Fordthought
  • Blog
  • Word of the Week
  • Dig Deeper

Word of the Week: w/c 05/10/15 - Stewardship

4/10/2015

 

The belief that humans are responsible for the world and should look after it for God.

Picture
PictureImage: Stokpic
We only have to open a newspaper or turn on the TV to be confronted by that fact that humanity is facing a very large problem - how to deal with our environment and the effects that we have had upon the natural world. Climate Change is a phenomena that many scientists agree is being directly affected by human actions and in the past 40 years there has been a growing movement to ensure that humans act to reduce our impact upon the environment.


Christians have also been part of the green movement and there is a great deal in the Bible to support the idea that they have a special duty to care for the environment: As it says in Pslams: "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." (Psalm 24:1) or in Deuteronomy: "To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it." (Deuteronomy 10:14). Many Christians feel that they should care for the world because it is not really theirs but rather belongs to God.

This can be seen in the second creation story in Genesis 2 when God creates the world and then creates Adam to “till and keep” the Garden of Eden; many liberal Christians interpret this Myth to mean that they have a responsibility to maintain the world and use its resources sustainably. They will have to give it back to God one day and certainly have to pass it on to the next generation.
PictureImage: ClkerFreeVectorImages
The wider debate is how we are to achieve this - are we to try and have the least impact upon the world by reducing, reusing and recycling straight away? Are we to turn to low-energy technology and renewable sources of energy such as wind, tide and solar? Do Governments have a duty to force us to adopt these practices? Should they be heavily subsidising the production of electric vehicles and taxing products with poor environmental credentials? Or would it be better in the long run to not try and interfere in the process of development and trust that necessity and market forces will bring about the changes needed. Indeed, there are many “Climate Change deniers” who argue that the state of the planet and man’s influence upon the climate has been over-stated.


Whatever the answer to these questions Christians still have many areas of their lives where they should consider Stewardship and the impact of everything belonging to God on their lives. Often Christians focus on Time, Treasures and Talents when considering how to act. This video from the Church of Scotland highlights the range of areas that Christians might consider in their lives:

    Archives

    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014

    Categories

    All
    Abortion
    Absolutism
    Agnostic
    Analogy
    Animal
    Apophatic
    A Priori
    Aquinas
    Article
    Assisted Dying
    Banking
    Bertrand Russell
    Book Review
    Buddhism
    Christianity
    Cosmological
    Covenant
    Dawkins
    Debate
    Design
    Diaspora
    Dig Deeper
    Dukkha
    Epiphany
    Equality
    Euthanasia
    Existentialism
    Fallacies
    False Dichotomy
    Family
    Fertility
    Genesis
    Hajj
    Higher Education
    Hindu
    Hinduism
    Holocaust
    Hospice
    Human Rights
    Human-rights
    Hume
    Islam
    ISRSA
    Judaism
    Justice
    JWT
    Lent
    Life After Death
    Love
    Martyr
    Messiah
    MOOC
    Narnia
    NDE
    News
    Nirvana
    Ontological
    Plato
    PPE
    Pro Choice
    Pro-Choice
    Pro Life
    Pro-Life
    Prophet
    Reformation
    Relativism
    Religion
    Rights
    Sabbath
    Science Vs Religion
    Secularisation
    Soul
    Sport
    Stewardship
    Surrogacy
    Teleological
    Temple
    Ten Commandments
    Theology
    Viability
    Via Negativa
    Vision
    Warfare
    Wittgenstein
    Word
    Word Of The Week
    Word-of-the-week

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos from sneakerdog, Steve Slater (Wildlife Encounters), Art4TheGlryOfGod, johndillon77, dustinj, Charlie Davidson, ineffable_pulchritude, LisaW123, jamee.khairul, Abode of Chaos, Dunleavy Family