catapult magazine

If they’re bible-believing Christians, they should take a look at the Genesis account again and read the part where God tells humankind to fill the earth. That command is not just to make more humans. It’s to cultivate and develop what God has given us. Also, if God has given humans the responsibility to be care-takers of creation, then our sinfulness affects creation. And if Christ has come to set things right again, then in order for his redemptive action to be meaningful, it would have to set creation right too.

An interesting question to ask people who don’t believe creation has anything to do with sin or salvation is "Why does the creation account say Satan appeared in the form of a serpent?" There are many ways you can take this, but one interesting aspect of this story is that even after God told mankind he/she had authority over the animals, Eve and Adam give up that authority to a snake, which then breaks the proper relationship between humans and creation, male and female, mankind and God. From here on out, all creational development is tainted by human pride. Shortly after this, we see the development of shelters, raising livestock, use of bronze and iron tools, development of music etc., but unfortunately human beings think they should be praised for discovering such things. If you want an example of humanism, Lamech in Genesis 4 is the ultimate example!

I’m kind of curious as to what kind of work you and your coworkers do and how often theology comes up in the discussions?

Discussion with Christians at work: I threw out the idea that God in Christ was redeeming all of creation, and that perhaps Christians would stay and that nonbelievers would go. I said that Heaven may even be here. At that point one guy said to me, "that is very humanistic thinking", and the other guy said, "God isn’t redeeming the squirrels, the buildings, and the culture." The 2nd guy went on to say, "culture is man’s creation, and that God is not interested in redeeming anything man made."

We’re an Information Technology department of 3 guys for an entity in Minneapolis. The entity has no religious or political inclinations. We talk theology maybe once per month.

What about heaven Grant? Where will it be? Will the New Jerusalem be earth regained for God in Christ? I’ve been made to feel a fool for thinking so.

You certainly shouldn’t feel like a fool! You are absolutely correct in your assertion that God is at work redeeming all things. Unfortunately, pop theology and generic Christianity have captured the imagination of many Americans, leaving them with a gutted version of things that doesn’t take the biblical account very seriously.

Starting with Grant’s suggestion to look more seriously at the Genesis creation account, we can find a good deal of insight. First, God created all things and called them [i:7307e821c5]good[/i:7307e821c5]. Therefore, God is certainly concerned with all of creation and it would be incredibly arrogant to contradict what God has said about it—namely, that it isn’t worth our time. Second, God created human beings in God’s image and proclaimed man and woman [i:7307e821c5]very good[/i:7307e821c5]. One of the primary characteristics that reveals the image of God in humanity is our ability to create. Grant points out correctly that we were given a mandate to use this creativity to cultivate the earth. And finally, human beings, as the crown of God’s good creation, were given the office of steward over creation. As such, the entirety of creation follows us in our rebellion—for as the steward goes, so goes the kingdom. A nice fictional representation of this can be seen with the Steward of Gondor in Tolkien’s [i:7307e821c5]Lord of the Rings[/i:7307e821c5].

And that’s just a start … other things to consider would be the Lord’s Prayer ("Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven"), the fact that the scriptural narrative ends in a city and that it is suggested that inspired human contributions will be a part of the new city (Isaiah 60).

At the end of the day, the biblical understanding and worldview that drives what we’re attempting to discover here with *culture is not optional is significantly different than boilerplate American Christianity and calls a lot of its assumptions into question.

Taylor, great discussion. I’d point you in two directions.

The first is John’s vision of a "new heavens and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away" (Rev 21). This way of describing heaven certainly implies there will be something "new" about creation. It won’t be the same old, same old. Jesus says, "Behold, I am making all things new." For my part I don’t non-believers will be shown the exit and we’ll simply continue on. God has something of cosmic hugeness in mind. There is a sense in which heaven is certainly not on earth yet.

The second is what Paul says in Romans 8:18-25. Paul says creation currently groans under bondage to decay. God has cursed creation (the "common curse", Gen 3) and it won’t be straightened by human endeavor. But God will straighten it (!!), meaning he will set it free from its bondage to decay. The harvester will overtake the planter, creation will be so fruitful! Interestingly, Paul says creation also will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God, when we too are fully set free from sin and decay at Christ’s second coming. God does care for his creation; he will set it free. Finally, Paul says that hope that is seen is not hope… In other words, again, heaven is not on earth; it is still to be hoped for. Life is good, but the best is yet to come.