them and their livelihoods may cost their lives.
Hosea[39] also tells us that because we reject God our priests will encourage the people to sin. This is true in our time. All across our land, many of our church pulpits advocate irresponsibility, adultery, pornography and homosexuality. He warns us that we will be sexually promiscuous, yet we will not increase. His words are true. Abortion has snuffed the lives of a third of our children. We have sex, but we do not reproduce. Furthermore, he warns that we will consult wooden idols. We no longer worship the true God who has made this land to be free and blessed. We are filled with every religion and we attack our founding faith as 'unconstitutional.'[40] Lastly, he warns that our rulers will love shameful ways.[41]
Hosea has described our nation to a tee. Yet we refuse to acknowledge God's law. We refuse to acknowledge that it was our forefathers' fear of the only God that made our nation great. We tolerate every religion, but we reject the Truth. When the fear of God is gone from our land, tyranny will arise and no faith will be protected except the universal faith of the earth.
"What about the poor animals who are not able to care for themselves?" you might ask. "Shouldn't we do something to protect them?" It does not seem fair that they should suffer because man is violating God's law. Well, the Bible is clear on that as well. Job chapter 39 describes God's care over the animals. God asks, "Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Who let the wild donkey go free? Do you give the horse his strength? Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom? He even describes the foolishness of the ostrich who lays her eggs on the ground, unprotected. We don't need to protect them.
God watches over the animals. He is responsible for their survival. We do not even know how many animals or species there are.[42] God knows them all, just as He knows when a sparrow falls to the ground[43] and He knows the number of hairs on your head.[44]
When we leave God's law, the animals will die.[45] Remember the story[46] of the Peter, James and John, who had been fishing all night and caught no fish. Jesus came along and told these experienced fishermen to cast their net to the other side of the boat. They caught so many fish they had to call to the other boats for help. We do not know if species are dying or if they are hidden from our view.
There is only one cure for our environmental crises. Christians must return to the law of the Lord.[47] God promises that if we accept the Word of God, our natural resources will flourish, we will have abundant forests[48] and the land will not vomit us out of it.[49] When we abide by His law He will provide in bountiful measure.[50]
Footnotes:
[1]Genesis 3:19.
[2]ed. cit., Ray & Guzzo, p. 69.
[3]This is also found in Agenda 21, sec. 7.69.
[4]ed. cit., Ray & Guzzo, pp. 77-78.
[5]See the instruction in Jeremiah 7:4-11. We cannot confuse government provision with God's. We cannot say that we trust God if we look to the civil government, or false gods, for help. Furthermore, government compassion is theft. Individual compassion is obedience to God.
[6]Proverbs 19:17, 31:8-9, Luke 11:39 41, 12:32 34, 14:12 14. These are just a few examples.
[7]Deuteronomy 14:28-29, 24:19 21, Isaiah 1:17, Jeremiah 22:3.
[8]Proverbs 10:4, 26:15, Ecclesiastes 2:24, 8:15, 2Thessalonians 3:10.
[9]Christian Environmental News, Christian Environmental Association, Vol. 1, No. 10 (Sep. 94).
[10]I realize that this book, also, is not evangelistic. However, every cause, or issue, that the Christian becomes involved in must pass Scriptural muster. The principles must be Biblically accurate and the purpose, if not evangelism, must be discipleship training the remnant (Isaiah 8:13 16, Jeremiah 23:1-4, Amos 5:14-15, Matthew 28:19, Acts 14:21-22, 15:16-18, 18:23). My criticism of this group stems from the fact that, although they are targeted toward Christians, they have omitted Scripture. Furthermore, they are espousing a philosophy that cannot be Biblically defended and they are deceiving young Christians, elevating environmental issues above issues of the heart. In fact, this is done at the expense of the heart, just as Paul warned in Acts 20:30.
[11]Mark Cerbone, "Ringing In The Future," op. cit., Christian Environmental News, p. 6. Emphasis added.
[12]Probably from trying to make a living while enduring bureaucratic regulations and paying confiscatory taxes.
[13]Matthew 9:35-38, Luke 9:62-10:2, John 4:35.
[14]Matthew 28:18-20.
[15]Genesis, chapters 6-8.
[16]Isaiah 24:1 6, 2Peter 3:7-12.
[17]The only 'oneness' with the earth that we have is the probability of death. We came from the dust and to the dust we will return (Genesis 3:19).
[18]Matthew 16:25-26, 2Corinthians 6:14-17.
[19]Matthew 6:24, Luke 16:13.
[20]Deuteronomy 30:19-20, Matthew 10:39, John 3:36.
[21]I am opposed to our use of landfills, where we save the evidence for the next four centuries wrapped in pipe and plastic. That is not 'decay.' Air is more renewable than land and our filtering systems are so far advanced that pollution from incineration plants would be minuscule. The scientists, bureaucrats and environmentalists know this, but there is considerable less profit, less taxing power and fewer crises from burning trash.
[22]Genesis 1:28, 9:1,7, Deuteronomy 8:18, 26:1 2, John 15:1-5.
[23]Proverbs 14:4.
[24]Leviticus 18:28.
[25]Genesis 1:28.
[26]Genesis 2:19-20.
[27]Psalms 147:4.
[28]Genesis 4:2.
[29]Genesis 4:22.
[30]Genesis 1:29, 9:3.
[31]Deuteronomy 8:9.
[32]Deuteronomy 33:25.
[33]Joshua 17:15-17.
[34]1Kings 6:1-4.
[35]1Kings chapters 6-7.
[36]Hosea 4:6 (NIV).
[37]Lamentations 5:1-9.
[38]"Those who pursue us are at our heels; we are weary and find no rest. . . Slaves rule over us, and there is none to free us from their hands." (Lamentations 5:5,8 NIV). Jeremiah does not make it certain that these are government bureaucrats. However, anyone who has been in business can understand how this could be reasonably construed by the clauses 'those who pursue us are at our heels' and 'there is none to free us from their hands.' This is especially true of anyone who has experienced the frustrations of enduring an environmental mitigation. Many do not escape with their assets intact. The clause that begins with 'slaves rule over us' could very well apply to bureaucrats. Even though they have de facto authority and there 'is none to free us,' they, of all citizens, have the most clouded status. They have less authority over their own lives than the average W 4 or 1099 citizen. They are precluded from political involvement and have fewer redresses against the government, because the government is their employer. Worse than this, they are trapped in their dogma. They cannot be free thinkers. Any thoughts of individual responsibility to God or governmental accountability to God threatens their lifeblood. Their careers depend upon more and more individual accountability to and dependence upon government. Our bureaucrats are slaves.
[39]Hosea 4:7-14.
[40]Jeremiah 2:11.
[41]Hosea 4:18.
[42]Laurie Goering, Chicago Tribune, "Biologist Tracks Amazon's Bigfoot," Seattle Times, (10 Jan 95). This story gives an account of sightings of what was thought to be an extinct sloth. Whether it is the extinct sloth or not, there are many cases such as this, confirming that we have no idea the extent of the species upon the planet.
[43]Matthew 10:29.
[44]Matthew 10:30.
[45]Hosea 4:3.
[46]Luke 5:1-9.
[47]2Chronicles 7:13-14.
[48]Isaiah 55:6-12 (NIV): "Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, and to our God, for He will freely pardon. 'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is My Word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.'"
[49]Leviticus 20:22.
[50]Proverbs 10:3, John 15:7.