Environmental Morality

2/12/15              Tyler               about 25

Should Christians be concerned about the environment?  We reached out to a young man named Tyler at the local coffee shop today, and he expressed deep concern about climate change and the future of life on earth.  He was highly critical of the apathy of Christians toward environmental issues.  I asked “Why do you think so many are skeptical about an issue like global warming?”  He told me  “They are so concerned about eternal life they don’t think they have to worry about life here on earth, or they think Jesus is coming soon so they think they don’t have to think of the next generation.” I assured him I shared his concern. As a Christian, I understand that we are to be stewards of the earth, and though I do believe the world will end with Jesus’ return, we don’t know if that will be in our generation or 100 generations from now, so I do think we should try to take care of the environment for the next generation”   But even if we Christians were known for our environmentalism, would that convince an unbelieving world of the Gospel?  As we talked further, Tyler turned out to be a solid atheist, critical not only of Christians but the idea of God Himself.  Like most atheists, Tyler feels he is morally superior to Christians and even God by being good “without the fear of hell or the reward of heaven”, and having an issue like the environment to stake his claim of goodness on.  Tyler refuses to accept a God who would hold him accountable for his actions, and instead reserves the right to decide his own standard of accountability.  He even admitted as much to me – “Everyone wants to believe they are better than others in one way or another” he said.  As Christians, we should be concerned about the environment, but not because people like Tyler are trying to set the standard for moral goodness.