In my systematic theology class for high schoolers we began
to discuss the doctrine of humanity.
I began with talking about how as created beings we share a kinship with
the rest of creation. We often
move so quickly to our uniqueness as humans being created in God’s image that
we fail to recognize our shared creature-liness with other created
entities. I read some of the
following from Francis Schaeffer’s work Pollution
and the Death of Man (1970).
All pages numbers are from The
Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer—vol. 5 (Crossway, 1982).
As a Christian I say, “Who am I?”
Am I only the hydrogen atom, the energy particle extended? No, I am made
in the image of God. I know who I am. Yet, on the other hand, when
I turn around and face nature, I face something that is like myself. I,
too, am created, just as the animal and the plant and the atom are
created. (p. 30)
Therefore, intellectually and
psychologically, I look at these animals, plants, and machines, and as I face
them I understand something of the attitude I should have toward them. I
begin to think differently about life. Nature begins to look
different. I am separated from it, yet related to it.
Notice the phrase “intellectually and
psychologically.” This is a very important distinction. I can say,
“Yes, the tree is a creature like myself.” But that is not all that is
involved. There ought to be a psychological insight, too.
Psychologically I ought to “feel” a relationship to the tree as my fellow-creature.
It is not simply that we ought to feel a relationship intellectually to the
tree, and then turn this into just another argument for apologetics, but that
we should realize, and train people in our churches to realize, that on the
side of creation and on the side of God’s infinity and our finiteness we really
are one with the tree! (p. 31)
The value of the things is not in
themselves autonomously, but that God made them—and thus they deserve to be
treated with high respect. The
tree in the field is to be treated with respect. It is not be romanticized, as the old lady romanticizes her
cat (that is, she reads human reactions into it). That is wrong because it is not true. When you drive the axe into the tree
when you need firewood, you are not cutting down a person; you are cutting down
a tree. But while we should not
romanticize the tree, we must realize God made it and it deserves respect
because He made it as a tree.
(p. 32)
Christians, of all
people, should not be the destroyers. We should treat nature with an
overwhelming respect. We may cut down a tree to build a house, or to make
a fire to keep the family warm. But we should not cut down the tree just
to cut down the tree. We may, if necessary, bark the cork tree in order
to have the use of the bark. But what we should not do is to bark the
tree simply for the sake of doing so, and let it dry and stand there a dead
skeleton in the wind. To do so is not to treat the tree with
integrity. We have the right to rid our houses of ants; but what we have
not the right to do is to forget to honor the ant as God made it, in its
rightful place in nature. When we meet the ant on the sidewalk, we step
over him. He is a creature, like ourselves; not made in the image of God,
but equal with man as far as creation is concerned. The ant and the man
are both creatures. (p. 43)
Hunting game is
another example of the same principle.
Killing of animals for food is one thing, but on the other hand they do
not exist simply as things to be slaughtered. This is true of fishing too. Many men fish and leave their victims to rot and stink. But what about the fish? Has it no rights—not to be romanticized
as thought he were a man—but real rights?
On the other hand, it is wrong to treat the fish as though it were a
human baby; on the other hand, neither is it a chip of wood or stone. (p. 44)
When we have learned
this—the Christian view of nature—then there can be a real ecology; beauty will
flow, psychological freedom will come, and the world will cease to be turned
into a desert. Because it is
right, on the basis of the whole Christian system—which is strong enough to
stand it all because it is true—as I face the buttercup, I say: “Fellow-creature,
fellow-creature, I won’t walk on you. We are both creatures together.” (p. 55)
Here are a few items of relevance:
Francis Schaeffer on Ecology
Habakkuk and God's Concern for the Environment
