Does the Bible say to care about the environment and animals?

rebel8

I mean a point blank quote, not an interpretation.

blondie

I would think that the law about leaving the land fallow after 6 years would be an environmental statement.

(Leviticus 25:3-6) . . .. 4 But in the seventh year there should occur a sabbath of complete rest for the land, a sabbath to Jehovah. Your field you must not sow with seed, and your vineyard you must not prune. 5 The growth from spilled kernels of your harvest you must not reap, and the grapes of your unpruned vine you must not gather. There should occur a year of complete rest for the land. 6 . . .

Some farmers today let their land lie fallow for a year to give it a rest and be more productive, not to farm the life out of it.

snowbird

Deuteronomy 20:19 When besieging a city, do not cut down the fruit trees

22:06 Don't take the mother fowl along with the eggs or young ones

22:10 Don't yoke an ox and an ass

25:04 Don't muzzle an ox when it threshes

Sylvia

OnTheWayOut

How about stuff near the very beginning:

1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, 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.

1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

1:30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

You could say the Bible tells of God giving everything to Man, commanding him to replenish it (KJV).

Most passages say to "fill the earth" and we assume that means to fill it with humans.
That would be the correct understanding, since God just said to be fruitful and multiply.
Still, God gives responsibility to Man over everything on earth. He doesn't command Man to destroy it.

The writers of the Bible, who created the God of the Bible, did not make their god view man as a cancer on the land.
The writers who took over later painted a picture of a people responsible for the land.
The Christian writers who took over the doctrines later, they showed that God valued every sparrow and valued Man even more.

Is there a direct statement, NO. But there is a lack of many direct statements in the Bible.

snowbird

OTWO.

Sylvia

White Dove

Sounds like "god" was pagan.

WTWizard

It seems that Revelation pronounces damnation for those ruining the earth. Like wasting tons of trees, coal, and fuel to produce and distribute the littera-trash.

parakeet

OTWO: ... God valued every sparrow ...

Yet they fall just the same.

snowbird

Yet they fall just the same.

But not for long!

Romans 8:18 -21 That's why I don't think there's any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what's coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens. MSG

Hallelujah!

Sylvia

parakeet

But not for long! .....Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead.

Well, dip me in honey and roll me in nuts! Are you saying animals have souls? Those billions upon billions of dead sparrows will be resuscitated for those "glorious times ahead"? Does that include parakeets? What do you mean by "more or less held back"? Especially the "less" part.

parakeet, of the one-born-every-minute class

Does the Bible say to care about the environment and animals?

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