… Climate Change and Environmental Stewardship through the Bible Lance
BY MNCEDISI MASUKU
The debate has been on-going as to whether climate change and environmental issues are issues of the church/people of faith or not. There has been a number of research that indicate that Faith communities has a key role to play in addressing climate change and environmental degradation and other studies has shown how faith has contributed to the same challenge. For this article let us zoom a bit what the Bible says about the role of the Church in care of God’s creation or the environment.
The greatest Psalmist King David in Psalms 24:1 says:
The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those dwell therein (ESV).
People of faith from all forms of religious community have something in common; “they all acknowledge that there is a creator (a supreme being) of the universe who owns everything”. The scripture reading above is clearly stating that the web of creation or entire eco-system belongs to God and that is including the people inhabiting the earth. The question is that what does this means to the Church or to people of faith? Let’s have another scripture reading in Genesis 2:15:
The Lord God took the and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it (ESV)
The scripture above clearly state the role of stewardship God the creator has put on mankind to work and care for the entire ecosystem. When the soil is being eroded, God expects mankind to take action, when biodiversity loss and ecosystem imbalance strife, God looks down to mankind to work it and take care of it, when millions go to bed without a proper meal due to climate change, God expects mankind to work the land and feed His people. The Church is the custodian of God’s commands and expectations to mankind; therefore it is not immune to all climate change and environmental degradations. The Church should actually be taking the lead in such subject. One last question to answer is whether God is concerned about environmental degradation or not? Let us get another scripture on Jeremiah 2:7:
And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination.
When reading the story of creation in the first chapter of Genesis in the Bible we found that God created and declared His creation Good before creating man and assigning him the role of stewardship we discussed above. In the above scripture the Prophet Jeremiah is sharing the heart of God about land degradation. God is not pleased on how land that was productive, un-eroded, unpolluted and without invasive plant species now had been defiled and made an abomination before His sight. If the Church claims to worship and love the creator; then why destroying his creation (if you love the painter you cannon destroy his paintings)?
Religious communities such as the Church and Mosque are crucial stakeholders for achieving the paradigm shifts in the climate agenda, particularly in those areas of the world where religion is highly relevant in individual and public life. In sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, “roughly nine-in-ten people state that “religion is very important in their lives” (Lugo 2010; Mbiti 1990). Religious communities as important societal actors are among the largest social service providers in many parts of the world today hence the need to get them involved in addressing climate change. In the next articles we will look how faith can play a role as we have seen that the Bible as a book of faith supports the Church to take action.
