Is God an environmentalist?

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Rev 11:18 (NASB) “And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

Well greenpeace people worship nature and place nature above Human beings.. So no God is not a member of greenpeace.. I believe The scriptures are talking prophetically about today when men possess the nuclear technology and ability to actually destroy the earth.. During the end times wars and rumors of wars i believe nuclear weaponry will be used and this will set the world on a path to destruction and that all flesh would die if Jesus delays His return.. I believe Jesus will destroy all those who will engage in this type of warfare that will end up destroying the earth..

 

[J7]

Our bodies too will be regenerated, but that does not allow us to go around killing people.

 

[Locutus]

I'm pretty sure that John is using "the earth" symbolically to represent the people of God that were being persecuted and killed by the people of the great city of the 1st century AD - apostate Jerusalem.

John in other parts of the book of revelation uses the sea as an imagery/symbol for the natiions.

Rev 11:13 And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

Just before John proclaims the destruction of those that destroy the "earth" he speaks of the city that was under God's judgment and wrath for killing the prophets and the Lord Jesus.

Rev 11:18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

Prior to the above statements John identified the city where the Lord was slain:

Rev 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

So this area of scripture is not dealing with the physical earth/planet, rather it is the judgement of the whore - apostate 1st century Jerusalem and it's corrupt leaders and people.

 

[willybob]

The environmentalist wackos are not aware that God promised Noah that the earth would remain the same up until the last day in Gen. 8..

 

[Rockrz]

The environmentalist wackos are not aware that God promised Noah that the earth would remain the same up until the last day in Gen. 8..

Good point... reckon they had environmentalist wackos back in Noah's day?

 

[Laish]

Rev 11:18 (NASB) “And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText]After reading the above verse and the chapter it is in I am reminded of a few verses in Numbers . [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText]Numbers 35 :33 You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it. 34 You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell, for I the LORD dwell in the midst of the people of Israel.”[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText]After reading the verse you quoted ,and then looking back at Numbers 35 :33-34 the more it seems that the there is more to the embolden part of the text than a casual reading would give .It is not just the judgment of those that have destroyed the earth or land . It in my opinion is referring to God's judgment of those that have Sinned against God and their disregard for human life.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText]Not that any doctrine should come of reading the verses side by side. It is interesting though. [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText]Blessings [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText]Bill[/FONT][/FONT]

 

[Angela53510]

I did a paper on environmental ethics for Ethics in seminary. The paper was a tight 10 point Times New Roman font. I cut out about 10 pages, because the prof did not want one more word than 15 pages, and he would deduct marks if it was. It broke my heart to edit it. I took up 50 books from the University library, plus bought a bunch more. Some really awesome books.

Probably the most outstanding book was "For the Beauty of the Earth: A Christian Vision for Creation Care" by Steven Bouma-Prediger.

Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context by Glen H Stassen and David P Gushee also has some very good chapters in it on caring for the environment. If you want other Christian titles, send me a PM, and I will dig out the essay and the Bibliography.

Basically, there are three types of world views, with regards to environmentalism.

Anthropocentric - man is at the center. God created the earth, we are to be stewards, but the reason is because it is best for us. If something is not the best for us, we don't have to do it. This includes escapist Christians, waiting for their own personal escape via the rapture or some other means. Why care for the earth, when we will soon be gone? Because we are all that matters.

Biocentric - the earth is at the center. We need to worship and care for Mother Earth, at all costs. So, if that means wiping the evil humanity off the earth to preserve species and the ecology of the earth, then better sooner or later.

Theocentric - God is at the center. God created us to live in harmony with the earth. Adam and Eve blew that in the garden. The soil became hard to till, and thorns and other things flourished. But, God does expect us to care for the earth, because it is HIS! He gave us the task, and we have so far, failed miserably. But, we can act decisively and make positive steps to care for the earth. Because that has always been God's will from the Garden of Eve. Creation is about God!

I do believe that God is not going to destroy the earth. Some of the earliest manuscipts of 2 Peter 3:10 do not have the earth burning up, but being renewed. Renewal is God's plan for creation, not destruction.

"For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time." Romans 8:19-22

This sure sounds to me like creation, or the world is groaning under the weight of sin, and looking forward to the return of Christ. And that means caring for the environment now, and doing a better job than the world has been doing, Christians and non-Christians alike.

I'm going to dig out that essay tomorrow, and I will try and post the actual words, instead of this very loose paraphrase, 5 years later.

 

[Rockrz]

I do believe that God is not going to destroy the earth. Some of the earliest manuscipts of 2 Peter 3:10 do not have the earth burning up, but being renewed

Of course the earth is not going to be destroyed as in removed, no longer in existence... the renewal starts with the Lord burning the earth with His Holy Fire to purify it and then He will recreate it into a new earth

Yes, it will be re-created right after it is purified to destroy all evil and darkness that had ever touched the earth due to man's sin a rebellion that open the door to satan to infect the earth with darkness.

 

[wwjd_kilden]

Dunno, God told Adam and Eve to subdue the earth, and I checked the blueletterbible, it is a correct translation

כָּבַשׁ

1. to subject, subdue, force, keep under, bring into bondage
   1. (Qal)
      1. to bring into bondage, make subservient
      2. to subdue, force, violate
      3. to subdue, dominate, tread down
   2. (Niphal) to be subdued
   3. (Piel) to subdue
   4. (Hiphil) to bring into bondage

But He also says that all life on earth is HIS (to the people making sacrifices), so we ought to remember we live in a borrowed world ... and I do think He cares for his creation, as Jesus used it to tell his disciples how much they are loved

 

[oldethennew]

well, since He made 'everything' that we must have in order to survive in this
beautiful terrarium' than He made, we're voting Him the very top of the Environmentalists...

 

[p_rehbein]

Sorry dude...........it does not have anything to do with being an environmentalist.

It has to do with God's judgement of man...........

And shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth;
or "corrupt it"; meaning antichrist and his followers; who destroy the bodies, souls, and estates of men, and not only the inhabitants of the earth, but even the earth itself; for through that laziness and idleness which they spread wherever they come, a fruitful country is turned into barrenness; who corrupt the minds of men with false doctrine, idolatry, and superstition, and the bodies of women and men with all uncleanness and filthiness, with fornication, sodomy ( Revelation 19:2 ) ; and are the cause of their own destruction, and the destruction of others; which, upon the blowing of the seventh trumpet, will come swiftly and irrecoverably. Now will Babylon sink as a millstone into the sea, never to be seen more; both the western and eastern antichrists are intended; the former is called the son of perdition, because of his destroying others, and going into perdition himself; and the latter is called "Abaddon" and "Apollyon", which both signify a destroyer, ( 2 Thessalonians 1:4 ) ( Revelation 9:11 ) .

http://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0LE...-18.html/RK=0/RS=VWVGTpl._dUvJeW9SpfKx7OixUA-


But, hey, nice try............ You might also want to deal with this Scripture when considering the other......

Genesis 1:27) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
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.
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.
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.
31 .) And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Rev 11:18 (NASB) “And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”