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What Does Good Stewardship of the Earth Mean?

Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by Marcia, Nov 12, 2009.

  1. Marcia

    Marcia Active Member

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    What is the biblical support (more than one verse) that man is to be a good steward of the earth?

    And what does good stewardship (of the earth) mean? Who decides? How far does one go?
     
  2. Alive in Christ

    Alive in Christ New Member

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    Marcia,

    Here are a few. I'm sure there are many more.

    Hope this helps.

     
    #2 Alive in Christ, Nov 13, 2009
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 13, 2009
  3. Aaron

    Aaron Member
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    The earth is "served" (if you will) by acknowledging and enforcing Natural Law—not the laws of nature or physics, but Natural Law, the Ten Commandments.
     
  4. Marcia

    Marcia Active Member

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    Thanks for those. I am not sure all those verses have to do with stewardship.

    The Is. 24 passages says that God has made the earth bare because the people transgressed His law - I think this may have to do with their idol worship.

    I think 'defiled my land' in Jer. 2:7 may also be referring to defiling the land through worship of idols and other immoral actions.

    For example, Numbers 35:33
    Polluting the land here refers to killing people. So defiling the earth does not mean not taking care of the earth, but that they are disobeying God. Just as sin caused corruption on the earth in Gen. 3, so disobedience by Israel caused a destruction of the land.

    I am not sure the Rev. passage has anything to do with stewardship of the earth, either. I would have to look into that.
     
  5. Marcia

    Marcia Active Member

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    So who defines good stewardship? How far do we go?

    We are being told that all our little efforts that make us feel good like our recycling, energy saving bulbs, energy efficient cars, etc. are not enough. That will always be true - it's never enough to take care of the earth once you go in that direction.

    So where do we draw the line?
     
  6. Rex77

    Rex77 Member

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    One example

    Ex 23:11 But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard.

    Le 25:4 But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.


    *******************************

    Then on the other hand the more trees the greens plant the more to burn in the tribulation.

    Re 8:7 ¶ The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
     
  7. FR7 Baptist

    FR7 Baptist Active Member

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    I've heard the quote in Revelation applied to the environment before, while not all refrences in the Holy Scriptures to "earth" are environmental in nature, I think the one in Revelation is. To address the main question, to be a steward of the earth is to respect it as God's creation, use it for our needs while not visiting wanton destruction on it and to preserve it for future generations. In fact, as general revelation, its one way God reveals Himself to us. While I would not compare pollution to ripping a page out of the Bible, the fact that it is general revelation should give us pause. In Revelation we see God Himself and the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven, the bodily resurrection of the dead, and Christ judging all men and God and the redeemed dwelling on God's renewed creation.
     
  8. Mexdeaf

    Mexdeaf New Member

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    I think that the greatest cause of pollution is bloodshed.
     
  9. Aaron

    Aaron Member
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    Hmm. Sounds like my post.
     
  10. tinytim

    tinytim <img src =/tim2.jpg>

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    It means if you go hunting and kill a deer..EAT IT~!
     
  11. Marcia

    Marcia Active Member

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    You are just saying that because you know I'm a vegetarian! :tongue3:
     
  12. Marcia

    Marcia Active Member

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    I agree wth most of what you say, except I am not convinced about Rev. 11:18 referring to environmental issues. This would not have made sense at the time the book was written, as they were not concerned or aware of such things. Yes, they were to take care of the land but in context, this sounds more like the wicked are being destroyed for defiling the earth (with immorality).

    I looked up Rev. 11:18 in the NET Bible because they specialize in grammatical issues in the translation. This is what they say re this verse:
    We tend to interpret "destroy" as a physical thing but here it may mean moral corruption, which goes along with many of the OT passages that talk about defiling the earth. To understand this, we need to let the Bible define it. Revelation is very much an Old Testament type book with most of its references going back to the OT. So it makes more sense to see this as corrupting the earth through immorality. And it's the wicked who are doing this, not believers. It's the judgment of unbelievers (called "the dead"):
     
  13. Alive in Christ

    Alive in Christ New Member

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    The problem with that is that I have tried deer meat several times, and...I still dont care for it! :tonofbricks:
     
  14. Revmitchell

    Revmitchell Well-Known Member
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    You would after the first thirty days of nothing else.
     
  15. saturneptune

    saturneptune New Member

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    Deer meat is excellent in chilli, and as deer jerky.

    Common sense goes a long way. We should each do what we can to clean up after ourselves, and preserve what the Lord has given us. However, the earth is not a god, and is quite capable by the processes God created with the earth to take care of itself, more than all the tax dollars and wacko liberals could ever think up.
     
  16. Mexdeaf

    Mexdeaf New Member

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    Perhaps it was not prepared correctly.
     
  17. Marcia

    Marcia Active Member

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    I don't think anyone has really answered the question as to how far we should go in caring for the earth. I think someone said to do what is "reasonable." What is that?

    I can tell you that now the environmentalists have gained ground and corporate backing and are politically correct, what you think is reasonable is not enough for them.

    And as I said before, everything we try causes other problems. For example: they want to put up windmills. But they have found these windmills kill some birds, and also bats. Bats do away with a lot of the bad insects that destroy crops. So we will just get in trouble doing this, but there is big push for this now.
     
  18. saturneptune

    saturneptune New Member

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    The question was answered in several posts quite accurately. The earth is here for man to live on created by God. The earth is not a god. We should take care of what has been given to us, but not to the degree it becomes a god. The earth is quite capable of taking care of itself. Whatever damage man does, it usually fixes itself by natural cycles created by God. All of the liberal politicians, all the tax money, and all the regulations are not going to stop a natural cycle from doing what it was going to do in the first place. This whole mindset is just another warped mind set of our present day society.
     
  19. Marcia

    Marcia Active Member

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    So do you still use paper napkins?

    Do you recycle?

    Do you take your own bags to the grocery store?

    If not, why not? And if you do, why? This is what I'm getting at.
     
  20. saturneptune

    saturneptune New Member

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    I recycle cans, can tabs, newspapers, and other objects. These materials are reusable, and see nothing about it as supporting the liberal environmental agenda. I recycle them because they can be used again. This is something we can do to preserve resources. There is nothing wrong with that.

    What there is something wrong with doing is throwing money, effort, and creating an agenda at a mythical problem (according to them, caused by man) that we have no control over. A natural cycle is going to do exactly what the cycle was created to do, regardless of what we do. A hurricane is going exactly where it plans to go, despite Pat Robertson's TV prayers.

    The idiots promoting this in reality could care less about the health of the earth, they care about their political power, votes, and anything to pursue govenmental control over any aspect of life. Those pursuing this that do not have political power as an agenda forget that we are to take care of God's creation for man, and think that earth is a god in itself.

    However you look at it, the thought process is a total lack of common sense, a misplaced set of priorities, and a focus not on the Lord.

    I believe each and every individual should do what they can to keep things clean and preserve resources. A great start would be for the slobs in this country to stop throwing trash out the window after stuffing their guts with fast food or drinking their last beer. Also, if people would stop dumping old appliances, cars, and other large objects to create an unofficial trash site, that would be a tremendous help. They could clean up after themselves at parks, games, picnics, and camping. In short, it is up to each of us to do what we can, not an inept, out of control government.
     
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