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Sleeth: God Vital to Saving Earth, July 29, 2006
God vital to saving our Earth
Atlanta Journal Constitution
J. Matthew Sleeth
July 29, 2006J. Matthew Sleeth is a former emergency medicine physician who now writes, teaches and preaches full time about faith and Earth stewardship. He is the author of "Serve God, Save the Planet: A Christian Call to Action."
"What do you make of Al Gore's movie?" I've been asked. "Is 'An Inconvenient Truth' a political ploy? Unproven science? Another Y2K scare?" Last night I saw the movie and can now answer a few of those questions. But first, a disclosure: I'm a born-again evangelical Christian, as well as a physician and a scientist who believes that Christ truly walked on water.
As a scientist, I agree with Gore's conclusions about the causes and effects of global warming. The Earth is heating up. As a result, we will face more heat waves, hurricanes, droughts, flooding and severe weather. Gore's travels to obtain first-hand information require massive resources; however, all of us have two free sources of data available that will confirm his findings --- our own memories of decades' worth of summers and winters, and the experiences of others. No one I've spoken to can find a single person who claims that their town, city, or country is becoming cooler. No one.
People of faith have another reason to accept the signs of global warming. This reason supersedes personal, economic and political considerations. We are charged with spreading the good news of the Gospel. We who identify ourselves as evangelicals hold this commissioning near and dear. It is how and why we got our title.
History teaches Christendom the cost of denying scientific truth. At one time, the church clung to a false belief that the Earth was the center of the celestial movements. We do not wish to add "remember Christians denying global warming" to "remember the church's persecution of Galileo."
Moreover, the Bible repeatedly tells us that the Earth belongs to the Lord,and that we are to love what God loves --- including all of his creation. God specifically commands: "You shall not defile the land in which you live, in which I also dwell."
Gore is correct in saying that caring for the Earth is a moral issue, but morality alone will not save us. First, we must serve God.
Without God, the needle of the moral compass always comes to rest in a self-serving direction. History is replete with moral causes gone awry --- such as the French and Russian revolutions --- because their leaders lacked God.
Before I learned this lesson, I considered myself an ardent environmentalist. I lectured everyone I met about their ecological footprint; I knew the companies, politicians and neighbors who were guilty of environmental damage. But when God was added to my life, I saw my own sin, hypocrisy, and failings. I had to re-examine every truth I had held.
Before I turned to God, I could justify a big house, car trips and vacations. Like other environmentalists, I biked down mountains and canoed from lake to lake so that I could "get in touch with nature," conveniently forgetting that my bike was ripping up natural habitats and my canoe was introducing dangerous, non-native microorganisms to the water. I could justify trips to the barrier islands for their educational value, or a vacation to a foreign country to broaden my cultural experiences. Only when I added God to morality did I see my poor, imprisoned and hungry neighbors all over the globe. I had to answer the question: "Are my wants more important than my neighbor's needs?"
God gave our family the power to go from awareness to meaningful changes. We moved to a smaller house, cut our electrical use by three-quarters, and reduced our fossil fuel use by two-thirds. We've gone from two barrels of trash a week to one a month. We are the poster family for the downwardly mobile.
It's about changing hearts
What we have gained, however, is a life richer in meaning than I could have imagined. Spiritual concerns have filled the void left by material ones. Owning fewer things has resulted in things no longer owning us.
Future generations cannot register our good intentions --- only the consequences of our actions.
I no longer try to change people's minds. Now I hope to change their hearts. When I share my message, people tell me that they are biking to work now, taking Sundays off, changing the lightbulbs in their houses, planting trees and exchanging the family van for a smaller car.
Politics, science and education all will be needed if we are to pass on a wholesome planet to our children's children. But if those who wish to save the planet do not enlist the aid of God, I see little hope.
God and religion can be powerful forces for change. In a self-centered society that says "you can have it all," the church is the only remaining institution that tells us not to live only for ourselves. It is the place where hundreds of millions of Americans gather regularly to mix God and morality. If any politician ignores this, they do so at all of our peril. And that's the truth.