| We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| Does the Creator care about the planet? | |
|---|---|
| Topic Started: Sep 17 2009, 09:49 PM (163 Views) | |
| stupidstuff | Sep 17 2009, 09:49 PM Post #1 |
|
Does the God of your choice instruct us to treat his creation with respect? Is there anything of significance about the planet itself in your scriptures? Or is it all in relation to humanity? |
 |
 
|
| thelovablevagabond | Sep 18 2009, 07:29 AM Post #2 |
Exceptionally Pretentious and Opinionated
|
Hells Yeah! Genesis 1:26-29 26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." 29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so. God breathed life into each and every creature. Hence, although we are given complete dominion over animals, it is generally accepted that this passage leaves humans as "caretakers", therefore to be cruel to animals would be against this. |
|
|
|
| Sayf Udeen Ismaeel | Sep 18 2009, 09:36 AM Post #3 |
Icon by meagan_chelsea @ LJ
|
Islam also instructs us to treat our planet with respect, in a similar way. The Prophet (saws) said: “The world is sweet and green (alluring) and verily God is going to install you as vicegerent (khalifah) in it in order to see how you act” (Sahih Muslim) Eat and drink, but waste not by excess, for Allah does not love the wasters. (Surah A’raaf: 31) More importantly, from my perspective, though, is what I heard in a lecture some time ago about how the Qur'an says Humans will be a detriment to our planet, and won't take care of it as we should. I'll have to find the lecture before I speak of that, though. |
|
|
|
| stupidstuff | Sep 18 2009, 11:51 AM Post #4 |
|
hrm... well I was thinking of this in regard to the planet itself rather than the animals occupying it. For instance, is there anything in the Bible that could reasonably lead a believer to the conclusion that he should protect the earth from reckless destruction or contamination? I'm not talking about this in terms of enlightened self-interest (eg the recognition that massive environmental degredation can, at some point, result in a lessening of the quality of life for humans) but rather in the sense that there is something worthy about the planet itself that deserves respect from humans - basically, this would take the form of the following argument: God created the Earth. Humans should practice caution (or at least, mindfulness) therefore when they are considering altering it in any significant way. The reason I'm asking is that my local tree-hugger group is considering asking a group of evengelicals to join in with us on trying to reduce the amount of toxins and assorted filth poured into the ship channel from companies that figure it's cheaper to pay the fine (if they are caught) than it is to install proper waste disposal equipment and techniques. Anyway, it would be an odd couple of a coalition. We've heard them make some environmental appeals and I've been wondering if they have a Biblical leg to stand on. As for animals, I have a book called Dominion that approaches the issues of animal rights and animal welfare from a christian perspective. I am skeptical of any argument claiming christianity to place any special significance on any lifeform other than humans - but I'll give this book a shot. Edited by stupidstuff, Sep 18 2009, 11:52 AM.
|
|
|
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| « Previous Topic · Religion · Next Topic » |
8:27 AM Nov 28
