 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
“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)
HOW
MANY AND WONDERFUL
are
Your works, our God!
In
wisdom You have made them all!
[cf.
Psalm 104:24]
But we confess, O Lord,
as
creatures charged with the care and keeping of Your Creation,
we
are desecrating Your Creation....
We especially confess to our ravaging of Your forests and the life they
sustain.
Out of your love, you made the forests bursting with ecstatic life.
You
commanded them to flourish
and
made them witnesses of Your glory.
[cf.
Isaiah 55:12-13]
W
E
THANK YOU
for the forests’ reflection of Your infinite wisdom.
Intact forest ecosystems illustrate Your design of interdependent
communities, giving and receiving life, in profound witness to You.
And yet, in our human sin, we are degrading and desecrating Your Creation.
We 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.
Forgive us, Lord, for we have not lived according to Your will.
[cf.
Luke 16:13]
HELP
US, LORD
,
to be protectors, restorers, replenishers, healers,
servants and lovers of Your forests.
[cf.
Genesis 2:15]
Help us to make the standard for our decisions a love for You,
a love of our neighbor, and a love for all of Creation.
We look to You, O God, for healing for the forests and ourselves.
Thank You for the life You have given us in Jesus Christ,
For it is in Christ’s Name that we pray these things.
Amen.
Executive
Summary
Section Two
God,
Creation and the Forests
GOD
HAS A UNIQUE RELATIONSHIP
with Creation and with forests.
God
gives life to everything which lives and breathes.
God
enjoys Creation, including the forests, and calls them “good.”
[cf.
Gen. 1; 1 Chron. 29:11; Gen. 1:11-12; Rom. 1:20; Psalm 146:6, et all]
Our
Relationship to God
We
are children of God. We are created in the image of God.
God
has called us to exercise righteous dominion over His wondrous handiwork.
[cf.
Psalm 104:16-18; Psalm 24:1; Genesis 1:27-28; Psalm 50:7, 10-11; Genesis 2:15]
The
Exercise of Dominion
We must exercise our God-given dominion
in
a manner that reflects the love, sacrifice, humility, and responsibility
that
characterizes our Lord’s dominion over us....
Creation mirrors the majesty, ...and wisdom of God. Creation desires nothing
more
than
singing the Lord’s praise — possible only when we exercise correct
dominion...
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 overconsuming, overusing, exploiting, and ignoring God’s plan.
A
Need for National Repentance
Our consumption as a society goes beyond God’s economy.
The
forests are no longer allowed to replenish themselves according to His design.
We
must repent because we are hardened to the destruction around us.
We call upon all people to unite in confessing our abuse of God’s
forests....
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.
Responsibility
for God’s Forests
Section Three
A
Call to Christians and All People of Faith
THEREFORE,
to
fulfill 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
worker retraining in forest restoration jobs that lead
to
healthy rural economies and communities;
AND
THEREFORE FURTHER,
IV.
We
call upon all people, upon all 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 discussion and contemplation,
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 as are appropriate.
We
pray this in Jesus’ name.
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