Environmental Stewardship: A Biblical Analysis

A Biblical Analysis of Environmental Stewardship E.O Wilson, an American biologist and naturalist once said “If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos”. This is not an overstatement of the importance of a healthy environment. Although, Christians do not hold the same naturalistic worldview that Wilson does, the Bible is fairly clear on how it expects humanity to interact and relate with nature. In dealing with the environment, Christians should practice and employ good environmental stewardship. Such environmental stewardship can be defined as the responsible use and protection of the environment. The Bible gives practical principles and guidelines of how humans should practice environmental stewardship and does not support abuse and misuse of environmental resources.

Here, God makes the Earth and all that is in it in six days. At the end of each day “God saw that it was good”. The word “it” in this statement is referring to the sun, moon, stars, plants, animals etc. that God created on those days. In essence, at the beginning of creation God made everything perfect. He did not make the world carelessly, as would be expected, of someone who knew that He would end up destroying and creating a new earth. Since, God is aware of the future, we can conclude that God made the Earth with the knowledge of Earth’s upcoming doom. As people made in the image of God, Humans should seek to emulate God’s treatment of others and the environment (Genesis 1:27). In this case, God takes the time and puts in the effort to make the Earth good. Therefore, humans should seek to spend time conserving and protecting the goodness and diversity of the Earth’s habitats in spite of Earth’s upcoming