"Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
There are some in the church that will tell you that the things of this world are evil. I tend to think the things... actual, tangible things are not evil at all. I think there is better scriptural support that the things of this world have a single owner, God. God owns it all, but he has given them to us for care.
When we start to think we own it instead, then trouble brews. Greed and power create hate and lust. When we tell ourselves we want to own things, we start to make errors in judgement. I'm not saying that creating personal wealth is in and of itself evil, but it all has to do with motivation.
The other day I had an online "discussion" with a gentleman who felt I was contradicting myself when I say thing like that. He felt I cannot have it both ways; that all successful people are not necessarily greedy. He felt that if you pursue wealth, you are guilty of greed. He didn't see the difference. He felt that any church that gathered mass amounts of money were evil and hypocritical.
We often hear the phrase "Money is the root of all evil," but that is actually a misquote from 1 Timothy 6:10. The actual quote is "the love of money is the root of all evil," and therein lies the difference. I will agree with the gentleman that there are organizations that have not been wise in their handling of money, creating cushy lifestyles for a few instead of delivering on the promise of helping others. But I still believe it is possible for people who have been fortunate enough to be in charge of wealth to do good. To believe otherwise is to completely discount the great acts of philanthropy that have occurred in the world.
No, the things of the world are not evil. It's more about our attitude in handling the things of the world.
Just as I believe the things of this world belong to God, I believe God challenges us to manage them well. We read in Genesis above that God has given us dominion over the earth and all the living things. So if you have a willing heart to properly care for God's things, then the accumulation of those things is Good, not evil. If you build with the intent to manage it wisely and with care for the benefit of all, how can that be evil?
No, time and time again, I see the pattern of God's calling. It is often less about the way most of the world sees things, and more about taking God's view and adopting it as our own. We have (at least at this moment in time) only one planet to care for, and many have managed to hurt our environment, destroy species, and war over the ownership of specific regions. Greedy rulers have harmed the people they ought to be helping by stealing the best for themselves at the expense of the ones they should help.
There are plenty of people who would dismiss the importance of caring for this world. But I contend we have a Christian responsibility to manage it according to God's design. It doesn't really matter if global warming is just a political movement or a real thing; we should strive to act carefully anyway. Do the good things for air, sea, flora and fauna. We should act carefully for each other. We should pray to focus on being the stewards of a world for God.
Take the politics out of environment. Take responsibility.
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