In the media I have been seeing conflicting messages about electricity. On the one hand, there appears to be ‘fantastical’ electricity out there that is going to solve our climate problems. This fantastical electricity is what is going to power all the electric cars which are replacing cars running on fossil fuels so that there will no longer be emissions from our beloved automobiles destroying the atmosphere.
On the other
hand, just read an article on ‘bigthink.com’ about debilitating electrical
use. In our air conditioners. It is a vicious cycle. The world gets hotter, so we run our air
conditioners to stay cool. That does three
bad things. First, it cycles the hot air
out into the atmosphere, adding more heat to the total equation. Second, it has the potential to vent
atmospheric-damaging chemicals that are used in the cooling cycle. Third, they use debilitating electricity that
is generated at power plants that use fossil fuels, just think of car exhausts
but magnified exponentially.
A picture is
worth a thousand words, so I will just use those words some place else.
So here’s the
thing. The whole truth is not out
there. What are the real costs in fossil
fuel burning to power our electric cars?
How do power plant emissions stack up against automobile
emissions-fossil fuel for fossil fuel?
How much better can we make the system if we prioritize cars over air conditioners? Or the other way around?
Why do we
care? Unless we are Christians who have
dismissed this world to go on the days of destruction as we await the return of
Jesus, the Bible tells us its our job.
In Genesis,
the Creation, humanity was made the steward of God’s creation. We were tossed out of the garden, but that
mandate was never revoked. However, in
some translations, the mandate is very much in line with our exploitation of
creation. We are told ‘to subdue’ the
earth. Which we have, very effectively.
But here’s
the thing. If the mandate to be God’s
stewards on the earth has not been revoked.
And if the language of ‘subduing it’ was issued before we sinned and fell
from grace so it has been corrupted by sin, just like everything else…that
means our stewardship is one more piece of our humanity that comes under the redemption
of Jesus’ death and resurrection on the cross. That means 'subjugation' comes under the mandate of God's perfection and not human sin. It is a very different picture.
So we need to
care about what happens to the earth. We
need to be able to evaluate the media when the development of electrical cars
is spoken of almost joyfully. We need to
educate ourselves on what we are doing to the world. Because that is our job.
So here’s a bit of speculation. When the end does come and the promise of a
renewed heaven and a renewed earth are fulfilled, and we are called home to the
promise of eternal life in the love and nurture of our God, what if stewardship
continues to be our job? Sure, God can
maintain the creation, whether it is the Garden before the Fall, or nature that
groans under the weight of sin in this present age, or the renewed nature in
the life to come. What if the joy of Heaven is tending to what God has created that is now redeemed, uncorrupted by sin?
So, God made us to tend to God’s
creation. I like what the Westminster
Catechism teaches us about the purpose of humanity. We are created to glorify God forever. Makes me think that glorifying God is going
to include something about tending to the creation. Makes me believe that the expression of our
glory to God in this life includes the care of this creation. Makes me hope that heaven is more than the cartoons that portray people in togas and angel wings flying about playing harps. But back to the present.
There is no fantastical electricity
in competition or distinction to debilitating electricity. It comes from the same source. It is our responsibility as Christians to
work toward making the production of electricity ‘planet friendly’ or, if we
prefer, ‘creation friendly’. It is our
mandate as stewards of God’s world. I believe that the work we do for the creation now is but a reflection of the work we will have the joy to perform in eternity.
Rev. Peter Hofstra
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