Returning to the Ten Commandments - Idolatry

Reading: Exodus 20
While I was in Melbourne recently on a work trip I visited many churches to spread the word about the Five Leaf Eco-Awards. One service in particular that I went to really stood out. The topic was idolatry. It was very powerful. If anyone in that congregation believed idolatry was worshiping little carved pieces of wood, and thus not very relevant today, I believe that idea would have been shattered by this sermon.

The worship leader went through all the various idols we tend to worship today - money, work, success, fame, relationships as well as some less obvious ones; for example Christians who put 'being/being seen to be, a good Christian' before God. His theory was that there is one great Meta-Idol in our age - the 'self'. All the other idols are important to us because we need them in order to worship our self. He went on to express how he often wants to yell at those of my generation "It's not about you! It's not about you! It's not about you!" until they start to get it.

I sympathize with this impulse. In our society we are encouraged to be individuals and to always put ourselves first. Is it really any wonder then, that we are unwilling to make personal sacrifices to reduce our environmental impact for the good of the community? We have been raised to believe that communities are just groups of individuals who occasionally work together for their mutual benefit. In the Western world I think the idea of living for and sacrificing for the community and the greater good is now largely absent. Even in the one place where we should be forced to think of others - the family - many young people are not being raised with the discipline to instill this sense of self-sacrifice. Dying to self is one of the hardest challenges of Christianity, and I think it is only becoming harder for the current generation. People my age (21) have never known a lack of prosperity, never known what it is like to have to work together and sacrifice as those who lived through the wars and depression did. We don't really see the self, or even consumerism and money as idols, because they are too entrenched a part of our lives. It would be hard for us to separate ourselves from these things long enough to realise the amount of esteem we hold them in.

Idols are insidious; and the problem is not restricted to the secular world. Some Christian merchandise is very useful in helping one grow in the faith, but one has to wonder where the line should be drawn. Especially when we need campaigns like Holy Hardware to request the major Christian store brands buy Fairtrade and ethically sourced products. Am I the only one who thinks it is really wrong that some poor child should have to work in a sweatshop to make some pretty little Christian bauble I don't really need? There shouldn't be a campaign about this, because all Christian products should have been ethical from inception.

Taken to heart, this idea of becoming free of idolatry is really very challenging. Try taking a step back from yourself and look at the way you live. Do you think of what God would want you to do every moment of every day? Have you got to the point where you don't have to anymore because it is second nature? Or do you have a way to go? I know I do. When you buy something at the shops, do you ask yourself whether Jesus would buy this? How else can you use the philosophy of 'it's not about me' to make positive changes in your life? I have found the philosophy quite useful in fighting procrastination over work I need to do, and in prompting me to do things I know I should do - like having shorter showers, walking more and leaving the heater off.

Freedom from idolatry offers a real key to becoming more environmentally friendly. If we can stop relying on chocolate, cars, books and movies to make us feel good about ourselves then maybe we can save both the planet and our relationship with God. It's not about us, it's about Jesus.

The Ten Commandments - Part Six

Reading: Exodus 20

The last thing I want to mention about the Ten Commandments is the difference just following these laws could make to the state of the environment.

By not making an idol of money and possessions and focusing our love on the true God we can break the power of consumerism and the waste of resources it causes.

By keeping the Sabbath Holy we are encouraged to reflect on God, and to commune with His creation as it teaches us about Him.

By honouring our parents and other elders we can learn from them how to reduce, reuse and recycle as has previously been done for generations.

By considering it murder to kill all life, and not just human beings we can learn to value the life of other species and consider it a sin to cause them harm.

And lastly by not covetting our neighbour's things we can break out of the cycle of keeping up with the Joneses - getting bigger houses, cars and more belongings we don't need just in an attempt to create social status.

Some people believe that it is an extra, an addition to the core mission, to care about the environment as a Christian. Yet if we lived by the principles of our God much of the destruction we are currently facing would never have happened. Caring for the environment is woven into the fabric of the entire of God's teaching - it is core mission for Christians.

The Ten Commandments - Part Five

Just one more for fun and then I will return to the one we all know and love.

The Ten Commandments of Coral Reef Conservation
http://www.reefindia.org/TEN1.htm

The Ten Commandments - Part Four

Yes more, this one is interesting- a Ten Commandments for Eco-Tourism, worth a read.

Visit:
http://www.gdrc.org/uem/eco-tour/10-command.html

The Ten Commandments - Part Three

I can't resist adding this - the Ten Commandments for Changing the World. We are in the business after all.

Visit:

http://www.greenspiration.org/environ/articles/TenCommandments.htm

The Ten Commandments - Part Two

As I don't have permission to reproduce this, visit the following link. It's not very Biblical of course but it is a nice summary of ways to help the planet.

http://greeneconomics.blogspot.com/2008/04/10-green-commandments.html

The Ten Commandments - Part One

Reading: Exodus 20

Below is an article from Catholic.net about the release of the 'environmental ten commandments'

"Bishop Giampaolo Crepaldi, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, has insisted on the importance of placing the view of nature within the context of the relationship between God and the human person.

Bishop Crepaldi defends that the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church steers a middle course between the twin errors of either seeing nature in absolute terms or reducing it to a mere instrument. Nature has been placed in the hands of mankind, but should be used responsibly and prudently.

The human person is unarguably superior to the rest of the created world, in virtue of possessing an immortal soul, Bishop Crepaldi said. Yet man does not have an absolute dominion over creation. Actions should be guided by a combination of conservation and development, and people should realize that the created goods of this world are destined for the use of all.

Bishop Crepaldi summarizes the main points of the Church's teaching on ecological matters, basing himself on how the doctrine is presented in the social doctrine Compendium.

Responsible Use

The 10 guiding principles, or commandments, are as follows.

1) The Bible lays out the fundamental moral principles of how to affront the ecological question. The human person, made in God's image, is superior to all other earthly creatures, which should in turn be used responsibly. Christ's incarnation and his teachings testify to the value of nature: Nothing that exists in this world is outside the divine plan of creation and redemption.

2) The social teaching of the Church recalls two fundamental points. We should not reduce nature to a mere instrument to be manipulated and exploited. Nor should we make nature an absolute value, or put it above the dignity of the human person.

3) The question of the environment entails the whole planet, as it is a collective good. Our responsibility toward ecology extends to future generations.

4) It is necessary to confirm both the primacy of ethics and the rights of man over technology, thus preserving human dignity. The central point of reference for all scientific and technical applications must be respect for the human person, who in turn should treat the other created beings with respect.

5) Nature must not be regarded as a reality that is divine in itself; therefore, it is not removed from human action. It is, rather, a gift offered by our Creator to the human community, confided to human intelligence and moral responsibility. It follows, then, that it is not illicit to modify the ecosystem, so long as this is done within the context of a respect for its order and beauty, and taking into consideration the utility of every creature.

6) Ecological questions highlight the need to achieve a greater harmony both between measures designed to foment economic development and those directed to preserving the ecology, and between national and international policies. Economic development, moreover, needs to take into consideration the integrity and rhythm of nature, because natural resources are limited. And all economic activity that uses natural resources should also include the costs of safeguarding the environment into the calculations of the overall costs of its activity.

7) Concern for the environment means that we should actively work for the integral development of the poorest regions. The goods of this world have been created by God to be wisely used by all. These goods should be shared, in a just and charitable manner. The principle of the universal destiny of goods offers a fundamental orientation to deal with the complex relationship between ecology and poverty.

8) Collaboration, by means of worldwide agreements, backed up by international law, is necessary to protect the environment. Responsibility toward the environment needs to be implemented in an adequate way at the juridical level. These laws and agreements should be guided by the demands of the common good.

9) Lifestyles should be oriented according to the principles of sobriety, temperance and self-discipline, both at the personal and social levels. People need to escape from the consumer mentality and promote methods of production that respect the created order, as well as satisfying the basic needs of all. This change of lifestyle would be helped by a greater awareness of the interdependence between all the inhabitants of the earth.

10) A spiritual response must be given to environmental questions, inspired by the conviction that creation is a gift that God has placed in the hands of mankind, to be used responsibly and with loving care. People's fundamental orientation toward the created world should be one of gratitude and thankfulness. The world, in fact, leads people back to the mystery of God who has created it and continues to sustain it. If God is forgotten, nature is emptied of its deepest meaning and left impoverished.

If, instead, nature is rediscovered in its role as something created, mankind can establish with it a relationship that takes into account its symbolic and mystical dimensions. This would open for mankind a path toward God, creator of the heavens and the earth."
http://www.catholic.net/index.php?id=499&option=dedestaca

I have my issues with the words 'superior' and 'used' but otherwise these are interesting... All right, I have issues with the way this whole thing is so very human centred, but what do you think?