All Christians Should Recycle

After writing about why "Christians Shouldn't Care About Global Warming" I wanted to continue with what Christians should care about.

Ah, the environment. Caring about the environment often gets people labeled as Hippies. Choosing to use cloth diapers rather than disposable gets people looked at as weird. Buying that super environmentally friendly car will have people saying they should move to California where all the other environmental wackos live. And, a lot of the people saying these things are those bible thumping Christians.

But, what does the bible say Christians should do when it comes to the environment? The first thing I can find in the bible is all the way back in Genesis 2. Genesis 2 tackles that 6th day of creation and zooms in on the creation of man. In Genesis 2:15 it says, "The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and care for it." Right after God made man he gave him a job to care for His creation.

The bible, also, tells us that the Earth is Gods and not ours. Psalm 24:1 tells us, "The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him."

Passages like, Luke 12:42-48 give examples of how a Steward should be. Here they talk about a servant in a masters house. This is just like us (the servant) being in Gods land (the household).

In general we are the servants, God is the master, and the Earth is His. If we are to be faithful we are to manage the Earth in a way where we care for it.

What does this mean in our daily lives? This doesn't mean that our lives should be fixated on the environment but caring for the environment should be part of our everyday lives. Christians should recycle. If we have a choice between something disposable or long lasting, like say the dishes we use every day, we should pick the one that's more environmentally friendly. All the styrofoam we deal with should be recycled (that stuff never decomposes). We shouldn't litter. We should look at gas mileage when we shop for cars. On Earth day we should plant a tree. And, a million other little things we can do every day.

It, also, means that the people who engineer things have an extra responsibility. Cars should be built with the environment in mind. We should be looking for cleaner power solutions. We need to consider the effect of removing the vegetation we do so often. We need to design things so that the disposable stuff cleanly breaks down.

This may seem like a lot of extra work. It sure isn't easy. But, it's what we should do. God loved us enough to make this world for us. The least we can do is care for it. Even if it takes an extra few minutes or costs us a few extra bucks.