I keep getting lots and LOTS of invitations to join this environmental group or that animal welfare group. I'm sure they have some good things to say and do. But the fact is, as a Bible believing following of Christ, I am already a part of a group. It is called the Church.
I'm not coming down on joining groups or anything, but the fact is many Christians join them without realizing exactly what they stand for. They may say, "We stand for saving the environment" or, "We want to stop the abuse of animals" and those are great things. But that probably is not all the these groups stand for. Chances are very good they support a number of people or ideologies Christians should not only disagree with, but have nothing to do with either.
For example, a group believes in stopping animal abuse (good) but also believes animals and humans are equal (bad), should a Christian join? Or if a group supports a decrease in the destruction of natural habitat in an effort to leave a legacy to our children (good) but believes humans are a blight on the earth and the earth would be better off without them (bad), should a Christian be comfortable joining hands with such a group? I'm going to say "No". But unfortunately Christians are very comfortable making such compromises.
The fact is the Bible makes a few things clear that drive my environmental and animal welfare agendas. An argument can be (and often is) made that God intended man to be a good steward of God's creation. They typically site Genesis 2:15. I would argue that maybe this isn't the best argument. I don't disagree we need to be good stewards of God's creation but I don't necessarily agree that there is a biblical case that we are commanded to do so. At least not directly. That said, neither do I believe you can make a case that we are to destroy the planet and abuse animals.
The reasons I hold the views I do on animal welfare and the environment are two fold. First, I am to love God with all my being (Luke 10:27). This means honoring Him in all that I do. From this I can make decisions on how I will treat the world around me by simply asking honest questions:
- Will abusing animals so that I can wear leather or eat more food than I really need bring glory to God?
- Does abusing animals, causing them pain and misery, bring glory to God.
- Will destroying the environment in order to have more expensive cars, bigger houses, fancier clothes, more food, etc., bring glory to God?
Many Christians I know (usually rabid Republicans) make animal welfare about research and the cure for cancer. However that is only a small part. What about the millions of animals slaughtered each year in order to fill the stomachs of predominately obese parishioners? How about we start with diet?
Stripping the issue for the Christian down to the raw I would suggest every believer watch a video of a slaughterhouse in full operation and ask themselves, while watching the terrified animals screaming in fear and pain, "does this bring glory to God?" I answered no to all these questions and made changes in the way I live accordingly. In other words, I put some thought into what I was doing and saying.
The second reason I hold the views I do is because I am to love my neighbor as I love myself (ibid). What we do today will affect those around us. Either by example or by the ripples of our actions as they reach other people both in this generation and the next. For example, if the fields around our houses are sprayed year after year with increasing doses of herbicides and pesticides and those chemicals blow into my neighbors' yards and they get sick from it (and more and more evidence is showing that this is the case) then out of love for my neighbors I will eat organically and do what I can to decrease the use of these chemicals.
In reading several books on animal abuse on factory farms I was surprised to learn that the animals were not the only victims. The workers who, day after day, were responsible for the slaughter of these terrified animals were suffering both physically and mentally from the experience. Out of love for these workers I decided to not eat meat or dairy.
It is true, I am only one person. But I am one person. And maybe in the long wrong just me won't make much of a difference. But I think the Bible is clear on this matter also. I do not make choices based on whether everyone will follow me or not. If I am the only person to do something when I know it will bring glory to God and show love to my neighbor (even if my neighbor never knows of it) then so be it.
So as a Christian I stopped worrying about the bandwagon and started asking myself the only questions that truly matter: Am I loving God and my neighbor? Am I bringing glory to my King? And the answer to those questions have informed what I do and how far I'm willing to go in doing it.
