Creation and Salvation: One Argument for Creation Care

(a facebook conversation that I thought was particularly interesting: here is my side... and sorry for the rushed tone)

Jesus' death and resurrection weren't just for Humans, it was for creation. All creation is being restored through Christ. Humans are a major part of God's creation, but creation none-the-less, was God's aim!

"For the creation ...waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God" (Romans 8).

• Creation was cursed as well as Humans and groans in anticipation for the final things so that it to will be released from decay.

"The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation... For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him [Jesus], and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross" (Colossians 1).

• Jesus is the firstborn over "...ALL creation" (emphasis mine). All creation is being reconciled, recovered and restored through the cross.

"The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your people who revere your name, both great and small— and for destroying those who destroy the earth" (Revelation 11, emph. mine).

• This is intimately linked with saving work of Christ and will be held against humanity in the last days.

So, from a purely theological point, creation is of utmost important to God as in, the point of the death of his Son was to reclaim and restore creation (another great article from an Free Methodist thinker: http://www.wineskins.net/pdf/creation.pdf).

More to your point about helping others, creation was intimately tied to helping others:

• The year of Jubilee in Leviticus 25 was a canceling of all debt, letting the land rest, redistributing wealth AND land. All land purchased was given back and all debt was wiped clean. 
• Every 7 years the land was to be unplowed, left to heal and restore. Not following this is one of the major reasons the Israelites were sent into Babylonian Exile.
• The sabbath, every seven days, was to be a rest for both land and people. All three of these examples are intimately tied to God's creating work in Genesis 1; God rests, we rest, the land rests.
• Also, the Israelites were commanded to not harvest their whole fields. The land wasn't to be pillaged and abused and the remaining food was to go to the poor. The corners of the field were left for orphans and widows.

The point is, the longest speech given by God in all of scripture is at the end of Job. God doesn't show up and say, "here are the sins you committed" or "here is a new deep theology to grasp," he goes on and on about how he delights in his creation. How he has made everything and he is God. He birthed and floods and waters and grows and takes care of creation and if he wants to do what he wants to do to Job, that is his prerogative.

Right now, creation is fractured. Hurricanes that have been hitting the gulf coast for hundreds of years are now wreaking total havoc because of the wetlands being destroyed around it. The desertification in Africa is causing millions of environmental refugees to flee ancient lands to find new ones causing strife between warring communities. The deforestation of Ethiopia is making the land unusable for farming and crop production, making it one of the most desolate places on earth. ect... etc..

So, a good full theology will encompass creation and creation care. Since humans are a major part of creation, then they are a major part of creation care. A great theology of the Kingdom of God will encompass all of those aspects. The first job of humanity was to tend the garden, we have not been relieved of that yet, and more than that, we are failing.