     THE 'GREENESS' ---- OF GOD

   By Andrew Lansdown, B.A.,B.A.(Hons),Dip.Ed.

   In an effort to link Christianity with the conservation movement,
some people portray God as the 'Original Greenie' whose chief concern is
the preservation of the natural environment.  But is god green?  What
does the Bible have to say about the greeness of God?

   the Bible consistently teaches that God created all things by virtue
of His own power and wisdom (Revelation 4:1).  Everything He made was
good and gave Him pleasure (Genesis 1:31).  To this day His eternal
power and divine nature are plainly evident in His creation
(Romans 1:20).

   Now if God created all things, and declared them to be 'very good',
it stands to reason that He is concerned for their preservation.  This
concern is plainly expressed at various points in the Bible.  For
example, He commanded the people of Israel to avoid wanton destruction
of fruit-bearing trees during warfare.  He told them that
when they besieged a city for a long time, making war against it in
order to take it, they 'shalt not destroy the trees thereof by wielding
an ax against them....thou shalt not cut them down' (Deut 20:19).

   God also set rules for the protection of nesting birds.  If the
Israelites chanced to come upon a bird's nest, in any tree or on the
ground, with young ones or eggs, and the mother sitting upon the young
or the eggs, they were not to take the mother with the young.  They
were to let the mother go (Deut 22:6,7).  God is concerned about the
conservation of His creation.

   God's concern for His creation is not business-like, but fatherly;
not general, but particular.  the bible reveals that He knows and cares
for the least of His creatures.  For example, He hears and feeds the
young ravens when they cry out for food (Psalm 147:9).  Likewise, 'The
young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God' (Psalm
104:21).  At God's altars even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow
a nest for herself, 'where she may lay her young' (Psalm 84:3).  Indeed,
Jesus tells us that God is aware of every small bird that falls to the
ground (Matthew 10:29).

   Well, then, is God green? Yes!  In so far as love for all living
things is concerned, God is greener than that greenest greenie.

   However, so far as an understanding of man's relationship to nature
is concerned, G is at odds with many of today's conservationists.

   WISE USE BENEFITS MANKIND

   God made all things for His own pleasure and to reveal His own glory.
But He also made nature for man's pleasure and profit.  At the end of
the six days of creation, He said to Adam and Eve, 'Be fruitful, and
multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over
the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living
thing that moveth upon the earth' (Genesis 1:29).  God's command does
not sanction wanton destruction of the environment, but it does permit
-- and even require --- the wise use of natural and living resources for
the benefit of mankind.

   While some conservationists may object to the notion of human
dominion over nature, there is not one who does not dominate nature in
numerous ways.  Even the most dedicated greenie must subdue creation to
live.  He might object to the logging of native forests, but he is
pleased to have jarrah floor-boards and furnishings in his house.  He
might not wear furs, but he does wear leather sandals or shoes cut from
the hides that come from the slaughter yard.  He might not eat meat, but
he does eat other living things, such as carrots and turnips, and thinks
nothing of hoeing the vegetable patch to kill the weeds.  In short, he
does what the Bible says he ought to do: he subdues (or encourages
others to subdue) the earth for his own survival.

    God and the greens are at odds on a second and more serious matter
concerning man's relationship with nature.

    This difference has to do with an understanding of man's value as
compared to that of other creatures.

   Not so long ago the Australian Conservation Foundation sent me a
brochure about endangered animals.   It was an interesting and
informative leaflet.  But it contained one statement that demonstrated
just how distant conservationist and Creation thought can be from each
other.  It said we must look upon all species 'as our companions on
planet Earth, commanding equal respect.'

   The phrase 'commanding equal respect' hints at the idea that seems to
underlie much conservationist thought today -- namely, that animal (and
often plant) life is inherently as valuable as human life.

    ANIMALS NOT EQUAL TO MAN

   At first glance, the attempt to attribute equal value to human and
animal life seems to ennoble animal life.  But on closer consideration
we discover that it does no such thing.  Rather, it demeans human life.
To say that a rabbit-eared bandicoot is as valuable as a man does not
dignify the bandicoot so much as degrade the man.  We see this degrading
of human life under Hinduism in India, where animal life is considered
sacred.  In that country, cows are permitted to eat crops while people
starve.

   The notion that other forms of life are valuable as human life is
utterly rejected by Christianity.  The Bible teaches that human life is
not only the most valuable life on earth, but that it is infinitely more
valuable than any other form of earthly life.  Not all the rainforests,
not all the seal pups, not all the great whales, equal the value of one
human soul.  This truth might seem outrageous when you compare the value
of the whales against the value of a person whom you do no like to know.
But it is becomes rather wonderful if you compare it with the value
either of your own life or of the life of someone you love.  How
wonderful it is to know that the God who made all things, loves and
values you above all things!

   Some people claim that this Christian view is 'parochial' (narrow)
and 'anthropomorphic' (man-centered).  But it is not, for it is God's
doing, not ours.  God has put us at the centre of the universe, not we
ourselves.  He has chosen to make us in His own likeness.  He has chosen
to set His love upon us.  He has chosen to send His Son to save us from
sin and judgment.  We had nothing to do with it.

   Indeed, we are entirely astonished that it should be so.  Like King
David we find ourselves saying, 'When I consider thy heavens, the work
of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What
is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou
visitest him? (Psalm 8:3,4).  How can it be ghat God thinks upon us and
cares for us?  We do not have the answer, and yet we know it is so.

   the ultimate proof of the surpassing worth of mankind is found in the
incarnation, when the son of God became the man Jesus and dwelt among
us.  He became one of us to bear our sins on the cross.  the Bible
teaches that all creation will ultimately benefit from Christ's death
and resurrection (Romans *:21).  But this, in a sense, is incidental.
For essentially 'Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners'
(1 Timothy 1:15).  Here we see the measure of our worth!  And here we
see God's true colours: the fringe of His garment may be green, but the
garment itself is white, and the insignia upon the breast is red.
