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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been quoting the Bible. Well not actually quoting. And, well, not actually the Bible.

What she’s been saying is, “The Bible tells us in the Old Testament, ‘To minister to the needs of God’s creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.’” (More over at MichelleMalkin.com.)

The word ‘minister’ simply means ’serve’, so Nancy is telling us to serve created things. And is it an act of worship? Probably, but not one that is worshiping God. When you worship God, you worship God, not the things He created. But since she was ambiguous about who or what was is being worshiped, maybe she was telling the truth. Maybe she meant ’serving created things is also worshiping created things’.

Then there’s this verse in the New Testament:

Romans 1:25 - They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. (NIV)

In light of this verse, it’s a good thing that nobody who would live by the Bible actually listens to her. It sounds like she’s sending people down the wrong path. Taken in context, there is nothing that even remotely connects serving the needs of the Earth to worshiping God. Her comment is a complete fabrication.

What I’m going to say here may sound like it supports Pelosi’s statement, but it really doesn’t. The following supports good stewardship of the earth, but does not support radical environmentalism that makes created things more important than mankind, or its needs more important than ours.

I believe we have a responsibility to be good stewards of the Earth. Here’s why:

Genesis 1:26-30 - Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.

And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. [emphasis added] (NIV)

So here’s a few things we learn from this passage:

• Man was created in God’s own image, and in this context He clearly meant ‘man and woman’. However, nowhere does it say or imply that God created anything else in His image. Mankind is not just another species of animal that just randomly evolved on the Earth. We were created with the intent that we would grow and become more like God (in our character).
• God, who created all of this, gave man complete authority over all things living on the earth. He didn’t create us to be equal with all other species. He created us to be over the other species. To dominate and control them.
• With that authority comes responsibility. Those two concepts must always travel together. If they don’t, chaos will ensue. To have authority without responsibility results in tyranny. To have responsibility without authority results in frustration and even insanity.
• ‘Fill the earth’ could very well be a statement about population control. God created man to fellowship with him. And I’m sure He was thinking, ‘the more the merrier’.
• In this passage God gave plants for food. Later He would include animal sacrifices and a command to eat the sacrifices. So this isn’t a command to be a vegetarian. [Side note: There is some question as to whether God intended man and animals to be a vegetarians, but after sin entered the world (through Adam and Eve), God cursed the earth. That may have been the time that carnivorous behavior started. Obviously, from the configuration of teeth and digestive systems in various species, God equipped them to eat meat.]

All that being said, I think we need to take care of the other species that live on the earth. However, we should never make other species more important than man, who was created in God’s own image.

Update: NewsBusters.org (CNN’s Larry King Fails to Ask Pelosi About Fake Bible Quote)

After exit polls showed that ‘values voters’ contributed to President Bush’s reelection victory, Democrats have been looking for ways to keep the faith.” Pelosi has attributed her quote to the Book of the Isaiah on at least one occasion.

Update: Hillarity… er… I mean Hillary is jumping on the ‘faith (as a campaign issue)’ bandwagon.  Mover over San Fran Nan.

“I worry that you have to walk the walk of faith,” she said at the forum, where she offered a glimpse of the role that faith has played in her political life. “Talking about it is important because it’s important to share that experience. But I also believe that, you know, faith is just — it’s grace. It’s love. It’s mystery. It’s provocation. It is everything that makes life and its purpose meaningful as a human being. [emphasis added]

I grew up Methodist (apparently also Hillary’s claimed religion) and was confirmed into the church.  This quote sounds lame by Methodist standards.

Why would she ‘worry that you have to walk the walk of faith’?  Is that a problem to her?  Was that a rhetorical question?

And for the record, I’m not criticizing anyone’s faith.  I’m criticizing their pandering to believers and their lame attempts at doing so.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 24th, 2008 at 12:48 pm and is filed under Campaign 2008, Environmentalism, Religion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.