Scriptures that Build Our Faith

Conflicting Responsibilities?

by Dean Ohlman

Evangelical Christians often resist the efforts of so-called environmentalists to move them toward more effective and responsible behavior regarding the environmental health of the natural world—what we call “the creation.”  We do this in part because of our perception that most vocal environmental activists are either New Agers, amoral celebrities, or secular humanists.  We typically think of these individuals primarily as nature worshippers who think everything is God, sentimental animal lovers who see no fundamental difference between people and their pets, or atheists whose only god is evolution.  Evangelicals are reluctant to become fellow travelers with those who appear to have such unbiblical views about the nature of the earth—even if there is no biblical reason for us to oppose the responsibility of caring for the creation.  We hesitate to work shoulder to shoulder with individuals whose connections and motivations are non-Christian—often for fear that our churches, friends, and families will think we’ve been duped by neo-pagans, pop idols, or godless scientists.  Further, we have been trained to believe that our primary responsibility is to share the gospel with them—to tell them the good news about Jesus, not share a stream-bank clean-up with them.  We ask, “isn’t evangelism more important than caring for creation?”  And to that we typically answer, “of course.” 

However, evangelicals would probably not say “of course” in response to a similar question: “Isn’t evangelism more important than parenting?”  A more likely evangelical answer to that question would be, “of course not; these are two different kinds of responsibility, and ones we cannot neglect." Good answer.  But I’m afraid that it’s not a conclusion we have considered in depth.  If we did, we’d discover that there are many fundamental human responsibilities, like parenting, that God requires of us.  In reality the amount of time evangelicals actually spend in direct verbal sharing of the gospel is tiny—if we indeed even do it.  Most of our time, like most of a non-Christian’s time, is spent on responsibilities related to living and loving—responsibilities we believe are also mandated by our Creator.  Most of us would see it as sinful to neglect our loved ones or ignore our own health and livelihood in order that we can be out “proclaiming the gospel.” The reason is that we do indeed have different kinds of responsibilities.  And I would propose that a God-given duty like parenting is even more basic than evangelism.  I believe the Bible itself implies that.  What other responsibilities do we have before God?  Humanity’s first responsibilities are generally indicated in the Bible’s first chapters:

1.  Be masters over the other creatures, and allow them to multiply
     (Genesis 1:26, 28)

2.  Multiply and fill the earth (1:28)

3.  Bring the earth into God-honoring subjection (1:28)

4.  Cultivate the soil (by implication in 2:5)

5.  Tend, care for, and protect the Garden (by implication, the earth, in 2:15)

6.  Marry heterosexually and reproduce (an implication of man and woman
     becoming “one flesh” in 2:24-25)

Note that these responsibilities predate any separation between those who love God and follow Jesus—and those who despise God and reject Jesus.  They are simply the foundational mandates of being human—of being creatures made in the image of God.  We could call these our “physical-creational” responsibilities (duties assigned by our Creator in the beginning).  And they are expected of all people.  By implication such duties would clearly prohibit our abusing and threatening the existence of creatures under our care and abusing and threatening the capacity of the earth to generate the products necessary to the life and health of all God’s creatures.  They are the responsibilities we have as virtual vice-regents on the earth under the overarching regency of our Creator and Savior.  Here is a general implied list of some universal human responsibilities to the earth and its creatures:

Physical-creational responsibilities (as human beings)

Obtain food and water

Obtain shelter

Maintain health and safety

Bear children

Care for our families from conception until death

Care for the creation from which all living things sustain life

Again it is important to note that none are exempted from these prime responsibilities, regardless of their spiritual condition or status as believers in God or followers of Jesus. These are simply the “first things” of being human.  It’s from the remainder of the Scriptures that we gain an understanding of what are the more specific responsibilities of believers in God and followers of Jesus.  These can be considered a Christian’s “spiritual-interpersonal responsibilities.”  Here is a less than exhaustive list:

Spiritual-interpersonal responsibilities (as followers of Christ)

Loving God and loving and caring for our neighbors as we love and care for ourselves

Sharing the good news about Jesus and his restoring all things when He comes again

Making disciples of Jesus

Modeling Jesus before the world

Being good citizens by orderly living

From such a differentiation of responsibilities it becomes clear to me that the latter follow from the former.  In fact, we would fail in our spiritual-interpersonal responsibilities if we failed to carry out our more basic physical-creational responsibilities.  This understanding then, makes the question “isn’t evangelism more important than caring for creation?” meaningless.  Further, if we are not tending to our fundamental responsibilities in an obedient and God-honoring way, we cannot expect to carry out the latter duties with any effectiveness.  Further still, carrying out our physical-creational responsibilities in an exemplary way is living the gospel –behavior without which our proclaiming the gospel becomes hollow.  We need to recognize that our physical-creational and our spiritual-interpersonal tasks are not conflicting responsibilities; they are complementary responsibilities that typically occur in a consecutive manner.  And because we evangelical Christians often fail to give due consideration to the general duties given by God to all mankind, the specific duty of proclaiming the gospel—the Good News—often falls on deaf ears.  Can we really be good Christians without also being good people, good spouses, good parents, good providers, and good stewards of God’s creation?

Followers of Jesus must be committed activists in the cause of environmental responsibility—people who acknowledge and have compassion for both the creation and the Creator. We should be leading the way in responsible behavior concerning God’s good creation, and not be seen by non-Christians as abusers or careless consumers of His creation.  It would also be wise for us to be instructed by the ultimate meaning of “responsibility”: it is the “ability to respond.” Respond to what? Respond first to the love and common grace of God, and also to our God-given obligation to be good stewards of all His created gifts.  It’s instructional for us to understand the psalmist who reveals that the things made by the hand of God will join with us to tell of the glory of the LORD’s kingdom and speak of His might so that all men may know of His mighty acts and the glorious splendor of His kingdom.

The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.

[Direct address]

All you have made will praise you, O LORD; your saints will extol you.

They will tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, so that all men
may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations.

The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made.

(Ps 145:9-13NIV)