Forget Going Green! Go Light!

Back in 2005, before I was even born-again, a group of evangelical leaders got together to talk about that all-important issue that has got every Christian on their toes and ready for action. No, no not evangelism.  It’s that other “E” word:  Environmentalism.

The New York Times quoted the Rev. Rich Cizik as saying, "I don't think God is going to ask us how he created the earth, but he will ask us what we did with what he created."

Now I don’t know about you, but I’ve never read that verse in the Bible.  Maybe I missed it.  Maybe somewhere in there Jesus said, “Even as you’ve done to the planet, so shall it be done to you,” or maybe it was even something like “And on that day many will come to me and say Lord, Lord, I recycled my bottles and cans in your name, I gave money to save the wetlands in your name, I even ran a half-marathon to raise awareness for the near extinction of the rainbow toad in New Zealand.”

Of course, I’m being completely facetious here, but on judgment day God will inquire of us something that is true.  It will not be how environmentally conscience we were.  It will not be how many species we saved.  Rather He will ask, even tell, us how we treated our fellow man and by proxy Jesus (Matthew 25:35-46)

People are the conditional of eternity, not the environment.  We are not called to Go Green.  We are called to be light in the world.  Addressing environmental issues that adversely affect people like polluted drinking water is definitely part of that, but it is not the over-arching focus for the Christian.

To be honest, I was so amused by the prospect of evangelical leaders presenting environmental issues in this fashion.  I started another blog with this topic as its focus.  Visit the link below to read more: