Tuesday, December 30, 2008

"And yea did Jesus walk over to yonder tree and hug it"

'Green Bible' controversial
U.S. evangelicals say they are divided over a new "Green Bible" which embraces environmentalism and a need to protect the Earth.

The Green Bible, which has been endorsed by secular groups such as the Humane Society and the Sierra Club, shows people that "God is calling us to care for the world around us," said Rusty Pritchard, editor of Creation Care Magazine, a publication for evangelicals.

Other evangelicals are concerned the Green Bible will mislead Christians because it does not interpret Scripture literally, said James Taylor, a founding elder at Living Water Christian Fellowship in Palmetto, Fla.

"These groups don't have a religious focus; they have a desire to spread their environmental message," Taylor said of the essayists who contributed to the Green Bible.
It's nice to know that James "Not the folk guitarist" Taylor is concerned about people using the bible for nefarious ends. It's just a shame he only gets his dander worked up over a book that tries to get people more into the environment using scripture instead of using scripture to get people fired up about stripping rights from gays, bombing brown people, or donating to an evangelical church so they can buy the local stadium a become a mega-church.

That there's actually more scripture verses pushing for us to take care of the planet, then say, scripture about using laws to stop two men from "fornicating" while wearing legally sanctioned rings on their fingers, is not a concern. When you try to use faith to steer people to a path that isn't a proven hate based money stream, then we have problems.

Just remember: "the earth is 6,000 years old and dinosaurs lived with humans or their bones were planted on behalf of a trickster God/trickster Devil" -> literal scripture interpretation. "Maybe don't fuck up the earth so badly with the pollution and burning of things" -> reason for concern about the perversion of God's word. Do try and keep up.

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