Current Events Discussion Group: Environmental Responsibility

“Environmental Responsibility”
May 28th @ 7:00pm, Riverfalls Campus

Mission Statement:
The Current Events Discussion Group (CEDG) exists to explore and evaluate contemporary social, political and cultural issues so that each member may discern and apply their personal faith convictions within their daily lives.
The opinions and views expressed at the CEDG reflect those of the person who gave them and not New Life Church.

Discussion:

We will be reading only part of an article by Michael Bullmore entitled, “The Four Most Important Biblical Passages for a Christian Environmentalism.” Aaron chose the article and created an excerpt that includes the introduction and his treatment of only one of the passages, Genesis 1-2. This truncated version was sent by email to members, but if you are seeing only the blog, you can pick out the portions from the entire article at http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/Ted_Hildebrandt/OTeSources/01-Genesis/Text/Articles-Books/Bullmore-Environment-Trin.pdf

We can add the other scriptures to our reading list even though Bullmore’s treatment of them will not be included in our reading.
Psalm 104, Genesis 9:8-17, and Romans 8:18.

The second article is decidedly lighter. Entitled “It’s Not Easy Being Green”, this short editorial puts a finger on the political dilemma facing Christians and fueling some thought for questions 3 and 4. (It made me wish I had time to watch the Bill Moyers “Is God Green” series she mentioned.) http://www.christianitytoday.com/tcw/2008/marapr/8.54.html?start=1

We will begin discussion with these questions:

1. In today’s world, what does it look like to “subdue and rule” the earth?
2. Do we have the right to simply use the resources of the earth or
the responsibility protect and preserve them?
3. How do we draw the line between care for the earth and care for people?
4. Why should (or shouldn’t) Christians care about the environment?
Is there a distinctly Christian position on the environment?
5. If someone believes that the end times are imminent, does that change our
responsibility to the earth?