The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it (Psalm 24:1).

The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it (Genesis 1:15).

In 1989, with the help of two colleagues at Biola University, I founded the Christian Nature Federation. It was an amazing adventure, but, as many said, “It was way ahead of its time.” After three years, we had to close up shop for lack of financial backing. You can read more about it in this post: A Milestone.

Yesterday I was rummaging through some old papers and came across a printed statement on caring for creation I wrote and sent to the CNF membership, a statement using an apt word some of the creation-care pioneers had coined to describe what our human responsibility is regarding God’s gift of the earth: earthkeepers. I wonder if the conservative evangelical community of which I have always been a part is anymore ready to make this affirmation some twenty years later:

Jean-Francois Millet, The Diggers, c. 1850 – 55 Tweed Museum of Art

Earthkeeper’s Understanding

I believe that a personal, loving God created the heavens and the earth, and that He created man in his own image. I understand that human beings are unique in all creation. Endowed alone with the ability to reason and to make moral choices, mankind has a superior position over the rest of creation that involves a God-given authority and responsibility to care for it as a good steward. While recognizing that the finite human mind cannot fully comprehend the “why” or the “how” of the creation process, I nonetheless thank God for the natural world—His general revelation to all people—that sustains life. Therefore, I humbly submit myself to the earthkeeping responsibilities handed down to me as a descendant of the caretakers of Eden.

I wonder what would happen if this became a standard affirmation among followers of Christ around the world. Is it still “ahead of its time,” or is it simply outside our power to effect?

[Note the simple and elegant “rule of thirds” used by Millet in his painting.]