Posted by Jay Dampier | Posted in uhhhh | Posted on 30-11-2008
Tags: Creation, Dominion Theology, Genesis, politics, worldview
I feel that my passion for Creator God and my passion for Creator God’s Creation, often put me in a weird position. In some of the circles, I mention I am a Christian and the conversation gets really quiet and people start shuffling uncomfortably. How can this be, J is such a normal guy? In those moments (thankfully they are rare), if I really want to see someone blow a gasket, all I need to do is tell them I am not only a Christian, but a Christian Pastor, as well.
Why is it that folks outside the Christian faith have a hard time accepting that Christians can actually give a rip about the environment? I guess our track record has been less than stellar. And it probably doesn’t help that leaders on both sides of the US/Canada boarder claiming to be Christian will sometimes roll out policies that are not very green. But are all Christians like that? Do we all think that by God giving us “Dominion” over the Created World we have license to do whatever we like with it? Although the Genesis account records God saying after each creative act “It was good” are our actions revealing that our attitudes are different than the Creator? Do we think it’s UnChristian to care for the Created World?
On another note I decided to launch this blog today, my daughter’s 3rd birthday. It’s dedicated to her and those of her generation who will inhert the consequences of our good and bad decisions.
Hey Jay
Your blog’s pretty neat, and your attitude makes sense. I look forward to reading more whenever — I’ll keep an eye out for updates here and there. Nice work!
Colleen
Hey Mr. J.J. Buckfart,
I wonder if politics has anything to do with how Christians are viewed when it comes to the environment, or if politics affect how Chrisitians view the environment. Since traditionally, Christians are viewed as being right wing conservatives, which generally means pro-capitalism, tax cuts, less government, and policies that benefit corporations (contrary to the environmental view); while environmentalists tend to be portrayed as socialist, contrary to this right wing political view.
Brian.
Looking forward to reading some of your thoughts.
Response to Brian…
Great point Brian. Actually I think its both. In North American politics certain partys (for whatever reason) seem to be the “Christian” party. As it so happens, these “Christian” parties also tend to role out policies that are not very green. On your other point, whatever we expose ourselves to tends to help us shape our view. If someone knows its the “Christian” thing to be a member of this political party or that, then that will shape their view of the world… for better or worse. What do programmers say… garbage in garbage out?
The bottomline is I think we all should read broadly and read authors who we don’t necesarily agree with so we can better understand the world we find ourselves living in. There is no Christian party. Except the one happening on Christmas Eve at Redwood.
To Colleen…
Thanks for the encouragement. Come back often to check out what’s going on in my head. Now that’s a scary thought.