Back to Eden

God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. Evening came, and then morning: the sixth day. - Genesis 1:31 HCSB

Let’s examine some simple statistics that shed some light on the world’s population growth, shall we?
Population Year Reached Interval
1 billion 1804
2 billion 1927 123 years
3 billion 1960 33 years
4 billion 1974 14 years
5 billion 1987 13 years
6 billion 1998 11 years
7 billion 2009 . 11 years

At present, we are adding the population of China to this planet every decade. On or about October 12, 1999, the world population reached 6 billion. When Homo sapiens passed the 6 billion mark, we had already exceeded by perhaps as much as 100 times the biomass of any large animal species that ever existed on land. Our population has continued to climb at an annual rate of 1.4%, adding 200,000 people each day or the equivalent of a large city each week. During the 20th century, more people were added to the world than in all of previous history. In at least 68 countries, more than 40% of the population is under 15 years of age.

Such unabated growth has consequences and unfortunately, many “Cultural Christians” have a weak or nonexistent biblical ecotheology. Ecotheology is a systematic, biblical doctrine of nature and its care; it is a study of the humanity’s stewardship of God’s natural resources.

Our first home was a natural paradise and there resides deep within us an ongoing urge to return to our ancestral home. Our first mandate was to steward this paradisaical home and the Fall, though complicating the task, did not negate that command.

Adonaists (followers of Adonai) do not only look back to Paradise as if to a long-forgotten Golden Age, but also look forward to when that state will be restored! Paul said that all creation is waiting patiently and hopefully for that future day when we will be resurrected. For on that day thorns and thistles, sin, death and decay will all disappear. Meanwhile, through no fault of their own, the things of nature, like animals and plants, suffer in sickness and death as they await this great event.[1]

Our Father has a great love and concern for the environment.[2] When we remove the evidence of God's handiwork that took Him thousands of years to develop by destroying what were once majestic cathedrals of old growth forests, can we expect anything to follow except despair?

Whether before the Bimah seat or the Great White Throne of Judgment, one day every one of us will have to give an account of the resources that Hashem has given to us. We need to ask ourselves today, “Have we been good stewards and looked after the Master's business as we should?”

[1] Romans 8:19-22
[2] Job 38:39-39:1; Psalm 145:17; Matthew 6:25-34