Damn Narkissos! Invoking Godwin's Law so soon?! Thanks for your perspective! Benoist's bias is not lost on me.
The Judeo-Christian premise for our destroying the earth?
by daystar 40 Replies latest watchtower bible
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XJW4EVR
I also fail to see the correlation in your premise, Daystar. I, and many Christians, have an issue with certain elements of the ecological movement, in that they tend deify the earth. I am all for conservation and protecting the environment, which is why I consider Teddy Roosevelt a hero. I know many Christians that do not want to see the earth polluted. In fact there has be strides in a Christian ecology movement. Granted they are late, but they are sprouting up through out the nation.
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daystar
I, and many Christians, have an issue with certain elements of the ecological movement, in that they tend deify the earth.
My point precisely. The sacred is removed from the material world.
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XJW4EVR
I, and many Christians, have an issue with certain elements of the ecological movement, in that they tend deify the earth .
My point precisely. The sacred is removed from the material world.
Yes, and this is consistent throughout Scripture. God never commands worship of nature, in fact he prohibits it. So again, I fail to see your point.
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Narkissos
LOL @ daystar
I tried to express that cautiously, but I think the unavoidable shortcut is helpful in that all our notions (nature, creation, environment) are problematic.
This is a fascinating topic and I'm sorry not to have the time now to get deeper into it. But I'll read you all as soon as I can.
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daystar
Yes, and this is consistent throughout Scripture. God never commands worship of nature, in fact he prohibits it. So again, I fail to see your point.
My point is that divesting nature of any aspect of divinity might set the stage for the potential abuse of it. The point I'm trying to have considered, again, is that this premise is damaging.
I personally do not anthropomorphize nature as Gaia or anything else. But at least with that, there would seem to me that there would be much less likelihood of devastation of the earth.
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LittleToe
For a while there I was worried it was going to be the Daystar/LittleToe Punch and Judy show
My argument isn't whether or not a verse of scripture should accurately be used in such a context, but rather that it is used in that context. Where do you think the WTS poached the idea from? It's certainly not unique to them. The general populace seem to think in terms of ideas and symbols, not literary accuracy. To that end, I suspect you'd be hard pressed to hear a sermon condoning environmental mis-management - quite the reverse.
Didier:
The "stewardship" pattern is all the theological basis which remains to deal with the environment, and it seems to be insufficient to deal with present environmental issues (note that the very notion of "environment" belongs to the same anthropocentrist perspective).
I would argue that there is no Judeo-Christian premise for either destroying or protecting our environment. It's is a theologically neutral subject, as far as any anthropological dimension is concerned.
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daystar
LittleToe
XJW4EVR said
Yes, and this is consistent throughout Scripture. God never commands worship of nature, in fact he prohibits it. So again, I fail to see your point.
This sentiment is precisely exemplified by XJW4EVR's comment. Nature divested of any aspect of the divine.
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LittleToe
I do see the point you're making, but if Christians looked a little closer at the implications of an omni-present God, in whom we live and move and have our being...
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daystar
if Christians looked a little closer at the implications of an omni-present God, in whom we live and move and have our being.
Yes, but that would entail an experience of the divine outside the framework of the primary Christian holy book. As an example, an experience I have had of the Divine presence as being all things, not simply as having created it. But this is not typically a Christian notion and the Bible does not support it explicitly that I'm aware of.