February 2016

The environment has been one of the most salient issues of the 2016 presidential election. It remains one of the most pressing, complex and divisive issues that the next president has to face.

Abbie Schutte

Abbie Schutte

Is climate change the greatest threat to national security? Is the Keystone XL project worth pursuing? Are renewable energy sources really that plausible? Environmental issues such as these raise a host of controversial questions and answers and navigating this landscape can be difficult, especially from a Christian perspective. A host of conflicting and overlapping rationales ground different views on environmental priorities and strategies. What’s important is that our views on the environment, on caring for creation, align with the testimony of Scripture.

We know from the early chapters in Genesis that it is humanity’s responsibility to take care of the magnificent world that God has created. John Calvin called for a keeping of this earth that does not neglect, injure, abuse, degrade, dissipate, corrupt, mar, or ruin the earth.1 Francis Schaeffer furthered this claim and understood humanity’s call to exhibit dominion over creation, but called for “treating the thing as having value in itself, exercising dominion without being destructive."2

“By grounding ourselves in Scripture, learning about the issues, and gracefully interacting with fellow believers and citizens, we can play our part in answering God's call to steward creation responsibly.”

So how should we think about humanity’s relationship to God’s creation? It may be easier to think about what our relationship is NOT.

As Calvin B. DeWitt explains, we Christians can fall into seeing the world in three different ways that are in tension with scripture: the utilitarian view, the gnostic view, and the no crisis view. Firstly, the utilitarian view that the earth and everything in it belongs to humanity is contrary to our knowledge that the earth and everything in it belong to God (Psalm 104:24 and 1 Corinthians 10:26). The world is not meant for our utility alone.

Secondly, the gnostic idea that the material doesn’t matter is inconsistent with what we know about God. God created this world and it matters to Him. So much so that He gave His one and only Son to redeem it. Jesus walked this earth, died and physically, bodily, materially resurrected. The world that He came to is not unimportant. Thirdly, Christians often avoid thinking about creation care because there are no significant environmental problems. This thinking relies on a faulty assumption that creation stewardship is only necessary when the world is in deep trouble. On the contrary, God called us to care from the beginning of time, when there were no climate change debates or earth-age arguments. Christians can disagree in good faith about different environmental problems and solutions while recognizing the responsibility God gave us to care for His world, regardless of its circumstance. For more of Calvin B. DeWitt’s explanation of how Christians should think about the environment, visit equip.org.

How does an understanding of what our Christian relationship with creation is help us navigate the political terrain of environmental issues today? In short, it gives us a framework within which to think about these issues; it informs what must be at the heart of our political environmental preferences. We must advocate for policies that uphold responsible care and stewardship of creation. Advocating for such policies does not necessarily require reprioritizing other state interests, such as the economy or terrorism, but it does require a refocusing on policies that uphold responsible cultivation. By grounding ourselves in Scripture, learning about the issues, and gracefully interacting with fellow believers and citizens, we can play our part in answering God’s call to steward creation responsibly. “For God so loved the world,” we too try to love the world, by working to steward it as God has called us to do.

Candidate stances

1John Calvin, Commentaries on the First Book of Moses Called Genesis (Chapter 2, on Genesis 2:15)

2Francis Schaeffer, Pollution and the Death of Man: The Christian View of Ecology (72)