IN THEORY

An environment of understanding

A: Without a doubt the care of our environment and our planet should be a top concern for all people of faith. The earth is the common denominator for all traditions because it is tangible and yet very sacred. From the tiniest seedling to the largest mountain, all of nature reflects the splendor of God.

Armenians have had the added responsibility of being custodians of the sacred lands known as the "Cradle of Civilization." In Genesis 2:10 the location of the Garden of Eden is mapped in Armenia. Following the account of the Flood in Genesis 8, life begins in Armenia a second time when Noah exits on the Mountains of Ararat.

If we treat all life as a gift from God then we understand ourselves as the trusted custodian of this earth.

I refer to a Native American proverb to remind us of our sacred duty to the earth. The saying is, "We do not inherit the earth from our parents. We borrow it from our children." Seen in this light, the emphasis has changed, we are not the recipients of this treasure, merely the custodians.

We have a duty and a responsibility to transfer this treasure in tact to generations to come.

FATHER VAZKEN MOVSESIAN

Armenian Church

Glendale

Of course care of the environment is a religious imperative. "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof" comes readily to mind. That quote is from Psalm 24, but there are others. There's a marvelous choral work from Franz Joseph Haydn, with words based on Psalm 19, called "The Spacious Firmament."

So there is certainly a Biblical basis for appreciation of the natural world.

Our faith plays a role in everything we do. Whether we let the water run too long or drive a gas-guzzling automobile reflects our attitude toward God's green earth. Do we "own" it or are we merely stewards for a short time? I seem to recall a Christian group putting out the message, "What would Jesus drive?" While that may sound simplistic or naive, the point is clear: every choice we make, including what we drive, has environmental implications.

Every choice we make affects the environment. To be a person of faith means being aware of those choices, and then resolving to be a faithful steward of the resources with which one has been blessed.

THE REV. C.L.

"SKIP" LINDEMAN

Congregational Church of the

Lighted Window

United Church of Christ

La Cañada Flintridge

I often make suggestions from the pulpit to my congregants that we all ought to be good stewards of the beautiful planet that God has given us to live upon. I believe people in my movement are more aware of environmental problems that we face in our world than the average person, and most of them do whatever they can do to help in alleviating the problem. I am all for religious influence in the area of our environment.

THE REV. THOMAS

E. WITHERSPOON

Unity Church of the Valley

La Crescenta

"The earth is the Lord's, and all it contains," says Psalm 24:1, "the world, and those who dwell in it."

God is the Creator and is therefore the owner of the earth, the universe and every living thing that exists. This basic tenet of faith guides how we should treat the environment. We shouldn't damage something that doesn't belong to us.

Though God has maintained ownership of the earth, He has made us stewards of it. A steward is the manager of another's property, and is accountable to use that property to the fullest advantage of the owner. "It is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy." (1 Corinthians 4:2).

If we are unfaithful stewards of the ecosystems God has provided for us, we threaten the very systems He designed to sustain our health, our prosperity and even our lives.

So for people of faith, being environmentally responsible is a good way to acknowledge that this planet belongs to someone else: God. And it's a good way of loving others around us, and the generations that will come after us.

PASTOR JON BARTA

Valley Baptist Church

Burbank

How we take care of our home, the Earth, this tiny orb in the vastness of the universe, goes to the core of our being and says a great deal about our morals, our religious faith and our belief in the future.

To care for the Earth has it's starting point in Psalm 24:1, "The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it." We must recognize that we do not own this orb. We are sojourners, or ones who pass through this place. The owner is the One who created it and recreates it. The owner is the one who gave us all that we need through it, if we are good stewards or managers of its wealth and resources.

Unfortunately, we don't approach our relationship to the earth from this Psalm but from Genesis 1:28, " ... Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion.... "

We have misunderstood the word dominion. We have understood dominion to mean, "This is mine and therefore I can use it anyway I want." The word "subdue" has also put us in an adversarial relationship instead of a cooperative relationship. With these as our basis for interaction, and a recent fervent belief that Jesus will return soon and therefore we won't have a need for this earth because we are getting a new one, it is easy to see why we are in this mess. I lament what our children will have to live through as a consequence for this misbehavior.

PASTOR GALEN GOBEN

Foothill Christian Church

La Crescenta

Man's earliest environmental imperative was this: "fill the earth and subdue it" (Genesis 1:28). We Evangelicals are people who believe that earth was especially made for people; constructed for the one creature that alone was made in the Creator's image. When Christ came, He came as one of us, a man. He came to a world that was "created by Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16). So, we live here as His guests, and we sense a great responsibility to conserve these temporal environs for ourselves and our posterity, to His glory.

Evangelical Christians have always affirmed that "the earth is the Lord's" (Psalm 24:1) as noted by the Evangelical Climate Initiative, but we've been generally hesitant to join with more blatant environmentalists who put "endangered swamplands" before people, and extremists who equate human beings with animals; still others have worshipped this spinning dirt clod as "Mother," so their activism has not generally found sympathetic allies with "evangel" (i.e., Gospel) Christians.

Affirming popular goods, such as conservation, resonates well, generally, but even right intentions may not be fully informed, and despite a literal "who's who" of evangelical (mostly) signatories, there is now concern that the "statement" might have overly endorsed popular, rather than prudent, science. Are human consumers really the "primary" reason for global warming, or might bare earthly cycles be the cause, ultimately?

And if we do endorse opinions that call for overly burdensome strictures on current industry, might we do more harm to the poor, and create newly unemployed poor, while making, perhaps, no difference to fluctuating world climes?

Be conscientious; conserve, recycle, strive for cleaner energy, but beware ulterior agendas and one-sided statistics supporting such pronouncements. Evangelicals are not agreed on this statement, and some who have already lent their John Hancocks, look to be rethinking the decision.

THE REV. BRYAN GRIEM

Senior Pastor

Montrose Community

Church