The current concern for ecology is only part of a much greater story.
"What can we do to preserve our world from disaster?" The Old
Testament prophets knew that our relationship to God affects for good
or evil our whole natural environment. "There is no faithfulness or
loyalty, and no knowledge of God in the land. Therefore the land
mourns, and all who live in it languish; together with the wild
animals and the birds of the air, even the fish of the sea are
perishing" (Hosea 4:1-3, as in Isaiah 24:4-5, Jeremiah 12:4).
 
    But when there is a turning to God "The wilderness and the dry land
shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom abundantly, and
rejoice with joy and singing" (Isaiah 35:1,2, 6-7). Even the animals
listen, "I will make for you a covenant on that day with the wild
animals, the birds of the air, and the creeping things on the ground"
(Hosea 2:18). And Paul knew that "the creation waits with eager
longing for the revealing of the children of God" (Romans 8:19).
 
    Which suggests that a small investment in spiritual renewal is likely
to achieve far more than making rules to preserve an environment that
is disintegrating by excluding God from his creation.
 

Robert Brow
e-mail : browr@brow.on.ca
web site : www.brow.on.ca