By Margaret Byfield
(4th in Seven-part series)
In the previous article, we learned that the conservation movement’s call to conserve, restore, and protect the natural world is contrary to God’s Design. In this fourth installment, we will dive deeper into whether God requires us to live sustainably, and how one modern device environmentalists use to conserve land, the conservation easements, conflicts with God’s command.
There is no direction in the Bible to set aside land off-limits to human use for a long duration of time. We are instead commanded to make the land productive. But just as God built into our work week a day of rest, He also built into His land management system a year of rest for the land. The Israelites were commanded to work the land for six years, and then give the land a complete rest during the seventh year.
“You may sow your field for six years, and you may prune your vineyard and gather its produce for six years. But there will be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land in the seventh year, a Sabbath to the Lord: you are not to sow your field or prune your vineyard. You are not to reap what grows by itself from your crop, or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. It is to be a year of complete rest for the land.” (Leviticus 25:3-5)
This sabbath year of rest for the land required God’s people to trust that He would provide all they needed during this period.
We are also commanded not to conserve land in perpetuity, which is a common environmental practice today.
Land trusts like The Nature Conservancy, The Conservation Fund, Ducks Unlimited, and many government programs place “conservation easements” on private land, which gives them ownership of the development rights forever. This means the landowner must decide how many structures will be built in the future and even specify where they are to be located. This decision is binding on every future titleholder forevermore.
Additionally, the Land Trust gains primary control over the land through the conservation purpose, enforcing the land-use restrictions. This is why once a landowner places a conservation easement on his land, it is functionally no longer private property because the landowner no longer has primary control over the land.
When outlining the requirements for the year of Jubilee, God specifically commanded against anyone restricting land in perpetuity:
“The land is not to be permanently sold because it is mine, and you are only aliens and temporary residents on my land.” (Leviticus 25:23)
American law recognizes this principle as “the dead hand shall not control the land.” The conservation easement defies this principle. Many whose predecessors have signed these are now suffering the consequences and finding it difficult to properly steward the land and provide for their families under this protected land system.
Not only do these erode God’s private property design, but they also create monopolies. Land Trusts are becoming the world’s largest landowners. The Nature Conservancy reports owning $4.9 billion worth of conservation lands. Best estimates are that they control 125 million acres worldwide, with 3.1 million acres of this in conservation easements here in America. That gives them a monopoly over the world’s natural resources. And a close look at their philosophy reveals they are fully engaged in the creation worship movement.
The conservation philosophy argues that man has harmed nature and, therefore, it is up to man to restore it. The policies they push require practices to be “sustainable.” The Cambridge Dictionary defines “sustainability” as follows: “the idea that goods and services should be produced in ways that do not use resources that cannot be replaced and that do not damage the environment.”
By definition, all non-renewable resources, such as oil, gas, and minerals, are not sustainable. That is not a position supported by scripture. Over and over again, the Bible instructs us to work the land and derive resources from the land, including what conservationists consider “non-renewable” resources.
“For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams, springs, and deep water sources, flowing in both valleys and hills; a land of wheat, barley, vines, figs, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey; a land where you will eat food without shortage, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you will mine copper. When you eat and are full, you will bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.” (Deuteronomy 8:7-10)
When you read this passage, it is hard to miss that God wants to bless us abundantly with all the provisions the land can provide, even beyond our needs. He wants us to flourish, to live prosperously and in comfort. But He requires that we worship Him, and not creation, or we will never experience these blessings.
He does not limit the use of resources to those that are renewable and can be utilized without changing the landscape. He created all the natural resources for our needs and comforts.
God does not call us to conserve, restore, and protect His creation. Nor does He approve of us using resources indiscriminately. Instead, He calls us to “work it” and “watch over it.”
Conservationists want to restrict resource use. God wants us to subdue and tame nature, making it flourish by using the resources. The Biblical principle by which we are to do this is “stewardship.”
Next week, we will explore the system God established to ensure proper stewardship of His creation would occur – private property ownership.
If you want to dig deeper into this topic, you can download the full Stewarding Creation guide here.
Note: All scripture references are from the Christian Standard Bible (CBS) translation.
