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two brothers and the blue fin tuna
Why should human beings care about whether the population of blue fin tuna is decimated by overfishing? Its pretty unusual in the realm of living things for one species to care about the fortunes of another, even though we live in a delicate balance of competition and cooperation with all other living things. So far as I know, human beings are the only species capable of caring whether or not another species flourishes or declines. Which alone makes me think perhaps we are meant to care, or that in our caring we are expressing our uniqueness.
Mind you I know I’ve just opened myself to a little ridicule from some of my fellow Jesus fans. This is the way tree-huggers think. This is how people who care more about the spotted owl than the financial well being of the loggers in the Northwest think.
But I say: this it the way those who believe the Bible to be inspired think. Count me in that camp, if you’re keeping score.
The first time God blessed anything or anyone, he blessed the sea creatures. And his blessing was specific, that said sea creatures were to multiply in numbers (the easiest way to multiply, by the way) and fill the seas. Note: they were not to decrease in numbers, but multiply.
This first-ever blessing by God of anything or anyone in all of the Bible, took place on the fifth day of creation. It was followed by God’s blessing of humankind on the sixth day of creation which followed a similar pattern: we (thank God, because it’s fun!) were commanded to multiply and fill the earth, and to subdue it. As though life for us, as for every species, would involve the struggle for existence. As though, we had a special role in creation to represent a Creator in whose image we were created.
A Tale of Two Movements
In the early days of the environmental movement which were also the early days of the Jesus movement, it was common to blame the growing ecological disaster on the Judeo-Christian ethic. We need a new ethic, said those who read the old one as hostile to all but the human creatures. We need, for example, a new sea ethic–a new moral compass by which we find our way on the earth remembering our dependence on the bath that surrounds all land based creatures like ourselves.
Meanwhile our sea ethic was staring us in the face. God blessed them first. And as anyone who knows this God would understand, a first blessing is not an easy one to discount. First things first. Whatever this second blessing–ours–means, it cannot mean that we are empowered to override God’s first blessing.
Which means that we must care about the fate of the sea creatures, regardless of the political climate of our day which pits brother against brother, assuming that the love of God is limited, believing the heresy that if we care for the sea creatures we must care less for our own kind. Not understanding that it is our destiny and our dignity to care beyond our kind. If the Bible is inspired that is.
A Man Had Two Sons
And now a story. A man had two sons born at the same time at the dawn of two movements in the 1970’s: the Jesus movement and the environmental movement. The brothers parted ways. One became a Jesus freak, the other an environmentalist. Being young and full of themselves, as is the wont of young men, they forgot to listen to each other. Instead they succumbed to the temptation, common to our kind, to believe the worst, not the best about each other. Even though–perversely perhaps because–they were brothers.
They went their separate ways, until one day they found themselves near each other again in the father’s house. How their father had suffered because his two sons had gone their separate ways! The father’s heart was filled with pain and he urged the sons to be brothers again. As fathers do.
Because fathers know that the well being of the family depends on the siblings learning to love each other. Otherwise who will care for the family once the father and the mother have gone? The brothers after all are kin. They are as close to each other as father or mother to child. If they don’t love each other, who will?
As a Jesus freak, I wish to say to those who care about the fortunes of the blue fin tuna that I am sorry for not caring as well as you have cared. I am sorry that I got caught up in the culture war and forgot to read my Bible. I listened to the voices of chaos rather than the voice of the Creator, in love with all his creatures. I failed to love you and I failed to love Him: a double failure. For this I am sorry.
God help us to love each other so that we may fulfill our destiny here in the Father’s house–which, of course, if we read our Bible’s well, is the world, his temple.
Tags: blue fin tuna, environmentalists, extinction, Jesus Freaks, overfishing, species
November 11th, 2009 at 11:44 am
I do see your point.
I feel, however, it will take some outside work from the Holy Spirit for change my heart’s direction because I honestly feel a great deal of animosity and suspicion towards environmentalists.
It’s like an automatic reflex whenever I see the word. I see them as judgmental, arrogant, elitist, anti fun (primarily for their hatred of things I like such as anything automotive).
In some ways it is analogous to the way many in the environmentalist camp see Chrisitans…as judgmental, arrogant, elitist, anti fun.
I feel they want me to change my ways for the good of the world and yet if I say the same things to them concerning some moral issues I am concerned about and their effects on society at large, then I am mocked and ridiculed for being a prude.
So the natural reaction is: a pox on all of you. You do your thing and I’ll do mine.
Pretty predictable reaction, huh?
November 12th, 2009 at 7:59 am
Hmm.
Well, since forgiveness is not really an optional thing for Christians, I expect the Holy Spirit has your heart in his sights, Joao.
So, Ken, why don’t you invite him along on one of your evangecological missions sometime?
November 12th, 2009 at 8:52 am
joao, maybe you could come to the next friendship collaborative? We could ask someone from the science side to share candidly about their impressions of evangelicals and you could do the same. Repentance on both sides begins with honesty. Let me know if you’re interested, because I’m serious!
November 12th, 2009 at 11:25 am
I would be willing do come.
I will pray and try to keep the protective walls down to a minimum height and thickness.
November 12th, 2009 at 11:41 am
joao,
Don’t look now, but your honesty is already a massive lowering of the walls. You’ll be hugging trees before long if you keep this up. Don’t say I never warned you.
November 12th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
No need to scare me further, Ken. I still prefer hugging a cast iron V8 engine block.=)
November 13th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
“Believing the heresy that if we care for the sea creatures we must care less for our own kind.”
It’s difficult for me to understand how you’ll use the word heresy in the above situation but couldn’t bring yourself to use it in other situations…like when Christians teach that homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle for Christians.
Why will you apply it in the one situation but not the other?
November 13th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Apologies to tuna, apologies to Darwin, atheists preaching your Sunday sermons. Sorry Pastor Ken, I’m not one of your sycophants. Have you ever considered apologizing to the real Evangelicals that you mocked and ridiculed, (until your brother in law counseled you)? All the while you’ve peddled your version of Jesus brand spirituality! Somehow the two just don’t jive. One would think that someone who really knew Jesus brand spirituality would know better than to denigrate fellow Christians.
November 13th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
brian, there are many things that many pastors for many reasons don’t denounce. I don’t believe in denouncing things because I’m invited to by other pastors. I was writing on this topic, not the other.
November 14th, 2009 at 12:42 am
Ken, heresy is a strong word. I’d say way too strong to use on this topic. I think my question a fair and reasonable one. But you disagree, so I’ll go with my question unanswered. I get the feeling I’ll need to get used to that.
BTW, I don’t believe I invited you to denounce anything…I asked you to explain the difference between what you denounce and what you don’t. Subtle difference perhaps, but a difference nonetheless.
November 14th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
The way I see it as christians we are called to live simply and denounce greed and care for the earth that God created.
I have always found it strange being a christian in the “evangelical camp” that it is seen as a suspicous thing to be an environmentalist or a tree hugger,I realise it is the eschatology that mostly drives this fear and the conservative political agenda.
I say we become real conservatives and start conserving our resources and create sustainable lifestyles that compliment our Christian character. I see this as a way to Love and protect what God has created for us and those that come after.
November 14th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Jim1234: Your comment is full of venom. This is not love. This is not respect. This is hate, if I have ever read it.
November 15th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Belfry,
You may disagree with Jim1234’s response, but hate?
I think you can disagree with people without being hateful.
I personally believe that homosexual acts are sinful, does that make me hateful?
Why is it that nowadays, anytime someone disagrees with the prevailing winds of society they are hateful?
I may disagree with 1234’s take on what Ken has been trying to communicate, but I don’t think he is being hateful.
Hate is much more severe than disagreement.
November 15th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
The sentence works “believing falsely [mistakenly, erroneously] that if we care for the sea creatures we must care less for our own kind.” I too think heresy is a strong word. And the error of thinking that love or caring is a zero sum game is one humans tend to make easily–think of every firstborn who fears his or her mom will love him less when she has another child. The point we love the sea/people/anything else because they are loved first by God is what helps us love God first, with heart,mind,and strength and love all else in relation to that.