 Religious Campaign for Forest Conservation  “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof; the world and all that dwell in it.” (Psalm 24:1) Responsibility
for God’s Forests
A Christian Call for
A National Appeal based upon
a
Biblical Theology of Creation
Responsibility
for God’s Forests
Section
One
A
Prayer of Thanksgiving and Confession
“The
earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof;
the world and all that dwell in it.”
(Psalm 24:1)
For
the marvelous grace of Your Creation,
We
pour out our thanks to You, our God,
for
sun and moon and stars,
for
rain and dew and winds,
for
winter cold and summer heat.
We
pour forth our praise to You
for
mountains and hills, for springs and valleys,
for
rivers and seas.
We
praise You, O Lord,
for
plants growing in earth and water,
for
life inhabiting lakes and seas,
for
life creeping in soils and land,
for
creatures living in wetlands and waters,
for
life flying above earth and sea,
for
beasts dwelling in forests and fields.
[ref.
Psalm 104]
How
many and wonderful are Your works, our God!
In
wisdom You have made them all!
[ref.
Psalm 147-148, 104:24]
But
we confess, O Lord,
as
creatures charged with the care and keeping of Your Creation,
we
are desecrating Your Creation.
[ref.
Isaiah 24]
We
especially confess our ravaging of Your forests and the life they sustain.
We
confess risking permanent damage to Your handiwork.
We
confess impoverishing Creation’s ability to bring You praise.
We
confess that we are often unaware of how deeply we have hurt
Your
good earth and its marvelous gifts.
[ref.
Isaiah 53:6; Romans 3:23]
We
confess that we are often unaware of how our abuse of Creation
has
also been an abuse of ourselves.
These
are grievous offenses against You.
For
our wrongs, Lord, we ask Your forgiveness.
[ref. Gen. 50.17; Psalm 25.18; 103:3; Luke 6:37; 17:3; 1 John 1:9]
Out
of your love, you made the forests bursting with ecstatic life.
You
commanded them to flourish
and
made them witnesses of Your glory.
[ref.
Isaiah 55:12-13]
We
thank You for the forests’ reflection of Your infinite wisdom.
[ref:
Rom. 1:20]
Intact
forest ecosystems illustrate God’s design of interdependence,
Communities
of life, giving and receiving life, in profound witness to You.
You
gave life to us and life to the forests.
(Ref:
Genesis 1:31; 2:8-9)
We
are a part of their community, and they are a part of ours.
And
yet, in our human sin, we degrade this community.
In
pride, selfishness, possessiveness and ignorance,
we
have lived in greed,
[ref.
Galatians 5:19-21]
far
in excess of our need.
[ref:
1 Timothy 6:6-9; Proverbs 15:27]
Forgive
us, Lord, for we have not lived according to Your will.
[ref:
Matt. 6:10; Luke 16:13]
Your
Word calls us to preserve Creation’s fruitfulness, to practice
‘shalom,’
and
to serve and to keep Creation.
[ref:
Colossians 1:19-20]
Help
us, Lord, to be protectors, restorers, replenishers, healers,
servants
and lovers of Your forests.
[ref:
Genesis 2:15; John 15:5-15]
Help
us to make the standard for our decisions a love for you,
a
love of our neighbor, and a love for all Creation.
[ref:
Psalm 24:1]
Help
us to care for the forests
so
they may continue to stand in praise to You and sustain Your creatures.
Help
us to love as You love, and to be obedient to You.
We
look to You, O God, for healing for the forests and ourselves.
[ref. II Chron. 7:14]
Thank
You for the life You have given us in Jesus Christ,
[ref.
Ephesians 2:5]
Who
is in all things, before all things,
and
in whom all things hold together.
[ref.
Romans 11:36; Colossians 1:17]
For
it is in Christ’s Name that we pray these things.
Amen.
Responsibility
for God’s Forests
Section
Two
God,
Creation and the Forests
G
od
has a unique relationship with Creation and with forests.
God alone is their Creator.
God gives life to everything which lives and breathes.
God enjoys Creation, including the forests, and calls them “good.”
God’s relationship to Creation and the forests is for now and forever.
[ref.
1 Chron 29:11; Neh. 9:6; Gen. 1:11-12; Rom. 1:20; Psalm 146:6;
Eccl. 3:11; Lev. 25:23; Rom. 11:56; Isaiah 41:18-20; Psalm 19:1]
When
we describe forests, we mean a natural ecosystem,
whether
healthy or damaged.
This
includes trees and the plants and animals that depend upon them.
It
does not mean tree farms.
Our
Relationship to God
We
are children of God. We are created in the image of God.
We
are to praise, worship and serve our God,
as
taught by the example of Jesus Christ.
[ref.
Deut. 11:11-13; Matt. 11:29]
We
are to be humble and seek God’s plan for us.
[ref.
John 10:3-5; James 1:5; 4:6]
God’s
plan is evident in His Word,
in
the rich tradition of the Church,
[ref.
II Peter 2:3; II Timothy 2:2]
in
the person and example of Christ,
and
in the abundance, unity and harmony of Creation itself.
[ref.
Psalm 19:1]
Our
Human Relationship to Creation
We
are part of God’s Creation.
God
has given us a role of responsibility.
We
are charged to care for His oceans, lakes, rivers, forests and all living
things therein.
We
are to stand in awe of God’s abundance in Creation.
We
are tenants. We are caretakers.
God
has called us to exercise righteous dominion over all of His wondrous handiwork.
[ref.
Psalm 104:16-18; Psalm 24:1; Genesis 1:27-28; Psalm 50:7,10-11; Genesis 2:15]
The
Exercise of Dominion
Because
humankind is made in the image of God, we are given dominion
and
empowered with a capacity to create and destroy.
[ref.
Gen. 1:26; 2 Cor. 4:4; Col 3:10]
Although
finite, this power transcends that of other creatures on Earth.
Humankind
is required to acknowledge our unique ability
to
affect the Earth for good or evil, and
to
accept the moral responsibility that goes with it,
[ref.
Num. 35:29,33-34]
God's
judgement over human dominion.
Dominion
comes from the Latin word, “
dominus,”
which means God or Lord.
Being
created in God’s image, this means that we are to rule over all things,
as
Jesus taught us by His example,
with
love, caring and servanthood.
We
are to “serve and keep” the land (Genesis 2:15).
Scripture
is clear.
We
must exercise our God-given dominion
in
a manner that reflects all of the love, sacrifice, humility, and responsibility
for
“serving
and keeping”
that characterizes our Lord’s dominion over us.
We
must relate to God’s forests on God’s terms
by
striving to preserve the integrity of the forest ecosystems He has created,
by
rejoicing in the forests as God’s creations,
by
acting with prudence and caution toward them,
by
reflecting a humble understanding
of
both our power and our limitations as human beings.
Furthermore,
the rich tradition of the Early Church
teaches
clear lessons of respect for all life;
lifestyles
in balance with God’s economy — eating the fruits of Creation
while
protecting the integrity of Creation itself;
and
practices of preserving, communing with and
delighting
in God’s glorious gift of Creation.
Similarly,
Christ’s example teaches us our correct role as servant:
living
in harmony and ruling with righteousness, compassion and love.
Creation
itself mirrors the majesty, beauty and wisdom of God.
Creation
desires nothing more than singing the Lord’s praise.
Dominion
implies that we live in harmony with God’s plan,
and
within its economy.
Unless
we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness,
our
exercise of dominion will be vain.
And
God’s Creation will suffer.
We
cannot exercise dominion on our own.
God’s
grace and power must work through us.
[ref:
Zech. 4:6; Matt. 6:33; Psalm 127:1]
Have
We practiced Correct Dominion of Creation and Forests?
We
have failed. We have failed miserably.
We
have ruled with greed, ignorance, pride and arrogance.
We
have turned our face from God and are out of relationship with Him
and
the gift of the forests.
We
have become prodigal children of our Father.
Like
the “Prodigal Son” in Christ’s parable,
we
are consuming our inheritance instead of the fruits of our inheritance.
We
live in sin.
We
are separated from our Father’s plan and His grace.
[cf.
Luke 15:11-32]
We
have created unprecedented worldwide deforestation.
The
causes of deforestation include
our
loss of relationship with God and the Earth;
an
attitude of obliviousness to the spiritual value of forests
as
we increasingly adhere to a utilitarian view of nature;
unchecked
greed and obsession with consumption,
fueled
by economic structures that cultivate artificial demand.
Responsibility
for the Spiritual Values of Forests
Trees,
and the ecosystems that depend upon them, have value distinct from,
and
transcending, their economic value.
They
are living creations of God, breathing so that we may also breathe.
Our
relationship to trees is not arbitrary:
It
is fixed by God, and we are dependent on trees for the very air we breathe.
As
fellow creations of God,
they
are elders of the living world from whom we may garner wisdom;
voices
in the choir of praises that Creation raises to God;
and
sanctuaries in which we, like Jesus and the heroes of the Bible,
may
encounter God apart from the distractions of the world.
We
are called to love all of our neighbors,
whether
within our communities or outside them,
whether
now living or in generations to come.
Loving
these neighbors requires that we care for their physical health
by
protecting the Earth’s forests
that
cleanse the water they drink and restore the air they breathe.
These
values require that we care for their spiritual health by preserving
God’s forests,
so
that our children and our neighbors’ children may enjoy and benefit
from
the forests’ power to heal and to draw us close to our Creator.
Revelation
11:18 persuasively warns us
that
we shall surely be held accountable
for
destroying His Creation.
What
is the Solution?
We
must identify and acknowledge our sin.
We
must acknowledge that we are destroying the forests of God’s earth,
that
we are over consuming, overusing, exploiting, and otherwise ignoring
God’s plan and our correct relationship to His forests.
We
are destroying the ancient forests
which
serve and keep the ecosystems of the planet.
We
are devastating our public lands and clearing entire areas of trees.
We
are eliminating the ability of fish, birds
and
many living creatures to fulfill their purposes.
We
need to mourn for the destruction of God’s Creation that we have wrought:
Wail,
O pine tree, for the cedar has fallen;
the stately trees are ruined!
Wail,
oaks of Bashan;
the dense forest has been cut down!
Listen
to the wail of the shepherds;
their rich pastures are destroyed!
Listen
to the roar of the lions;
the lush thicket of the Jordan is ruined!
(Zechariah
11:2-3)
We
need to repent and return to God’s plan for us.
A
Need for National Repentance
Our
consumption as a society clearly goes beyond God’s economy.
The
forests are no longer allowed to replenish themselves
according
to His original design.
We
must repent because we are hardened to the destruction around us.
We
must repent because we lack love and are separated from our Maker,
from
each other, and from the forests themselves.
We
have created and worshiped other gods before God.
We
have trusted in our ingenuity, our technologies and our sciences.
We
have sought our answers and help from these idols,
instead
of seeking wisdom in Scripture, in tradition and in His forests.
Our
response must be to re-establish the Covenant,
[ref.
Genesis 9:1-15]
to
heed Scripture’s call to be content with what God provides,
[ref.
1 Timothy 6:6-8]
rather
than striving to obtain ever more material possessions,
and
by laying up treasures in heaven rather than on Earth;
to
accept with gratitude and humility the fruits of Creation
as
they were intended — not for prodigal living,
but
for living within the bounds of God’s plan and grace.
God’s
forests, being His own handiwork, have a right to live —
a
right not intrinsically linked to man.
God
derives pleasure from Creation,
and
the forests forever praise and glorify Him.
We
call upon the children of God to unite in confessing our abuse
of
God’s forests and Creation itself.
Let
us repent of our sin.
Let
us, with God’s grace and forgiveness, covenant, and in a spirit of
Christian justice,
stop
our prodigal ways; stop our excessive consumption of forest products;
stop
our disrespect for the health of God’s forests;
stop
our exploitation of His forests at the imminent peril to
all
God’s creatures and plants,
both
in, around and far removed from God’s wondrous forests.
Responsibility
for God’s Forests
Section
Three
A
Call to Christians and People of Faith
THEREFORE,
in
a spirit of Christian justice,
I.
We
call for the immediate cessation of logging
of
all ancient and old growth forests;
AND
THEREFORE,
II.
We
call for the immediate cessation of commercial logging
on
all public lands;
AND
THEREFORE,
III.
We
call for the redirection of all timber industry taxpayer subsidies
into
forest restoration, including worker retraining and
forest
restoration jobs that lead to
healthy
rural economies and communities.
AND
THEREFORE FURTHER,
IV.
We call upon all religious people, upon all Christians, churches and communities
to
pray and seek wisdom concerning the spiritual value of forests,
and
our duty to care for them;
to
encourage dialogue concerning these issues; and based upon
wisdom
gained through contemplation and discussion,
to
formulate and act upon specific measures to preserve the forests
that
God has created,
to
promote and extend this Call to all surrounding churches and
Christian
associations, and
to
encourage our lawmakers to enact such measures where appropriate.
We
pray this in Jesus’ name.
(Luke
16:13; Galatians 5:17-21)
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