THE CHURCH AND THE NATURAL WORLD.
In my youth, there used to be an answer to the question of ‘how to live as a Christian’. The pat reply then was: “We live to honor God”. That was then acceptable, but now it needs fleshing out. Jesus, in John 10: 10, touches on this, when He says that “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
Apply this to today’s situation, it seems to me that WE are the thief, WE kill and destroy, WE do harm, no matter how careful we are, no matter how good our intentions are.
Of course, I try to avoid stealing, killing and destroying, but I have been – like all of us Westerners – sucked into a mode of living that consists of stealing, killing and destroying.
Just one example of our cruel extravagance. Worldwide, 80 billion animals are slaughtered every year for meat. Raising all those animals has already claimed most of the world’s farmland. It has led to zoonotic diseases and vast deforestation. It has polluted air and water and spewed planet-heating gasses into the atmosphere.
That’s why I sincerely believe that today, now, Anno 2024, it is our Christian duty to be vegetarian: it’s healthier, and, yes, it prepares us for LIFE to come: fully vegetarian!
I don’t think we fully fathom the destruction we have wrought and still do, to God’s creation, his work of art, that fully reflect His being. There really is need for daily praying, “Forgive us our trespasses”.
Jesus lived a life in complete symbiosis with God’s handiwork and, as John 3: 16-17 tells us, was willing to give his life, his divine life, in order to restore God’s precious possession, the cosmos which he gave to us for safe-keeping.
I know, being a vegetarian, is not what the church teaches, but even the church can change, because we’re always learning, and always growing, and always adapting: change simply indicates humility, curiosity, openness, imagination. Show me someone who believes and says the exact same things about the world 20 or 10 or even 5 years ago and I’ll show you someone who hasn’t been properly living.
All this ties in with how the church’s original divine design became distorted.
The first ‘house of worship’, the tabernacle, was full of ‘nature’ symbols, replicated in the Solomon temple. The tabernacle and the temple were seen as the world in a nutshell, a microcosmos, with the deity living at the centre.
There are several places in Scripture that illuminates this. The temple’s Holy of Holies, as well as the Holy Place, were decorated with palm trees and flowers. In 1Kings 6:29 we are specifically told that all the walls of God’s house were adorned with wooden sculptures of cherubim, palm trees and open flowers.
In other words, the inner Holy Place was completely portrayed as a garden of golden flowers. One commentator explains this section as follows: “Perhaps the palm trees represent the trees in paradise, guarded by the cherubim (Genesis 3: 24). What is striking is that all the wall adornments are replicas of flowers, representing the Garden of Eden. It makes sense to view the temple as a facsimile of Paradise to which free access can only be obtained by way of atonement, while honoring the highest regard for God’s holiness, ensured by the presence of the cherubs.”
Think about that.
The first church designed by divine instructions, resembled Paradise. Why? Because God did not want creation to be relegated to history, but he wanted us to be daily reminded that Paradise never disappeared, then still hidden behind heavy curtains. But, when Christ died, that heavy curtain tore from top to bottom, signifying that Christ’s death restored Paradise. Think about that!
I repeat: Christ’s death restored PARADISE, our eternal destination, and, believe it or not, that’s why our very own places of worship should portray this as well.
Roman Catholic Churches.
Roman Catholic Churches, from what I have seen, portray heaven. The high ceilings often feature angels, while the windows show saints of various eras. The heaven heresy has affected Protestantism as well, as the Iconoclast in the mid 16th Century, where all images were seen as sinful and destroyed, has influenced the Reformational churches until this day.
Actually, deep down, Plato and Socrates have influenced the church more than Jesus and the Bible.
Our life should reflect the LIFE to come.
Life is preparatory for LIFE to come, not in heaven – an ancient Greek pagan teaching – but on a renewed earth. Churches today, following God’s instructions in the designs of His house, should reflect this New Earth.
Somehow, thanks to Dr. John Poland, professor of Biology at Queen’s University, Kingston, our church is utilizing the grounds surrounding the building, to grow vegetables and flowers. Next should come the complete renovation of the interior, now devoid of beauty and divine radiance.
Life is about living, living so that God’s creation is enhanced. The church should lead the way in this.