 Our Soul Needs
the Wild
by Peter Illyn, Executive Director, Restoring Eden
March 2006
I am a Christian
Environmental Evangelist!
This definition is loaded
with stereotypes, both positive and negative, but it best describes what I do –
traveling around the country preaching in churches and colleges about the
goodness of nature and our sacred duty to love, serve and protect God’s
creation.
My message is simple. “God is
a good God, God made a good earth, God calls us to be good stewards.” I use the
scriptures to encourage Bible-believing Christians to become strong and vocal
environmentalists.
The concept of stewardship is
synonymous with the Christian lifestyle. The Bible says that an important form
of stewardship is how we treat the earth. Many know the scriptural call to
dominion. “Let us make man in our image…let them have dominion…” (Genesis
1:26). Yet, few discuss the call to accountability. “The time has come for
rewarding your servants and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”
(Revelation 11:18)
It is almost too late to
debate whether or not humans have dominion. It is an important point, but
whether God gave it, or we took it, we’ve got it. Dominion is just five percent
of our ancient forests left. Dominion is more than twice the roads on our
national forests (383,112 miles) than in the entire Interstate Highway System.
Dominion is nuclear power and a 300,000 year legacy of radioactive waste in
eastern Washington.
The question now is: Is our
dominion to be destructive or nurturing to the earth? The Bible provides clear
direction to those who wish to listen. We are made in the image of God and
given the task to care for the earth, not destroy it. Nowhere does God in the
Bible give authority without accountability. Shepherds had dominion over sheep
and were expected to bring back a larger and healthier flock, not one that is
smaller and weaker.
This message of nature
appreciation and environmental stewardship is reaching new generations of
Christina and in time will change the entire institution of the church. I
predict that in ten years the evangelical church will look back with shame at
their silence and inaction while watching the relentless destruction of the
wild.
In my travels, I see evidence
of a growing group of Christians who see the hand of God in yearly migrations
of geese flying south, or in millions of monarch butterflies landing in a
forest grove in Mexico, or in caribou herds walking steadfastly to their birthing grounds in
the Arctic Refuge.
Our soul needs the wild.
Peter Illyn is Executive
Director of Restoring Eden (www.restoringeden.org), a Christian ministry
dedicated to helping the church live out the biblical call to love, serve and
protect God’s creation. He lives in Vancouver, WA.
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Preserving Wild Forests: Common Ground for Bike &
Wilderness Advocates
