Title: Life and Nature/Romans 8:19-22
Contents
Life and Nature/Romans 8:19-22
Originally, the “JPIC, Justice, Peace, Intergrity of Creation” world conference was held to restore God’s faith in creation and preserve the life of the earth, which is in danger of destruction, while recognizing the ecological crisis facing mankind. It was to help mankind overcome the ecological crisis and urge the direction of life through the Bible, the word of God. In other words, it should be understood that the purpose is to help humans with spiritual attributes in the image of God to recognize and experience anew their special position and live in a right relationship.
In today's era of pollution, all mankind can recognize the ecological crisis together, and the way out of the crisis is to restore the creation order of God destroyed by humans, maintain a right relationship with God, cherish and preserve all created natural life, and We must know that God's promise of salvation will be fulfilled when we cultivate it. It should be recognized that this promise is the mission God has entrusted to Christians living in the era of high seas today.
This sense of social missionary mission became the theological starting point of the life movement.
Recognizing the ecological crisis from the late 1960s, the UN's declaration of the human environmental crisis in 1973 came to accept the problems of resource depletion, environmental pollution, and ecological destruction as our problems. The reality of our country in the 1970s, which had no choice but to create an export-oriented economic structure and spur it by the development logic of powerful countries, was bleak indeed. Politically, the military dictatorship caused numerous prisoners of conscience, and economically, not only was foreign debt ranked fourth in the world, but economic and justice collapsed, further widening the gap between the rich and the poor. As the rural economy was devastated, many of these peasants flocked to the city, and they became the urban poor who lived in shacks on the top of the mountain. Here, the problem of environmental pollution (pollution) brought about by the rapidly growing economy under the guise of development has become serious.
Today, we face numerous problems such as war, nuclear weapons, pollution, poverty, political oppression, resource depletion, and destruction of ecosystems, and we are unable to get out of it. They suffer from various forms of discrimination, poverty, abuse and violence, and their humanity is being destroyed, distorted, ill, exploited, and killed. Due to the ubiquity of wealth, erroneous customs and morals, values, culture, and power, humans are divided into the rulers and the ruled, and the human community is destroyed by hostile relations. A society in which white and black rich and poor women and men, humans and nature, powerful people and people, capitalists and workers are opposed to each other is driving life on the path of death and destruction.
The life culture creation movement defines today's world as a culture of death and views modern culture as five cultures of death.
1. Authoritarian value system that power is first
2. The material value of money is the best
3. Factional values that value honor
4. Sexual Hedonism
5. They are prescriptive religious cultures that enslave humans, and the critical view of fate that this culture of death will ultimately lead to the destruction of mankind is at the bottom.
The culture of death in which the dignity of human beings created in the image of God is violated and the creation world is destroyed means the collapse of the Christian value world.
Romans 8:19-22 tells us that the creation groaned and suffered together and looked forward to the appearing of the sons of God. These words mean that Christians are being called for life missions. The truth is that it is time to make a decision to correct the Christian faith, not the life mission. Because the destruction of life is caused by materialism, which distorts faith. As Matthew 6:24 says, you cannot serve God and money at the same time. To liberate creation actually means liberation of man himself. It is to liberate modern people from the bondage of material things.
Now we need to shift from a human-centered life to a God-centered life. Modern people are living frantically to satisfy their greed and indulge in pleasure. So, they forgot the word of God, neglected Sundays, and cultivated the land without rest, but did not keep the Sabbath year. In the Jubilee year, even though holiness is to be observed, there are very few people who want to rest the land and take a break from work. Resting on the seventh day, resting in the seventh year, is the life of a holy person. Rest is necessary between spirit and body, and other creatures also need rest. This is the way humans and nature can reconcile.
There has never been a time in human history where the entire creation order was in crisis as it is today. The commercial socialization of mankind with the ideology of development and growth induced greater ills that made mankind sick than the benefits it brought to mankind. It produced a culture of monarchism and materialism, where gold and material were the top priority, and the pursuit of property and profit came to dominate the motives of human behavior. Competition for more possessions has led to extreme individualism and selfishness, which dehumanizes humans. As a result of destroying the ecosystem in pursuit of more possessions and more comfortable things, humankind has reached a situation in which it is difficult to recover from natural depletion and pollution.
What is happening in nature today and what are the consequences? What are the causes of crises such as destruction of nature and threats to human life, and how did the trend of neglecting life become widespread and what are the causes? What is the way to preserve and restore the beautiful natural world? What does the Bible say about all these problems and challenges? We should focus our attention on these questions. Everyone today, especially children and youth, is living in a ruined garden, in the midst of pollution, and in a scene where life is threatened. Their future is being painted gray.
The movement to create life culture is a movement to restore the normal state of all creatures - according to God's creation order - the relationship between God and humans, the relationship between humans and humans, and the right relationship between humans and nature. Therefore, the church must take the lead in realizing a new awareness of the mission task for preserving the creation order.
First, the church must first see the reality of the worldview that has brought about the destruction of the creation order on a large scale like today, and establish a correct worldview and values. For example, it is necessary to properly recognize human responsibility for nature and living things and the organic unity between humans and nature, to have a Christian understanding of material and possessions, and to create a life of sharing and serving.
The second is to engage in suffering through solidarity with the “weak things” that suffer from the destruction of creation.
Third, it is a new examination of the life of the church as God's instrument for preserving the order of creation. In other words, by using the human and material resources possessed by the church in a way that is appropriate for the order of creation, it should testify to the world a new way of life. Also, to make this possible, biblical and religious education must be provided.
Today's era demands the most important testimony and missions of the Korean church toward maintaining and preserving the natural order of creation and the creation of a culture of life.