Toulmin Model Argument: What Specific

Toulmin Model Argument: What Specific Action(S) Should Christians Take Regarding the Environment and its Preservation or Restoration?

If I am going to be in the right relationship with God,

I should treat the things He has made in the same way He treats them.

Francis Schaeffer, "Pollution and the Death of Man."

(Caring for Creation, 2007)

The Earth is facing a serious dilemma from the depletion of natural resources, pollution, waste, and greed. Does the Christian faith have a responsibility to take specific actions to protect, preserve, and restore the Earth to a safe environment for the future generations that are being born? In regards to the Bible, Christians have a divine command that it is their responsibility to take care of the Earth and maintain as a place of glory to God. The facts and research conclude and will show that according to the Christian faith and the Bible that it is specific actions that must be followed to protect the "Creation" that was created for the glory of God and man.

According to the Book of Genesis in the Holy Bible, man was put on this Earth by God to have dominion over the Earth and all the living things that inhabit the Earth. The Bible states that Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to "take care" of the garden. According to the article, "Is Christianity anti-Environmental," on GodandScience.org, Rich Deem proclaims, "The Hebrew verb translated "to take care" (shamar - Strong's number H8104) is also translated "preserve," "keep," "watch," "maintain," "defend," and "attend." The Hebrew faith, which is the basis for Christianity is very clear in the instructions for humans regarding the Earth and mans role.

The research utilized in studying the Christians role in the environment is very specific regarding how Christians are to be the role model in the preservation of the Earth and are responsible for letting it get to the shape it is in. In the article, "Caring for Creation, A Christian Responsibility," it is written, "Being stewards of God's resources means careful consideration of how or actions impact the planet and all its inhabitants, including not only how much energy we consume but how our energy is produced" (2007).

Although all of the Earths inhabitants should be concerned for the environment, the Christians base their entire beliefs and faith on the Bible and the teachings of the Bible. In keeping with these teachings, the Earth is God's creation and He takes great pride in His work. Deem in the article listed above further declares,

God's personal involvement in the process is evident from the second verse, when God came to earth to personally direct its conversion to a world suitable for living creatures. One of the features of the creation account is God's pleasure at each step of the process. Six times God affirmed that the creation was good in His sight. The idea that man is free to destroy God's creation is at odds with God's obvious enjoyment of His creation taught in Genesis one (Deem, 2007).

Christians are going against their beliefs if they fail to act in ways that are appropriate with their faith.

The Christian faith commands that the Christian is to love and care for the less fortunate and the needy. The apparent destruction of the Earth affects the poor people most of all and due to the Bibles commandment for love and compassion; the Christian is responsible to care for the environment for that reason as well as the commandment of the Bible. The Daedalus magazine contained a 2001 article entitled "New House Rules: Christianity, Economics, and Planetary Living," Sallie McFague proclaims,

North American middle-class Christians is not terrified by the unclean; but we are terrified by the poor. There are so many of them -- billions! Surely we cannot be expected to share the planet's resources justly and sustainably with all of them. Yet the Jesus of the parable appears to disagree: he is not, it seems, interested so much in "religion," including his own, as in human well-being, beginning with the body: feeding the hungry and healing the suffering (McFague, 2001).

In the New Testament of the Bible, Jesus spent his latter days healing and caring for the sick, dying, and possessed. This should be the way that all Christians act and taking care of the environment for the sake of the poor and needy as well as all living organisms.

Regarding the faith and teaching of the Christian Bible, Christians play a vital role in the maintenance of the Earth. The newspaper article found in The Press, titled "Is Christianity Bad for the Environment?" Ron Hay states, "Someone has said, 'It's impossible to say you love Rembrandt while you trash his paintings'. True faith involves love for God and love for all God has made. It makes no sense to claim to love God while being indifferent to his world" (Hay, 2010). The website, NRPE.org, states that the various fields of both the Christian and Jewish faith are parallel in their beliefs regarding the support and care for the planet (Questions and Answers, 2010).

All evidence shows that Christians are required to "take care" of the Earth and blame has been placed on the Christian faith for the destruction of much of the Earth's resources. Mush od this is due to statements similar to the one made by James Watt, President Ronald Reagan's U.S. Secretary of the Interior during the 1980s. Watts wrote in the article, "Ours Is the Earth," and in other articles; that he viewed the earth as "merely a temporary way station on the road to eternal life...The earth was put here by the Lord for His people to subdue and to use for profitable purposes on their way to the hereafter" (Deem, 2007). The miss beliefs of individuals like Watts has caused not only Christians to be blamed for the Earth's current state but has lead people to actually believe that way and cause further damage to the planet.