Evangelical pastor seeks support for environmentalism
Robinson founded the Vineyard Boise Church in Idaho and considers himself a evangelical political conservative. He came to Missoula on Friday to talk about his efforts to reconnect Christian religion with young people, in part through environmental issues.
“Millennials are open to Christianity, and they value the things like civil rights, social justice and the environment,” Robinson said. “But they see evangelicals standing against all of that. We compromised those things we value when 83 percent of evangelicals voted for (President Donald) Trump. Caring for creation and the poor and the stranger are things Jesus commissioned us to do. And the millennial perception is we’re really missing it.”...
This pastor has a hard time figuring out what a church is supposed to be doing. Outside the church people can,
Brandon Fastman wrote: Where is there hope for our democracy?
[Bill Moyers] In the same place where change always comes from: uprisings of Americans outraged at injustice, who know they are only going to have better lives and a better country if they put themselves on the line. Abolitionists once upon a time and the civil rights movement in my time. Those brave men and women, most of them young, who took on white supremacy. Populist farmers who rose up against the railroad monopolies and overweening banks in the last decades of the 19th century. Suffragettes who went to jail for the vote. Workers marching and striking for a living wage. Tree-huggers and climate-change marchers willing to be arrested to save the Earth. Democracy is far, far more than voting; democracy is what we do between elections. Agitate, agitate, agitate.
excerpt from, "Listening Closely with Bill Moyers"
https://tinyurl.com/ral78ev
This pastor like many conservative ones does not seem to realize, https://tinyurl.com/y576t94t (Should Christians try to force the kingdom on others?) --The answer is no especially from the pulpit
Wow, that must have been a powerful message. I bet the old mourners' bench was packed. Now if Pastor Steve would preach a sermon on saving the whales, revival would probably break out.
About 3 weeks ago my Baptist Pastor preached in his sermon about the need of Christians to follow the biblical mandate to conserve the natural resources that God provided by recycling.
Well, Jim, it seems like Dr. MacAurthur made some specific comments. Most of what the Lord told us is found in the original commands to Adam then some additional ones in the Noahic Covenant. However, if you consider the seals, trumpets & bowls/vials of Revelation, there is a huge amount of environment impact from the various plagues. Note they happen without man's input or as a direct cause/effect.
I just did a quick search for SermonAudio's sermons for the word 'ecology' and found 22 sermons listed. I downloaded the first 2 from a series on Ecology and Economics that sound very interesting. In the case of this news item, it sounds like the pastor is trying to be relevant to millenials. Maybe he will learn that they might like what he has to say, but are not willing to give up a tenth of their gross income to fund his salary. Therefore, he will alienate his seasoned citizen members who may be willing to fund his salary, and then he will have nothing.
John MacArthur wrote: I do think we have a responsibility to care for the environment--we ought to care for every resource God has provided for us.
That's illustrated in the Old Testament account where God put Israel in the Promised Land, a fertile land flowing with milk and honey. God provided them that productive land and commanded them to let the soil rest every seventh year.
So I believe we are charged to treat responsibly all the wonderful resources God has given us. But that, in fact, has very little to do with the environmental movement. The environmental movement is consumed with trying to preserve the planet forever. But we know that isn't in God's plan.
The earth we inhabit is not a permanent planet. It is, frankly, a disposable planet--it is going to have a very short life. It's been around six thousand years or so--that's all--and it may last a few thousand more. And then the Lord is going to destroy it....
--[URL=http://tinyurl.com/y86ghega]]]http://tinyurl.com/y86ghega (Do we have a responsibility to care for the environment?)[/URL] 🌋
QC, while true, you see from the above that God made some very specific statements about the environmentâť—
"Theological and Ethical Foundations of Stewardship God, the Creator of all things, rules over all and deserves our worship and adoration (Ps. 103:19—22). The earth, and, with it, all the cosmos, reveals its Creator’s wisdom and goodness (Ps. 19:1—6) and is sustained and governed by his power and lovingkindness (Ps. 102:25—27; Ps. 104; Col. 1:17; Heb. 1:3, 10—12). Men and women were created in the image of God, given a privileged place among creatures, and commanded to exercise stewardship over the earth (Gen. 1:26—28; Ps. 8:5). Fundamental to a properly Christian environmental ethic, then, are the Creator/creature distinction and the doctrine of humankind’s creation in the image of God. Some environmentalists, especially those in the "Deep Ecology" movement, divinize the earth and insist on "biological egalitarianism," the equal value and rights of all life forms, in the mistaken notion that this will raise human respect for the earth. Instead, this philosophy negates the biblical affirmation of the human person’s unique role as steward and eliminates the very rationale for human care for creation." https://acton.org/public-policy/environmental-stewardship/theology-e/biblical-perspective-environmental-stewardship
The Quiet Christian wrote: Christ's people have much to do. It is up to us to get after it in Christ's name, not in any of name, and not through contracted entities such as the government.
Oh boy, do I ever agree with that statement, QC.
Even a brief look through the four gospels shows that so clearly. It is a counter culture, with a separate Head. We are not of this world, but children of the King, in the Royal Family of Jehovah.
Jim, I think the problem is more in how we carry out God's expectations and commands as evidence of the regeneration He builds inside of each of His people. Of course, Christians should have concern for whatever gifts the Lord has graciously given, be that our created world in which we live, move, and have our being, be that our children, be that the skills and abilities He has provided, be that the opportunities to use those skills for His glory in work, be those the opportunities to use those skills in direct ministry to relieve the poor in wallet and spirit. To despise the gift, in my view, is to despise the Giver.
Christ's people have much to do. It is up to us to get after it in Christ's name, not in any of name, and not through contracted entities such as the government. I think this is the major sticking point between you and most of those who post here. But my Bible says both sides see through the glass darkly, so that we do not fully precieve the right way (1 Cor 13). My Bible says at best we are unprofitable servants (Luke 17:10), but when are we even that good to do all that is commanded? My Bible says we all need the covering and forgiveness through Christ not every once in a while but every moment (1 John 1:8). I pray that the Lord would guide His chu
"creation (of babies in the womb and the poor (babies) and the( little)stranger " ..
http://americanrtl.org/personhood-prolife-videos
Dt24:16 The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.
A culture that has exceptions that kills Poor created strangers due to their environment( the womb) Rebuke it with God's authority.
Ben Rosen wrote: Pope Francis also integrated environmentalism and abortion in his second encyclical, “Laudato si’,” when he wrote that environmental stewardship is simply “incompatible with the justification of abortion.” But the pope seemed to argue that people who care about endangered species and the melting of polar ice caps could not also support abortion, as Crux reported. The Evangelical Environmental Network’s argument appears to fit more into the religious environmental movement, linking morality to the environment, not the other way around....
...“Hostile to environmentalism ever since, evangelicals cast even the solid science on global warming as a conspiracy against freedom and faith promulgated in schools and universities.”
This skepticism has continued until the present day. In 2014, The Pew Research Center found only 28 percent of white evangelicals said “climate change is occurring mostly because of human activity such as burning of fossil fuels,” the lowest of any religious group Pew surveyed....
--[URL=http://tinyurl.com/ybfd5lj3]]]http://tinyurl.com/ybfd5lj3 (Could making climate change a 'pro-life' issue bring conservatives on board?) [/URL]
Yes, QC, mixing politics and religion is the prime example!
I think that any time we tie the Gospel to certain issues, we lose credibility. There is a desire within certain circles to try to be relevant. Usually we wind up compromising when we do that. I agree that treating people badly is not an effective witness but being "winsome so you might win some" is certainly called for. Compromise is not. Nice try by the young guy, but go back to the drawing board...
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