Yooouuu... Bible Thumpin, Tree Huggin, Baptist!

(I took this picture while enjoying the beauty of God's creation up in the Swiss Alps in the summer of 2005.)

Russ suggested that I move a comment that I made on his previous post to the main page as a post of its own, so here it is.... enjoy!

An Associated Press story appeared in my local paper this morning (9/14/06). The story reported that an estimated 100,000 acres of private forest is destroyed in North Carolina each year. According to a Raleigh based environmental group, the annual loss is roughly the size of the city of Durham.

The story reports that North Carolina’s cities are in the middle of a “great crescent” that connects Atlanta to Washington DC making the area in between one great suburb. The growth of this great suburb is creating a great amount of urban sprawl. A debate is erupting in North Carolina between conservationists and county governments. Conservationists are urging local governments to lower the property tax rate for property owners who own large tracts of hardwoods and are committed to conservation of forests. If taxes are lower on large tracts of forests, property owners could afford to keep their property rather than selling it to a developer. Unfortunately, county managers aren’t willing to adjust their budgets to accommodate such lower tax rates (You know... that whole serving “mammon” thing that’s found in the uuhh... yeah! That’s right! The Bible!).

I bring this news story to the attention of the discerning reader because the main article mentions conservation. After all, I don’t think God had in mind the destruction of 100,000 acres of timber per year in an area the size of North Carolina when he commanded the human race to have dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:28). With dominion comes stewardship and responsibility. Destroying timber at such enormous rates and covering the land with concrete and asphalt is neither good management nor responsible. Turning a forest into a shopping mall turns the “good” that God created (Genesis 1:31) into something that is extremely ugly. It all boils down to much of the human race serving mammon rather than God (Matthew 6:24).

Thus, I am an environmentalist of the highest order. In fact, I’m almost a radical environmentalist. However, my environmentalism is informed by the Bible alone because it is the Bible that reveals to us who the Creator is and how creation speaks to His glory. Without the Scriptures, my environmentalism would have no philosophical underpinning. Thus, as far as I’m concerned, you can’t be a philosophically consistent environmentalist without a Bible tucked under your arm.

BB