Insert punchline here.
But seriously, am I the only one who has ever thought this is strange? There are vast differences between what we think of as hippies compared to what we think of as Christian. But why? Why do hippies get the stereotype of caring about the environment? Why aren’t Christians equally likely to be thought of as “green”?
I looked in the Bible to try and find specific scripture that would support the notion that we indeed should be environmentalists, and by “we” I mean Christians. I would love to use this space to criticize and judge non-believers, but Jesus told me I cant do that (i blame my father for my critical nature, and i blame my Father for not be able to exercise that skill). I cant judge other people. But woah to you Brothers and Sisters…I am allowed and even compelled to rebuke you!
But, well, there isn’t anything there I could find that tells me I am justified in compelling you to take better care of your planet. So, why do I feel as though environmentalism still has to be somehow part of the Christian core? I picture Christ as this recycling, possibly vegetarian, guy who definitely would be working in his garden that he would then be using to feed the hungry. Or he would be dumpster diving to reduce waste. Or he would be taking old cars and welding them into sculpture. And not many would refute this. So, where do we go from this view of Christ to being who we are as Christian men. We are men who drive trucks and SUVs, play or watch football, and would dang well prefer to get my hot wings in a packaging of Styrofoam than let them go to waste (and by “waste” i mean “not us eating them”). How did we get from the hippy Christ figure to the conservative, short haired GAP models that we are (if only so we can attract models from Express)? How and why did the modern Christian man grow to have soft hands?
More importantly, how to we move past this, and at least begin to have a large scale caring about the streams we pollute, the streets we litter, and the general all around mess we seem to be attempting to leave for our children? Or does God really care what we do with our sandbox?
Push the comment button and let me know what you think….if you can find it (i honestly couldnt).
otherwise, email me. will.dalen@gmail.com
Dalen