THE BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE OF NATURE CONSERVATION

It may come to many as a surprise, but the Bible has an in-depth knowledge and wisdom about the environment and its conservation. Perhaps, most Christians may have never heard a sermon related to the recent environmental crises the world is bedeviled with and has become a global concern. It is about time we delved into the book of faith, the Bible since many of our environmental problems are rooted in it.

Many Christians today seem oblivious and uncaring to environmental issues in that God is in control and so we should not worry. The worst of it all is when all the environmental crises are attributed to demonic attacks. This view is more common than you might think, and it is sadly unbiblical. For the lack of knowledge my people perish (Hos 4:6). First, while God has certainly promised to help and aid His people, this unflinching care and support will not ceased but the Lord will not protect us from the results of human sin and negligence. God has saved us in Christ. (Rom 5:8) But we live in a perverse world in which the consequences of our actions are felt everyday: "Whatever one sows, that will he also reap" (Galatians 6:7).

God, the Creator of all things, rules over all and deserves our worship and adoration (Ps. 103:19-22). The universe in its totality reveals God’s wisdom and goodness (Ps. 19:1-6) and by his power and loving-kindness He sustains and presides over it (Ps. 102:25-27; Heb. 1:3, 10-12). Human beings in God’s infinite wisdom were created in the image of God, making us superior among other creatures. God commanded human beings to exercise stewardship over the earth (Gen. 1:26-28; Ps. 8:5). Our stewardship under God implies that we are morally accountable to him for treating creation in a manner that best serves the objectives of the kingdom of God. The Most High has given us the will with regards to moral accountability and dominion over the earth and so it gives us the freedom on what to do. Notwithstanding the free will, man is supposed to act in accordance with the God’s moral law revealed in Scripture and in human conscience (Exod. 20:1-17; Rom. 2:14-15) because man will one day account for his stewardship on earth. 

The Bible clearly indicates that God takes delight in his many creatures (Job 38:39-39:30; Ps. 104:14-23). This entails the importance of stewardship of life itself. Considering the fact that many species are going extinct every year and that many or most of the extinction is caused by human action, Christians must wonder whether they have failed in their stewardship obligation. Consistently, human beings drive species to extinction which means that we are stating that what God created, we can destroy. On this note, we are have misplaced the fact that God created us to manage the other creation. Christians are called to be stewards, to nurture, to protect, and to preserve His creation. 

The rampant environmental degradation taking place worldwide today is one of the moral issues most ignored by Christians. It is obvious from the continuity of the idea from the Adam and Eve era to the Jesus Christ era in the Bible that nature occupies a special place in the heart of God as in Psalm 147. Paul said that the creation shows God's "eternal power and divine nature" (Romans 1:20). God pays attention to the life and death of even animals (Deuteronomy 22:6-7; Matthew 10:29; Luke 12:6). If God cares so much about nature, we must too. 

The destruction of nature does not only show disrespect for God and the environment He created, it also shows a lack of concern for the consequences environmental degradation has on humanity in current and future generations. Until we recognize how our waste, destruction, and over-consumption of natural resources affects others, and do something to change, we cannot fulfill the second great commandment to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39). 

We should always be mindful of the fact that the fall of man which is the origination of sin was about a tree (Gen 3:1-24). If Adam and Even had been faithful and obedient to God’s commandments, the sinful nature of the world today would have been avoided. If we will also go by the God’s way of stewardship of the earth as stipulated in the Bible, the future generation will not experience the destructive effects of environmental degradation.