Man the title my sermon this morning is a biblical view of the environment a biblical view of the environment
Of course, this is a subject that comes up a lot in our day
People talk a lot about the environment, especially if you follow the news or or think about you know
What's going on in the minds of kind of mainstream culture in America?
And the way I see it there are two extremes about this obviously on one hand you have the environmental wackos
They're just worshiping nature and worshiping and serving the creature more than the creator and
They have all kinds of just bizarre
Ideas that don't make any sense, but then on the other hand, you know
You don't want to go to the other extreme and just start thinking that's fine to just trash the environment and just you know
Polluting and and doing everything so I want to make sure that we don't go to either
extreme here
When we deal with the subject
So we want to get a biblical view of the subject and see what the Bible has to say now
the first point that I want to make this morning is that we should not worship or
reverence
nature
We should worship the God who created nature
All right, nature should never be the object of our worship now the Bible says in Romans 1 25
That these reprobates evil people they change the truth of God into a lie and
Worshiped and served the creature more than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen
We don't want to fall into that trap now look at you what it's psalm 8 verse 3 the Bible reads when I consider
Thy heavens so this is when you're outside you look up at the stars and you see all these beautiful constellations
When I consider thy heavens the work of thy fingers the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained
What is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him?
So as David looks up and stands in awe of nature
Specifically the starry sky, but it could really be any aspect of nature
You could be looking at a beautiful meadow or a mountain or a waterfall or whatever
His response was to say this is the work of God. This is God's handiwork. This is God's artwork
This is God's creation and he stood in awe of the Lord and was humbled by that and said
What is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him?
That's a right attitude toward nature. Yes admire nature marvel at nature wonder at nature
Enjoy the natural beauty, but don't worship nature itself or reverence nature
Worship nature's God, but number two
We what we need to understand biblically is that mankind is the Lord of all nature
Man is the Lord of all nature. This is what the Bible says look down at your Bible there in Psalm 8 verse 5
It says for thou hast made him talking about human beings a little lower than the angels and has crowned him with glory and honor
Thou made us them to have
Dominion now what does dominion mean?
Well comes from a Latin word dominoes
Which means Lord to have dominion of something is to be the Lord of something to be the boss of something and so it says
Thou made us him to have dominion over the works of thy hands thou has put all things under his feet
So human beings in this world
We are the Lords of all the other things on this world whether they're animals or plants
Or whatever the resources they are under our power according to the Bible
And then he even gets specific when he says that was put all things under his feet
It says all sheep and oxen yay, and the beasts of the field so both
domesticated animals and wild animals
the fowl of the air and the fish of the sea and
Whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea whatever animals on the land in the air in the water
These have all been put under the foot of man man has dominion over them
And this leads the psalmist to say in verse 9. Oh Lord our Lord
How excellent is thy name in all the earth so number one we shouldn't worship nature
We should worship the God who created nature number two
Man is the Lord of all nature
God has put all things under our power number three though if you would turn to Deuteronomy chapter 22
The concept of
Conservation is biblical and what do I mean by conservation?
What I mean is not using up all of a resource to where it's gone
Or you know hunting animals to extinction or something like that right because again
We don't want to go to an extreme just because we've got a bunch of pagans out there
Worshipping nature and a bunch of people chaining themselves to rocks and chaining themselves to trees and so forth
We don't want to then just go to another extreme and just say well
I'm just gonna destroy the environment even harder
You know just to show you guys or something like that because the concept of conservation is a biblical concept
Look at Deuteronomy chapter 22 verse 6 the Bible reads if a bird's nest
Chance to be before thee in the way in any tree or on the ground
Whether they be young ones or eggs and the dam sitting upon the young or upon the eggs
Thou shalt not take the dam with the young
But thou shalt in any wise let the dam go and take the young to thee that it may be well with thee and thou mayest
Prolong by days now. What is he saying here you come upon a bird's nest and there's a bird and there's eggs
He says take the eggs
But don't take the bird and the eggs because that bird is gonna produce more eggs down the road
So we stupid to destroy both because then you're just eliminating that resource
If everybody always takes all the eggs and all the birds then there's nothing left eventually, right? So want to practice conservation
Meaning that we want those resources to be there for the next person and for the next generation
now notice the key thing though in verse number seven is that it says at the end there that it may be well with thee and
That thou mayest prolong thy days at the end of the day. God really cares about the human being
It's not that he's just really worried about that little birdie because he's totally fine with you plundering its nest of all of its eggs
But what he doesn't want you to do is shoot yourself in the foot by destroying that resource
Because then it's no longer going to produce in the future at the end of the day
Animals are here for our benefit plants are here for our benefit
But we want to be good stewards of those resources now
I remember when I was growing up I'd hear people talk about how well
You know the Bible does say that we need to be good stewards of the planet
And that's that that always bothered me for some reason I always felt like man that doesn't sound right
Or it doesn't feel biblical and something doesn't feel right about that when they would always say to me that
That we should be good stewards of the planet
and you know I kind of figured out what it was about that statement that I didn't like is
That it makes it sound like it's our responsibility
Or that we are the custodians of the planet to make sure everything runs smoothly on this planet
And the thing that's wrong about that is that God has actually created this planet as sort of a self-regulating system
He's the one who presides over it and really the thing runs on its own
And it has all these fail safes and negative feedback systems to make sure that things stay somewhat in balance
So I guess the thing that kind of bothered me about that statement was I felt like it was putting a little too much
responsibility on humans like we're the ones who have to
Make sure that it stays working or something like that
But I mean there is some truth to that statement in the sense that we are to be the stewards of the resources
That we've been given you know so we've been given birds and plants and animals
And we are to take care of those things you know God told Adam and Eve in the garden to to dress it and to keep
It right to take care of the garden and obviously
We are to watch out for
These animal species in the sense that we don't want to make them extinct and take the bird and the eggs and so forth so
There is truth in that statement
I guess the thing that bothered me about that statement was that maybe it could be a little misleading if you thought of it as
You know like like we've got to keep intervening in order to make sure that this planet
Doesn't just go all the way off the cliff or something because that's just never gonna happen
Okay, and God is presiding over this planet
God has created it and it's a beautiful system
And we don't need to run the planet because today
You got some environmental crazies out there that want to do drastic things to actually change the plant
You know you think about spraying things into the atmosphere to change the temperature and everything you know that's something that we should stay away from
So anyway conservation is biblical though right we see that in
Deuteronomy 22 6 & 7 flip over if you would to 1st Corinthians chapter 9
So he said point number one we should not reverence or worship nature. We should reverence God and worship God
Number two man is the Lord of all nature
Nature exists for man's benefit number three conservation is biblical because we do want to be a good steward of the resources that God has
Given us and we don't want to just be short-sighted
Waste those resources
spend them all up with riotous living and then we won't have them later and then other people won't have them later because we just
Hunted some animal to extinction for a quick buck or whatever that isn't a biblical concept
we should think about the future and prolong our days and prolong the prosperity of
Our family and friends and countrymen by taking care of the resources that we have and not just wasting them all or using them
all up
but number four
Humans should always be prioritized above animals
This is because humans actually have intrinsic moral value and animals don't
Okay, now according to the modern-day environmental movement vast majority of environmentalists are going to tell you that nature has its own
Intrinsic moral value that animals have their own intrinsic moral value
Some would even say plants even have an intrinsic moral value. Okay, that'd be a pretty extreme view
But I submit to you that human beings are the only eternal creatures on this planet
That actually have any intrinsic moral value
And so therefore human beings with a never-dying soul should always be prioritized above
Animals look at 1st Corinthians chapter 9 verse 9
It says for it is written in the law of Moses thou shalt not muzzle
The mouth of the ox that treads out the corn. This is another law from the mosaic law
That is seeming to take care of animals or or make animals lives better by letting them chow down
While they do their job and and not muzzling the ox who treads out the corn, but then the Apostle Paul explains
Why that commandment exists it says in verse 9 does God take care for oxen
like do you think God cares about oxen or
Sayeth he it all together for our sakes now, what does all together mean?
totally
He says this totally for our sakes. So it's not like well, he was doing this for the oxen's benefit and
He was doing it for humans. It benefits oxen and humans. That's why he has this command
You know actually according to the Word of God
This commandment is a hundred percent for the sake of humans and that God doesn't really care
About how pleasant of a day a cow or a bowl or a sheep or whatever bird is having that's not what he care
He loves humans and cares about humans
Animals are a tool
Okay
And
Now some people get offended when I preach sermons like this
I'm sure I'm gonna get a few nasty emails even from even from even from people who love our church
Even from people who listen to a lot of my preaching because they just get really emotional about animals
You know it look I'm glad you love your pets and that you enjoy your pets. Okay, but
We deal in the Word of God here
Okay, we're talking about what the Bible says
human beings
have value
Animals are a tool, okay
Now that doesn't mean that you don't love your dog and your parakeet and your cat I understand that
but at the end of the day though you should never even have to hesitate if
You had to choose between saving the life of a human or your dog or something like that if you have to hesitate
There's something wrong with you spiritually
Okay, and today you'll run into people who say that their dog is the most important person in the world to them
This is a misanthropic person who has serious issues. Okay, but look look what the Bible says
It says that he said it all together for our sakes. It's 100% for our sake for our sakes. No doubt
There's no doubt about this in the Apostle Paul's mind that this is written that he that ploweth should plow in hope and
That he that thresher than hope should be partaker of himself
The point is that what this is actually referring to is how human employees should be treated
And that the animal being treated that way is just a picture. It's just a metaphor
It's just a symbol for how humans should be treated
So if we don't muzzle the ox who treads out the corn that means if I work at roundtable pizza
I should be allowed to get a free pizza while I'm eating, you know on my lunch break
I shouldn't have to pay for pizza on my lunch break because that would be muzzling the ox who's trying to out the corn
And I did get a free pizza. So I'm not I'm not complaining
But do you see what I'm saying? And in this context the Apostle Paul's using it about
ministers and pastors being paid. They work. They get paid. Don't muzzle the ox who treads out the corn
That's what this commandment is about. And so
Another thing that we could learn here's kind of a deeper more subtle point that we can learn here because right on the surface
We learn okay
God's not worried about the cows
What he's really worried about is people and and he's using this as a symbol for how people should be treated
But then if we even dig a little deeper and think about this
What this actually shows us is that maybe we should treat animals a certain way
because then it kind of
Creates just an attitude of kindness in our brains where we'll then turn around and kind of treat people the same way
Right, so we we treat animals kindly and then we end up treating humans kindly because we're just kind of
Practicing being a kind person. This is why if someone's just torturing an animal for no reason this would be disturbing, wouldn't it?
Not because it's like oh, I just can't get that cat out of my mind
You know, but it's more that the person who's torturing animals is basically
Messing up their own brain and basically practicing cruelty
Practicing torture and hurting and then eventually that type of person could graduate to humans
And so we want to teach our kids and we want to teach anyone
Hey, you know, there's no reason to just inflict pain on animals because if you do that
Then you could be kind of just creating an attitude that then turns around and treats other people that way as well
So that's why the Bible says the righteous man regardeth the life of his beast
But the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel
So by treating an animal nicely if a child as an animal and they're growing up and they have a pet and they're treating their dog nicely
Then that could just be practice on being a kind person in general as opposed to just picking up the puppy and throwing it at the wall
You know that could be disturbing because where's this going down the road?
Now again, I wouldn't jump to conclusions because let's face it kids
You know tend to abuse animals, okay
Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child
I wouldn't just assume that they're gonna grow up and be a psycho killer just because they you know
Ripped the legs off a spider one by one or whatever, okay
But at the same time children need to be taught what's right
I mean look every single kid if you hand them a candy or an ice cream cone or whatever
They're just gonna throw the wrapper on the ground
They're just litter bugs from the womb
They're born with that sinful nature to just litter
Let me tell you something, I hate littering
I can't stand it, it drives me nuts
And you know I think it's wicked
It's garbage
But here's the thing about that though
Is that every little kid does it
But the difference is that some people's parents taught them
Hey, pick that wrapper up, put that in the trash
If you pack it in, you gotta pack it out
That's the difference
When you see adults littering it's because their parents never trained them
Their parents never taught them
How to be a considerate person who thinks about other people
And doesn't just trash their neighborhood, trash nature and so forth
It always, I mean it just blows my mind to watch someone
Cause you know you see trash everywhere
And you wonder like who does this
And then you kind of maybe tell yourself
Maybe it blew, maybe the wind blew it or something
You know you try to make excuses
You know my son and I were hiking yesterday
And you know I said what is this
Cause there was this cliff bar wrapper on the ground
He's like hey I think somebody dropped that by accident
And you know what, that's probably the case
And that's, I'm constantly, you know
I'm constantly trying to figure out
And you know what, that's probably the case
And that's, I'm constantly hoping that that's the case
But then every once in a while you actually see someone do it
And you just see them and it's just so shocking
Like what have you done
But you know what, I think for some people it's just as natural as rain
Because they're still in that little three year old mode
And they never got taught the right way to act
And that's why it's important that we as parents
Don't allow our kids to just do whatever
And when my kids throw trash at me
I don't just pick it up before them
I'm not just following around with a little broom and dustpan
You know fixing every mess that they make
You know they need to be taught hey go pick that up
Put that in your pocket, put that in the trash
You know we need to put that in a proper receptacle
So humans should always be prioritized above animals
If you would go to Matthew chapter 10
Matthew chapter 10
And this is a famous verse about the sparrows
It says in verse 29 of Matthew chapter 10
I'll start reading while you get there
Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing
And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father
But the very hairs of your head are all numbered
Fear ye not therefore
Watch this end of verse 31 Matthew chapter 10
Fear ye not therefore you are of more value than many sparrows
Now right there the Bible is unequivocally telling us
That humans are more valuable than animals
Okay
You as a human are of more value than many sparrows
You say well yeah but two sparrows are sold for a farthing
And technically many could just be four or more
So maybe I'm only worth like two or three farthings or something like that
But the thing about that is
That there's another wonderful Bible story
Where Jesus Christ heals the demoniac
And he casts the demons out of the man
And he casts them into a herd of swine
And two thousand swine run off a cliff and all die
So Jesus literally kills two thousand pigs
Just in order to heal one human
Two thousand pigs get sent off the cliff
So that one human being can be healed
Now how much does a pig cost?
Who knows the going rate on a pig right now?
My wife knows
How much?
A couple years ago it was six hundred bucks you know
But that was you know
That was a couple years ago
Lots happened in the last couple years okay
But let's just go with that
Let's just go with six hundred bucks right?
Okay
Let's do a little math
Six hundred bucks
Times two thousand
One point two million dollars
Somebody fix my
Somebody check my math real quick
Can I get a witness?
All right
One point two million bucks
So it sounds like we're of more value than many sparrows
All right
You know we measure our value in sparrows
Okay
Anything but the metric system
Amen
And so he sent two thousand swine off the cliff
And it was no issue to save the man
But unfortunately it was an environmental town
And so they besought Jesus
That he would depart out of the coast
So number one
I would say that we should not worship nature
We should worship the god of nature
Number two
Man is the lord of all nature
Number three
Conservation of resources is biblical
Number four
Humans should always be prioritized above animals
And number five
Humans are not ruining the environment by existing
If you would flip over to Genesis chapter one
I'm just going to read this one for you
From Isaiah
But Isaiah 45 18 says
For thus saith the lord that created the heavens
God himself that formed the earth and made it
He hath established it
He created it not in vain
He formed it to be inhabited
I am the lord and there is none else
God created this world for us to inhabit it
Otherwise it'd be created in vain
If he just created it and there are no people
There are just animals and no people
What's the point?
Right?
God doesn't have a relationship with animals
God has a relationship with man
That is created in his own image
And so God has created this world to be inhabited
So humans aren't ruining the environment by existing
But this is what we're often taught
That any time man moves into an area
That area is ruined now
And they believe that everything should be kept pristine
And preserved and set aside
But here's the thing about that
When I think of, and you know what?
This is just my opinion
I've given you the word of God though
The word of God says God formed it to be inhabited
So we're not ruining it by being here
We're the reason why it's here
It's here for us, okay
But now let me give you my personal opinion
About aesthetics
Is that you know when I think of a really beautiful image
To me, I find it more beautiful
When you have nature and what man built
Both in the image
You know, hey, I enjoy going out in nature
And seeing the mountains and the trees
And the rivers and the waterfalls
And things like that
Those are all beautiful things
But you know, I find it even more beautiful
When I see something man-made
Mixed in with what God made
I like that synthesis
You know, for example, you know
You think of Bob Ross
And he's painting these little meadows and things
You know, hey, what if you were to just put
A happy little log cabin in your world
Right, it's your world
You can put whatever you want in it
See, he got it
It's your world
Put what you want in it
And here's the thing
You know, if I thought of some beautiful meadow
And then what if I put a little cabin
Or somebody's house or something
Oh, it's just ruined
You know, again, you know
My son and I were on a super long hike slash run yesterday
And we saw some pretty cool stuff
Because we were running all around Prescott
And we saw
But in my opinion
Some of the coolest stuff that we saw was man-made
Like we saw all these weird like terraces
And all these weird like concrete structures
For drainage and stuff
That were kind of interposed with the nature
I thought it was kind of cool
I didn't feel like
Oh man, you know
What's that concrete doing?
It was kind of like
Okay, that looks kind of cool
You know, I think about the camping trip
That Pastor Berzins puts on in May
Out in Georgia
He puts on like a family camp
And it's beautiful
I mean, nature is beautiful
The trees, the lake, it's incredible
But to me, what makes it even more incredible
Is there are these really cool bridges
Across the water
And to me, the coolest thing there is the bridge
I'm like, man, that is a beautiful bridge
Or, you know, these lodgings are beautiful
You know, don't get this attitude that just
Anything man does is ugly
Only nature is beautiful
You know, first of all, human beings are beautiful
Human beings themselves are beautiful
The stuff that we build is beautiful
Now obviously, yeah
Human beings can make an area ugly
By throwing trash everywhere
Or building some eyesore of an ugly structure
But you know, human beings have built
A lot of beautiful things, okay
Hey, I think Tempe Town Lake is beautiful
Prove me wrong
Talk about man-made
And, you know, you might not
And again, this is just my opinion
Maybe you're like, I don't like it
Okay, fine, but I do
So, you know, I'm just saying
It's a matter of opinion
We don't have to just necessarily all just agree
That everything man builds is ugly
And everything in nature is beautiful
Sometimes, you know, a nice responsible marriage
Of the two can actually be quite beautiful
Did I have you turn to Genesis 1?
So number 5 was just that humans aren't ruining
The environment by existing
We are the environment
We are why the environment exists
It exists for us
And in my personal opinion
Man-made structures can be quite beautiful
But in Genesis chapter 1
We have this statement about
Man having dominion over all things
Same thing we saw in Psalm 8 earlier in the sermon
It says in verse 26
God said, let us make man in our image
After our likeness
And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea
And over the fowl of the air
And over the cattle
And over all the earth
And over every creeping thing
That creepeth upon the earth
So God created man in his own image
In the image of God created he him
Male and female created he them
And God blessed them
And God said unto them
Be fruitful and multiply
So it sounds like God built this thing for us
And wants us to fill this thing up
Because what does the word replenish mean?
To fill
The root word there is the plan there
Which means to fill
I should say that the root of that word
Is the plan in the middle there
And it says be fruitful and multiply
And replenish the earth
And subdue it
And have dominion over the fish of the sea
And over the fowl of the air
And over every living thing
That moveth upon the earth
And so why is God telling us to replenish the earth?
Because of the fact that human beings
We are born and we live and we die
And so you can't just fill the earth one time
You have to replenish the earth
Meaning you continually keep producing more humans
And keep replenishing
It's sort of like you're putting water into a bucket with a hole in it
You have to keep adding water
Well people are constantly leaving this world
And so we are to replenish this world
And so God said
We are to replenish this earth
We're to have dominion over the earth
Subdue the earth
And then it says in verse number 29
God said
Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed
Which is upon the face of all the earth
And every tree in which is the fruit of a tree
Yielding seed
To you it shall be for meat
And to every beast of the earth
And to every fowl of the air
And to everything that creepeth upon the earth
Wherein there is life
I have given every green herb for meat
And it was so
This leads me to my sixth point
Veganism is not the answer
Now a lot of people will point to this verse that we just read
And say well God's original intent
Is that we be vegetarian
And that God's original intent for this planet
Was that all of the animals be vegetarian
And that all of the humans be vegetarian
And they'll point to this verse
And they'll say that
It's more spiritual to be vegetarian
You know the Seventh-day Adventists are like this
And you'll run into even a lot of Baptists that are like this
Where they'll say
Hey it's more spiritual
It's better
It's ideal
To be a vegetarian
For some kind of a spiritual, biblical reason
They'll point to something like this
Or they'll say
Well it's the healthiest way to eat
Is to be vegetarian
Well let's examine their claims in light of scripture
Let's test their claims in light of scripture
So here's my question
If it's more spiritual to be vegetarian
Then why wasn't Jesus a vegetarian
Isn't he the ultimate person?
Isn't Jesus Christ the ideal human?
The perfect man was not a vegetarian
Because number one, the perfect man
Celebrated the Passover every year
Just like all the other Israelites
And celebrating the Passover
Which is commanded by God
Involved eating lamb
So it's impossible to be a vegetarian Israelite
There's not a single Israelite
Who was a vegetarian
Unless he was just not right with God
And just disregarding the laws of God
And just refusing to obey the word of God
But you couldn't be a vegetarian Israelite
Because you have to eat the Passover
At least once a year right there
The priests and the Levites
Who worked for God in the tabernacle
They are commanded to eat of the sacrifice
In fact there's a scripture in Leviticus
I believe it's the end of chapter 10
Where Moses sharply rebukes Aaron
For not eating the meat that he was supposed to eat
And then Aaron explains to him why
And then he gives him a good answer
And then Moses says
Oh okay well in that case it's fine
But again this was not optional
For the priests and the Levites
They ate the meat of the sacrifices
God commanded those animal sacrifices
And Jesus Christ the perfect man
While he lived on this earth ate meat
Not only that
But when Jesus Christ had already risen from the dead
And he's in his glorified body
He eats fish
Still not vegetarian
Even after the resurrection
He's still not a vegan
So it's amazing how you could think
That you'd be smarter or more spiritual than Jesus
When Jesus himself is a meat slash fish eater
And he also ate honey
Which you know depending on your brand of veganism
Some vegans would even be offended by that
But yet Jesus Christ ate meat and fish
And honey and so forth
And so that really just blows that point out
Jesus wasn't a vegetarian
So no it's not more spiritual
Because if it was more spiritual
Jesus would have done it
Because he's the most spiritual guy
Who ever walked the face of the earth
He was God in the flesh
You don't get any more spiritual than that
And like I said
Old Testament priests, Levites and all Israelites
Were commanded to eat meat
So that must have been God's plan
Now here's the other problem with veganism
Well I'll get to the problem in a minute
But first let me address this point from Genesis chapter 1
In Genesis chapter 1
God is saying that humans and all animals
Are going to eat a plant based diet
But this is before the fall of man
This is before the curse
This is before man's sins
So at this point not only are humans vegetarians
But so are the animals
Am I right?
So let's think about this
The Bible prophesies of a time coming in the future
During the millennial reign of Christ
When the wolf and the lamb will lay down together
And where the lion will eat straw like an ox
So the Bible predicts that in the future
As God rolls back that curse
After the second coming of Christ
Animals will once again be vegetarians
So in the garden of Eden they're vegetarians
And in the future when Christ returns
And we have the millennial reign of Christ
They're going to be vegetarians once again
Now here's the thing about that
It is possible
It is scientifically possible to feed your dog
A vegan diet if that's what you want to do
If you want to feed your dog
I mean he's not going to like it very much
But if you want to feed your dog
A vegan diet
If you want to feed your dog
Your cat will not survive
Because cats cannot digest any plant food at all
Plant-based foods at all
They can only eat animal-based foods
And so cats must
Must eat meat
They're carnivores
A dog is an omnivore in that sense
But I mean it's really more of a carnivore
But I'm saying it can survive
It can survive
It does have the enzymes in its body
To process a plant-based diet
Cats cannot
There have been people who have tried to feed the cat
A plant-based diet
And yeah I'm sure if you Google it
You'll find some lying vegan telling you
Oh it's not true my cat's a vegan
They're lying
It doesn't exist
It's not humanly possible
Cats must eat meat
They're totally carnivorous
You can give them a little plate of milk
They're totally carnivorous
You can give them a little plate of milk
That's what always happens in comic books and stuff
But you can't give them anything that's not animal-based
So here's the point that I'm making
In order for this prophecy to come true in the future
Where the lion is going to eat straw like an ox
God is going to have to change the biology of that lion
In order for it to be able to eat a plant-based diet
It's not like God's just going to change something in the lion's brain
Where all of a sudden it's just like
I'm a vegetarian now
He's actually going to have to change its body
He's going to have to change its DNA
He's going to have to change its biology
In order for it to be able to digest plant-based food
Does everybody understand?
Well here's the thing
God has changed our biology before
And will change our biology again
Because if you think about it before the flood
You have people living for hundreds and hundreds of years
But then God says man's days are going to be 120 years
And now no one lives past 120
It doesn't matter how healthy you are
The best you can do is 119
And that's it
You're not going to live beyond 120 years old
That's like an upper limit
Most of us are going to live to be
Hopefully God willing about 80 years old
Or hopefully 90 or something
But 130 just isn't happening
175 isn't happening
Obviously something changed
Between the time that we read about in the Bible
Of people being hundreds of years old
To a time now when that can't happen
Obviously something changed
From when the animals are all herbivores
In the Garden of Eden
To now when certain animals like felines
Cannot live on that kind of diet
And then it's going to change again in the future
When they will once again eat that diet
Does everybody understand?
So here's what I would derive from that
Is that people who say
Well since this is God's original intent
It's healthier for us
I would say no it was healthier
For those people at that time
In the Garden of Eden before the flood
Yeah they just pick fruit from the tree
And that's their ideal diet
Is that our ideal diet?
No
And in fact
I feel like what this is
Is basically
You're trying to have the millennium
Without Christ returning
You're skipping a step here
Christ is going to return
And then there's going to be
A change to this world
And the way things work
There's going to be peace on earth
The wolf is going to lay down with the lamb
And so forth
But
Christ has to return
You can't just say
Well I'm just going to do it myself
I'm going to have my own little millennium
And I'm just going to be vegan
And my animals are going to be vegan
I mean
That's
I don't believe that a vegan diet is even healthy
I think it was healthy for them back then
It'll be healthy again in the future
But I don't think it's the healthiest thing right now
You know
It's not what Jesus did
It's not what the Levites did
It's not what God prescribed
You know
I think we should just eat a balanced diet
And that we should eat
Bread and meat and fruits and vegetables
And butter and everything else
You know
I'll eat all of it
And so
Veganism is not the answer
I'll tell you the environmental problem with veganism
And it always blows my mind
When you hear seemingly smart people
Give you these arguments for veganism
Where they say
Well it takes so much more
Land
And so much more resources
And so much more
Grain
And it emits so many greenhouse gases
To produce
Meat
And so if we would just only produce plant-based food
And stop raising cows
And stop raising the chickens
And stop raising the pigs and so forth
You know
If we would just be vegan
It would just solve so many environmental problems
We'd have less carbon footprint
And you know
It takes 20 times as much grain to produce meat
As it does to just produce the grain-based products
I mean
Who's heard those type of arguments that said
Hey, you know
This will be an environmental solution
To stop raising cows
They're too flatulent
You know
They're just passing so much gas
That you know
It's going into those greenhouse gases
And just
You know
Next thing you know
We're the planet Venus over here
But here's why this is so misguided and ridiculous
And honestly
It just shows that the people who are saying this
Lack understanding
About how
Ecology
And especially agriculture
Actually works
And let me tell you why this is so misguided
Is because
One of the most valuable resources on this planet
Is soil
Soil
Is one of the big
Limiting
Finite resources on this planet
A lot of people don't stop and think about this
As being a major resource
But it is
And if you actually study the history of this world
Empires have risen and fallen
On soil
Okay
When the soil in an area
Gets to the point
Where it doesn't grow food well
That culture either has to go colonize somewhere else
Or move somewhere else
Or they go into a serious decline
And one of the longest running
Agricultural societies in the history of this planet
Is Egypt
Because it's very unique about the way
The Nile River would transport all this sediment
And dump it there
In that Nile delta region
And you have all this fresh soil constantly being replenished
And so they were able to keep that civilization going
As an agricultural civilization
For thousands of years
Whereas
Other civilizations
Not so
And you think of
Other places that where you read
Historical accounts from thousands of years ago
They're described as being lush
And beautiful and fertile
And now you go there and it's like nothing grows
It's dead
It's dry
Why?
Because they used up the soil
The soil
When you keep tilling the soil all the time
And planting and using it
It erodes away faster than new soil can be created
It's an important resource
Not only that but
If you irrigate
Land with water
What happens is you bring in all that water
And the water has salt in it
It has minerals in it
And what can happen is
That then when the water evaporates out
The salt remains
And so as you keep bringing in more water
More water
The salinity of the soil goes up over time
And so in the beginning
They're growing wheat
Because the wheat grows well
Then the wheat stops growing well
They have to switch to barley
Because it can handle
A saltier
Soil
And they have to keep switching crops
Until eventually
The soil
Has so much salinity
That you know
Nothing grows anymore
Okay
And also there will be
Certain areas
There will be layers of topsoil
That you could measure
You know
This is how much topsoil there is
And every year it's going down
Going down
Okay
Now what does this have to do with veganism?
Here's what it has to do with veganism
One of the ways that you replenish nutrients
Into the soil
As nutrients are being depleted
By certain crops that you're growing
Is animals pooping on the soil
Manure
Okay
Manure is the fertilizer
Okay
So in order to conserve the soil
In order to keep the soil healthy
And productive
You have to raise animals
So that they can defecate
On the soil
So that you can keep the soil fertile
And keep it productive
So people that actually do
Organic farming
And actually have like
Sustainable agriculture happening
What they'll do is they'll rotate crops
And they'll rest the land
And even the Bible has this concept
Of resting the land
And not just tilling the land
Every single year
They'll rest
Part of the land
But what they'll do is
The part that's resting
They'll let the animals graze on it
And that's what God said too
God said
Let the beasts of the field
Eat of the field
While it's fallow
Let them eat of it
And so forth
And what happens is
When they eat
Then they go to the bathroom
That way not only is it resting
But animals are using the bathroom on it
And it's actually putting nutrition
Back into the soil
So in order to have a balanced
Sustainable system here
Where you can keep using that soil
Year after year
You have to rotate
You're growing plants
Then you're grazing animals
Growing plants
Grazing animals
Growing plants
Grazing animals
Right?
Or you could just say
No, no, we're all vegan now
We're not going to raise any cows
We're not going to raise any pigs
We're not going to raise any animals
For food
We're just going to grow plants
Well then tell me something
Where is the fertilizer
Going to come from?
I'll tell you where it's going to come from
Artificial synthetic chemical fertilizers
That are made by mining
Which environmentalists also hate mining
So can somebody explain to me
How we're going to have this vegan paradise
With no cows taking a dump on the soil
What are we going to fertilize it with?
Chemical fertilizers that come from mining
That you also hate?
Do you see what I'm saying?
It doesn't make any sense
It's misguided
Raising animals
Is actually good for the environment
Now obviously you could point to
All kinds of factory farming of animals
Or you could point to some greedy corporation
That's raising chickens or cows or pigs
In an irresponsible way
But that is just changing the subject, isn't it?
If I say, hey, veganism is not the answer
Human beings are designed by God to eat meat
And in fact raising cattle
Helps replenish the soil
Which arguably is the most limiting finite resource
That we even have
That needs to be conserved is the soil
And then they turn around and say
Well, look at this bad farming over here
It's like when I tell people
Hey, meat's good for you
These teeth here were designed to eat meat
Eyes in the front, born to hunt
Eyes on the side, born to hide
I don't look like a goldfish over here
I got my eyes right, I'm not a horse
And you point out, hey, meat's good for me
I'm designed to eat meat
Meat's healthy
And here's what they say
Oh, look at this hormone laden factory farmed meat
Hormone laden factory farmed meat
Of cows that are just living in their own filth
But that's not
Is that really criticizing meat
Or just criticizing a certain meat
A certain kind of meat
A certain brand of meat
It doesn't make meat bad
It just means a certain brand of meat
We should avoid
But not meat in general
And then the same thing
You'll have people that tell you
Bread is bad
Even though the Bible says
Give us this day our daily bread
They'll say like, bread is bad
And then you say
Well, give us this day our daily bread
Yeah, but this bread over here is bad
Well, then find a good bread
Find a healthy bread
Find some kind of an heirloom strain
Of grain that you can get behind
Okay
But the point is
Just pointing out that this particular bread is bad
Or this particular meat is bad
That doesn't make all bread bad
It doesn't make all meat bad
Okay
And the bottom line is
Veganism will never work
Because we need to raise animals
If we're going to farm
We also have to raise animals
Otherwise we'd have to rely 100%
On chemical fertilizers
And we'd have to do even more mining
And plus, personally
I'd rather eat plants
That were grown in a field
That was fertilized with cow dung
Than with chemical synthetic fertilizer
Who agrees with it?
Who would rather do the organic
Stuff with poop on it?
Amen
I'll wash it before I eat it
I want there to be some poop in that field
I want poop all over the place
He said as long as it's not human
Hey, I'd rather fertilize it with human dung
Than to fertilize it with some chemicals
And synthetic stuff
Okay, I'm getting a little extreme there
Anyway
So I gotta hurry up for sake of time
But just quickly
Number one, we shouldn't worship nature
Number two, man is the lord of all nature
Number three, conservation's biblical
Number four, humans should always be prioritized above animals
Number five, humans aren't ruining the environment by existing
We live here
This is our house
Okay
Number six, veganism's not the answer
Neither spiritually nor environmentally is it the answer
Okay, it's propaganda
Okay, and number seven
I would say this
That the earth is never going to spiral
Into environmental catastrophe
Until the end of the world
When God just starts burning it all down
And we'll close on this point
Genesis chapter eight
Because you have a lot of alarmists out there, don't you?
Environmental alarmists telling you
Hey man, by the year 2050 or whatever
It's all gonna be over
And blah blah blah
And global warming
And runaway greenhouse effect
Now here's the thing
Well, I was gonna explain about the runaway greenhouse effect
But that might take a little too long
But the point is
I'll talk about it another time
But the point is
It's never gonna happen
Okay, it's never gonna go totally off the cliff
Where we've just completely destroyed the environment
And just can't exist
Okay
Because look what the Bible says in Genesis 822
While the earth remaineth
Seed time and harvest
And cold and heat
And summer and winter
And day and night shall not cease
So the Bible gives us this promise
That as long as the earth exists
These processes
And the plants are gonna be planted
And all these processes are gonna continue
Seasons, night and day
It's all gonna be fine
Because the earth is this magnificent creation by God
And it has all of these self-regulating
Self-correcting systems
Where if there's too much CO2 in the atmosphere
Other systems will kick in
And deal with that
You know, the reason that Venus
Is experiencing runaway greenhouse effect
And is, you know, so hot
That the Soviets sent a spaceship there
And just like melted as soon as it got there
Because it was just so incredibly hot
You know, the reason, there aren't, first of all
There aren't any plants and animals there
Okay
You don't have the same kind of systems in place
You know, plate tectonics and volcanism
On earth
Work together
You've got the rock cycle
The carbon cycle
The water cycle
You've got all these plants
All these things work together
In such a complicated way
That's not happening on Venus
Venus is a dead planet
Just like all the planets other planets
And so it's apples to oranges
We're not going to turn into the planet Venus
It's never going to be 400 degrees outside
You know, the world's not going to come to an end
Because we messed up the environment
Okay
Christ is going to return someday
He's going to pour out his wrath on this earth
Which is going to involve some environmental destruction
Straight from the hand of the Lord
But then he's going to make all things new
And he's going to fix things
And it's going to be fine
So therefore I'm not going to spend my life
As an environmental crusader
Now at the same time I don't want to go to some other extreme
Where I'm just into trashing the environment or something
Obviously we want to be kind
We want to be respectful
Of our fellow man
By not trashing the environment
Because we all want to enjoy
A clean environment
We all want to enjoy nature
We all want to enjoy healthy food
Healthy drinking water
We all want to breathe healthy air
For our environment
We all want to breathe healthy air
For us and our families
Right?
So we don't want to trash the environment
But at the same time we don't want to worship the environment
Don't go to either of these unbiblical extremes
Search the scriptures
And you'll find a biblical view
Of the environment
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer
Father we thank you so much for your word Lord
It truly has all the answers on every subject Lord
And we're thankful for the beautiful
Things that you've created for us in nature Lord
And help us as we enjoy these beautiful things
And always to give you the glory
And be thankful to you
For what you have created
And in Jesus' name we pray, Amen