Gone Too Far: Shifting Under the Weight of Cultural Pressure
As Christians, we understand that the universe was made by God and that He appointed an heir — who is Christ, and by Him, all things were created, including man who was created in His image. This truth is key to establishing a correct view of the Creator/creation distinction. Believers are to be good stewards, but it is God who sustains the world through Christ; therefore through this revelation, one can affirm the overarching aim and chief purpose of humanity is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever [6]. Ultimately, using the fruits of this creation and subduing them is important; however, the creation, meaning humanity, should never conclude that there lies an ability to either destroy or aid in the creation itself. God cursed this land after the fall and instructed mankind to subdue it and to fill it, and richly gave all its resources to be used for the glory of God and the enjoyment of all mankind (Gen 1:28,3:17–19,9:1–3; Hebrews 1:1,2; Colossians 1:15–20,23 ESV). The tipping point occurs when humanity decides to elevate the creation over the Creator and thus exchange the truth for a lie.
What then is our response to the cultural movement happening today concerning Global Warming or even creation worship- especially in light of the recent actions of Union Theological Seminary- where they confessed their sins to plants? There was a series of ‘tweets’ where this Seminary began to unpack the reasons why they were confessing sins to plants. This took place during a supposed worship service where students set up an array of plants in the middle of the Chapel and began to kneel and confess sins to these plants. Albert Mohler, in his daily news briefing, read a few of the tweets from Union Theological Seminary in regards to this event. While all of these tweets essentially stated that there is a climate crisis resulting from humanity’s general disregard for the creation (they used Creation- big ‘C’) — the most unfortunate is where they expressed that they confessed their sins of environmental damage to the plants themselves [2]. It is extremely discouraging that the thrust of this session of confession is elevating the creation over the Creator. There was even a statement that essentially encouraged our engagement with plants regardless of their inability to verbally respond.
Multiple reviews of the service at Union Theological Seminary at least show the push-back from the conservative Christian community. While some turned to humor, many considered this event an act of idolatry-likening it to the golden calf worshiped by the people of Israel in disobedience [3]. Pastor Greg Locke, of a Church in Tennessee, considered this event complete nonsense and a display of theological bankruptcy while also letting them know their Seminary is a cemetery [3]. While this may seem harsh- I would agree that such actions need to be called out, especially if it is an improper display of orthopraxy.
There seems to be a massive confusion of the relationship or distinction stated previously with the Creator/creature. This one instance of people worshiping the creation rather than the Creator is an ongoing movement happening in our culture currently. Look anywhere and see a constant concern over Global Warming or environmental preservation and you begin to see a veneration of the creation to a level of worship. Now, I am not sitting here saying that we as Christians should not be concerned about how we treat our surroundings or interact with the rich blessings God has given us in creation; however, this is an exact example of Romans 1 playing out before our eyes. Just yesterday, October 3rd, 2019- a constituent at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s town hall meeting went off that we have too many people on our planet and the only solution is to get rid of the babies and eat the babies [4]. The care for the creation has exceeded that of a normal level into the extreme.
While this may have been a dramatic ploy at baiting Ocasio-Cortez or even a woman dealing with mental illness- the situation remains the same: the functional concern for our environment caused by warming or lack of preservation has caused people to panic and go to extremism and thusly toss out all forms of morality. When a shift happens in our culture or the priority changes- people panic because they need to adjust to a new cultural norm. The other issue lies in the general concept of cultural relativity. This would imply that any norm is considered good so long as it is in harmony with the other aspects of the culture and accomplishes its goals [7]. This allows for subjective views of morality as long as the goals are met. Since there is no sturdy foundation upon which non-believers and even some supposed believers stand, events like global warming and environmental crisis cause people to shift perspectives to keep the status quo and the paradigm from shifting for the perceived greater good.
We read in Romans 1:21–23, that even though these pagan people Paul is referencing knew God they did not give Him the due honor He deserves. Instead of recognizing this, they became foolish and exchanged the glory of God for images and idols of nature. Instead of the general revelation leading people to the knowledge of God- they suppress the truth of God and exchange it for a lie. This lie is that the creation itself is worthy of worship. Unfortunately, this desire of many today to preserve our environment- while a worthy cause in its regard, has consumed the mind of many who would say that this is a contribution to the overall social order. Essentially, our society as we know it would collapse if we did not take seriously the environmental concerns presented to us by modern science. The concern, albeit potentially real, causes havoc and hopelessness when viewed outside of a Biblical worldview.
This movement away from a Biblical worldview to a form of creation veneration speaks to several thoughts. First, we see a correlation to Jesus as the center. We know that God is not distant and He clothed Himself in flesh to reconcile a people to Himself. Colossians 1:15–17 stresses that all things are held together by Christ- and therefore we acknowledge Him as the center of human history. By our culture shifting its focus away from the Creator to the creation, they have removed Christ as the center of history. Without hope, this culture finds its time best served by hanging on to the temporal by attempting to preserve what they believe to be the most important thing in their lives. This speaks volumes to where our culture is at as far as its priorities.
Christ became flesh to call and save a people unto Himself. He came to save those who could not save themselves. Looking at Romans 1 again, in verse 21 we see that even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God. General revelation is not enough to save, as only the special revelation of Jesus Christ is sufficient to save those who are perishing. This exclusive approach then creates a rift with where some would stand regarding environmental preservation and veneration. Our culture does not honor God nor give thanks to Him as He is the Creator. He has given us the creation which is enough to show His glory, yet not enough to save [5]. Why then do people turn and confess their sins to plants, or worship the creation over the creator? Well, Romans 1:24–25 answers that very question- “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity… because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator”.
There are a few ways in which this cultural movement and shift of relativity impacts the world around us. First, it diminishes a proper Biblical worldview. This movement opens up way too much ambiguity about God and our position in Christ- especially given the Creator/creature distinction. If we begin to worship the creation and spend all our time preserving it to the point where we ignore Christ, we miss the mark drastically. Another issue comes in concerning Christian liberalism. In light of the actions of Union Theological Seminaries grotesque display of confessing sins to plants- they have opened to the door to religious pluralism and inclusivism. Essentially, all roads lead to God and if you want to confess to plants or even other non-beings then that is okay; yet we know this is not okay. 1 Timothy 2:5 reminds us that “there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”. Unfortunately, this pluralism has already crept into Union Theological as they have noted that they allow for Buddhist meditation, Muslim prayer, and other forms of inter-religious worship [1]. No amount of religious veneration or idol worship will ever lead us to God- our only access to the Father is through Christ.
It does not take much research or energy to find many articles and videos supporting and propagating how we as humans are destroying our planet or not caring for the creation. I do not deny that we need to be careful with what God has given us to be stewards over, yet do we maintain a proper view of this? We are to worship the giver of the gift and not the gift itself, and this society has reversed this order. This artifact of our culture presses itself into so many other movements in this society today. By worshiping the gift of creation rather than the Creator, we dismantle the authority of the Scriptures and begin condoning homosexuality, rampant divorces, self-autonomy, self-identification, and the list goes on. As soon as a culture removes itself from God, everything becomes open to self-interpretation and forced tolerance of every individual’s truth- essentially post-modernism.
Ultimately, by spending all our time studying Global Warming or environmental protection and saving the creation, we become consumed with the wrong thing- the creation rather than the Creator. The God of all the universe has given us so many wonderful gifts- and this includes the creation and even the technology we use every day; however, have we elevated the gifts above the giver and thus forgotten our first love? We need to return to the Lord as Joel reminds us, “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” We are to return to God- for He is the gracious and merciful One, not the creation (Joel 2:12–13).
-Justin Searle
References
[1] Brown, Jon. “‘Absolute Theological Bankruptcy’: Union Theological Seminary Students Confess Climate Sins to Plants.” Washington Examiner, 18 Sept. 2019, www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/absolute-theological-bankruptcy-union-theological-seminary-students-pray-to-plants.
[2] Mohler, Albert. “Thursday September 19, 2019.” The Briefing, 19 Sept. 2019, albertmohler.com/the-briefing.
[3] Parke, Caleb. “Liberal Seminary Students Worship Potted Plants as ‘the Beings Who Sustain Us’.” Fox News, FOX News Network, 20 Sept. 2019, www.foxnews.com/faith-values/liberal-seminary-students-worship-plants.
[4] The Right Scoop. “[UPDATE] — Constituent Tells AOC That GND Is Not Enough, That ‘We Got to Start Eating Babies!’ [VIDEO].” The Right Scoop, 4 Oct. 2019, therightscoop.com/no-joke-constituent-tells-aoc-that-gnd-is-not-enough-that-we-got-to-start-eating-babies-video/.
[5] “Westminster Confession of Faith.” Reformed Standards, 2019, reformedstandards.com/westminster/wcf.html.
[6] “Westminster Shorter Catechism.” Reformed Standards, 2019, reformedstandards.com/westminster/wsc.html.
[7] Grunlan, Stephen A., and Milton Reimer. Christian Perspectives on Sociology. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2001.
