The Environmental Paradox

I read something very interesting today. USA Today is reporting that with the first billion dollars of the Government’s Cash For Clunkers program, Americans have already begun conserving 3.5 million barrels of oil a year. Each person who has traded in a gas guzzler for anything with better mileage is saving 300 gallons of gas per year.I am duly impressed. The government has come up with a program that helps people get cars, saves jobs (dealers, sales people, auto workers), conserves oil, makes our country safer (by needing to import less oil), and reduces air pollution. While I have yet to see any impact from the $700 billion stimulus, this measly billion has had an effect on real people. Good job congress! Approve the other $2 billion now!

Now, I have a lot of friends who do not like the program. They have many reasons but one I hear is that tax money shouldn’t be used to support all this environmental stuff. Many argue that global warming is all hype and we should not be concerned about hugging trees. While I believe that global warming is a cyclical phenomenon about which we have no control, I have to disagree about hugging trees. I think they should be embraced. Personally, I am opening up to my environmental side and embracing all of creation, not just the trees. What you might find interesting is that my thoughts and positions on the environment are not being formed by concerns about fuzzy creatures or worries about the kind of earth I will leave to my grandchildren. My new found environmentalism is being fueled by nothing less than God’s word.

I have always been baffled by two things when it comes to people’s views on the environment. The first is that most people who care about the environment do so from a mostly secular viewpoint. Of course, I don’t want to stereotype people or in any way assume that all of group “x” believes “y” but from what I have observed, the majority of people espousing a philosophy of conservation and protection of the environment are believe in evolution. This makes  no sense to me. If one believes in evolution, one has to believe in survival of the fittest. Only the strongest species survive to evolve, right? If this is true, why care if we eliminate other species? Humans are the strongest and we will survive. Slash and burn, let evolution sort it out…

The second thing that baffles me is that the majority of those who mock environmentalists and call them “tree huggers” claim to be Bible based believers in creationism. I have heard it taught that since mankind is the apex of creation, it is acceptable for us to do whatever it takes to survive and live comfortably. But God’s charge to us was to care for and protect creation. We are charged with being stewards. Stewards do not use up resources and them throw them aside as rubish. Stewards plan ahead. Stewards figure out how to maximize resources by making them last. Stewards care for the weak at the expense of the strong. That includes animal and plant species in far away places. We are called to care for the creation, not exploit it.

These are just my thoughts on the issue. Whatever yours are, I am just asking for consistancy. If there is no God, why protect the nvironment? If there is a God, we better do better at obeying HIS command to take care of HIS creation!

Politics, Politics, Politics…

I am writing this blog today to hold myself accountable to any of you who happen to stumble across it. You see, I am pretty passionate about my politics. I was a very adamant McCain supporter. I know that is not a very popular thing to say right now but it is true. Unfortunately, every time I say I did not support Barack Obama, I feel I have to qualify it by saying that it had nothing to do with race or with hating gay people. I will include a footnote at the end of this blog explaining why I supported McCain if you are interested. I don’t want to add it here since that would bore a lot of readers and we would never get to the point of this blog.

Speaking of the point, here it is, I want everyone to hold me accountable to actually obeying the Bible when it comes to my politics. I know that is radical but it is harder than it seems. You see the Bible tells me to submit myself to the governing authorities and to pray for (not against) them (Rom 13:1-3; 1 Tim 2:2). I pledge that I will pray for MY president. I may disagree with some of his policies but I will pray for him and respect him and the office he now holds. I will not act like so many have toward president Bush or as so many Christians (myself included) did toward president Clinton. We can disagree on issues without disrespecting and speaking negative about the man. If any of you catch me speaking ill of MY president, please call me on it. This is my duty before God.

I was humbled a few years back when I was an Arabic translator in the Army. I was working with Kurdish refugees from northern Iraq. Saddam was still in power and had driven them from their homes. I was in a Bible study with some Kurdish Christians. They talked about the horrible atrocities Saddam had done to their people (much worse than we ever heard in the news). Then they talked about praying for Saddam because the Bible told them to pray for those in authority over them. With tears in their eyes they prayed for a man who had ordered the murder of their family members. They prayed that God would bless him and change him… I was convicted because I had not even once prayed for president Clinton up to that point in time.

How can I disregard the teaching of the Bible because I disagree with a man about tax policy? If I think abortion is murder, shouldn’t I support women going through unwanted pregnancies? If I believe homosexual behavior is a sin, shouldn’t I befriend and love those in that lifestyle to show them the love of Jesus? When did Christianity become about gaining political power and shouting venomous slander at those with whom we disagree? Is this how Jesus approached his authorities? My goal is to be like Jesus who paid His taxes after clearly explaining why He disagreed with the policy (Mt. 17:24-27).

WHY I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN

1. The Man- McCain has always been my favorite senator. He stands for what he thinks is right even if it irritates his own party and costs him votes. I have only seen three senators who do this; McCain, Liberman, and Biden. I want a leader who leads with conviction.

2. Financial Policy- Democratic financial policy makes no sense to me. If corporations are evil, where are the jobs supposed to come from? If rich people are evil, who will invest in businesses and create jobs? Government does not create jobs, corporations do. If you tax the owner of my hotel, he will cut jobs. I would much rather have the opportunity to earn a living than get a $1,000 government hand out taken from my boss.

3. Iraq- We can’t just abandon those people. I am sick of arguing about whether we should have gone to war, the fact is we did. I beleive “you break it, you bought it.” No matter why we went in, we broke it. We must fix it. We cannot abandon millions of people and leave them unprotected.

Community is a Command

A week ago I did a talk on how fellowship is spiritual. Many times, we don’t think that it is. We think that prayer, bible reading, witnessing, worship, etc… are spiritual but fellowship is a waste of time; or something that we do during our “off time” from God. This could not be further from the truth. This is a series of five blogs explaining five reason why I believe that fellowship is spiritual and vital to the follower of Jesus.

The fourth reason that fellowship or community is spiritual is that Jesus commanded us to do it. Fellowship was not a social benefit added by the church to augment our worship.Community is so important that Jesus addressed it many times. We will look at two of those.

The first is found in John 13:34 where Jesus says, “A new command I give you… love one another as I have loved you.” What is amazing is that he does not say, “love me as I have loved you…” That would make sense. Instead, Jesus says His followers should love each other and everyone as AS HE HAS LOVED US.

Another place where this is reflected is in 1 John 4:11 which says, “since God so loved us, let us love one another…” Again, I would expect it to say that since God loved us, we should love Him. That is NOT what it says…

Herein lies the problem. It is impossible to love people without interacting with them. I know it is very American to “live and let live” and call that love. Actually, that thought comes from Confusious who said, “do not do to other what you do not want them to do to you.” In other words, don’t bug people if you don’t want to be bugged. But that is not Jesus’ definition of love. He said, “DO to others as you would have them do to you.” Love goes first. Love acts even when other people don’t deserve it. That is how He loved us and how He commands us to love others.

Lord, help me to not try to avoid people. Help me to engage them and love them as You have loved me. Help me to go first in loving them. I can only do this by being filled with Your love. Thank You for Your power and strength in my life.