SPECIAL EVENTS |
ConservationSunday 18 Jan 2009 Many Christians are belatedly becoming active environmentalists. This is good, because God commanded us to “be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the Earth, and subdue it.” (Genesis 1: 28-30) To be able to do this; to be able to “replenish the Earth, and subdue (control) it”, we need to be active environmentalists/ conservationists. The problem with the conservation movement in the world today however is that conservationists are mostly not conservative; instead, they are socialist. They talk the talk, but mostly they do not walk the walk. They talk about caring for the world, but then they vote and work for systems of government that that cannot do anything but destroy our world. If you are a genuine environmentalist/conservationist; and you are offended by this, before you stop reading this editorial, ask yourself: who causes the most damage to our planet? The facts show us that it is big government and big business that are doing the damage. Small business, free enterprise people (real conservatives) are not the culprits. Socialist/Communist governments throughout the world, in league with irresponsible big businesses, like the ones we have recently seen on Wall Street, are the worst offenders. Then ask yourself; who am I voting for and where do their policies take us? If you are not voting for small business, free enterprise, then you are voting against what you say you believe. You are really not supporting conservation. It can be a bitter and difficult pill to swallow, but the truth always is. The Conservative Mistake Having said this, the political wing of the conservative movement is not sinless in this issue, because it has taken its eye off the ball; it has forgotten its purpose and its responsibilities. It has been slow to realize that, caring for the environment, which many of us take for granted, as part and parcel of our lives, is really a major global, political issue. Like most things in life, we rarely value them until we lose them; and the political wing of the conservative movement has certainly lost the conservation issue. And this is a big reason why they lost the election in the US recently; and are losing the support of many people; particularly the young, all over the world. While small business conservatives have been busy doing their own thing; looking after their own backyard; pursuing their own interests; reaping the rewards of the incredible economy that we had; they have ignored the fact that the world at large is being systematically raped and abused by those who we thought would have enough sense to look after it. However, like the global financial mess that we now find ourselves in; that has also now been dumped at our door; we find that those that we trusted to mind the global “store”; were not worthy of our trust; they have allowed the enemy to break in and steal all that we built up over that past 50 years. Party Politics Many will say that in saying this; we are being party political, and twisting the meaning of words, but they are wrong. The good management of this world is a conservative issue. It is therefore a Christian issue. Christians have had the commandment to “replenish the Earth, and subdue it” since the beginning of time. It was first given to Adam and then again to Noah. There never was a time when Christians were not bound by this commandment. It is encompassed in the great commandments that Jesus taught us: to love God and to love or neighbor as ourselves. Every Christian therefore should be a conservative. And by this, we mean that we desire to conserve those things that conserve (save) human life. In this world, nothing should be more important to us than the preservation of this planet that enables us to gain our salvation (conservation). It is not party political therefore to discuss this issue, even if it has party political consequences; any more than it is not party political to discuss the current global financial disaster and to know and understand what went wrong. Again, we are commanded to do this. ‘The saints shall judge the world,” the apostle Paul tells us. “And,” he also says that, “if the world shall be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?” (1 Corinthians 6: 2) Reading the Record Today, almost 50 years after the environment first became a global political issue, the good news is that we can now look back and see what has actually happened and who has done what. After all the aggressive political activity by the army of “green” activists that has grown up around the world, we can now see and evaluate what they have achieved. The truth is that, like most alarmist political activities, all that they have achieved is political; all that they have done is stolen government away from the conservatives. They have done little to nothing to save the planet, or anything else. The governments that they have elected have done very, very little; and continue to do very little of lasting consequence. In most instances they have worsened the situation. If you disagree; then listen to the environmental movement’s current message and they will tell you themselves that the Earth has never been in greater danger. Where then is the accounting? Why is this, you ask? It is happening because the environmental movement is party political; it is not environmentally driven. If this is not the case, then many environmentalists are politically as well as fundamentally naďve and inept. They may be very well-meaning, well-intentioned people, but they are nonetheless naive and clearly do not know what they are doing, because our world is paying a very serious price. Many young people fit this description; they mean well; they seriously care about the world; but they lack the experience to know how change happens. They do not understand how politics or the world works; mostly, they are political lambs for the slaughter. The Environmental Truth The truth of life is that, you cannot abrogate personal responsibility to government. This is our world and we are responsible for it. “All things were created by Him, and for Him,” (Colossians 1: 16) and if we are born again in Him (Christ), this means that “all things are created by us, and for us.” “All things were made by Him (us); and without Him (us) was not any thing made that was made,” (John 1: 3) John tells us. And this is scientifically correct, because this world does not exist without human consciousness of its existence. As Christians, we should also know that God is a personal God. God is not a Socialist/Communist; He believes in individual free enterprise. This is why this is a “purpose driven world”, because, each of us has a God-given purpose; our life should be how we fulfill our purpose. This is why the apostle James said, “I will show you my faith by my works.” (James 2: 18) In other words, I will show you what I believe, by what I do. The Lesson of Martin Luther This is why Martin Luther broke with the teachings of the Church of Rome, because he realized that “by grace we are saved through faith.” (Ephesians 2: 8) You cannot buy your way into Heaven with money; or smart talk, because “the Word of God is a discerner of thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4: 12) If you are a Protestant, then this is the very foundation of your faith; it is the very rock upon which the Church is built. And what it means is that we must believe in the power of the individual and not governments, to manage and protect this world. This is why we should always vote for governments that protect and promote individual free enterprise. We should never politically support anyone that promotes socialism or communism, because these systems of government destroy the individual and thereby destroy our world. It has nothing to do with the individual; who may be very well meaning; it has everything to do with reality. If you do not do this, big government and big business will move in and abuse both the people and their land; and they will do it with a smile on their face, as they blame someone else. And the same truth applies to every environmental issue that you want to name. Empower the people and the problem, no matter what it is, will evaporate. For as Jesus said: “wherever two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 4: 20) Note well that He said nothing about governments. |
EDITORIAL
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