{"id":954,"date":"2010-01-21T14:33:21","date_gmt":"2010-01-21T14:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-seven.html"},"modified":"2010-01-21T14:33:21","modified_gmt":"2010-01-21T14:33:21","slug":"new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-seven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-seven.html","title":{"rendered":"New Year’s Resolve: Jesus and Money Part Seven"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Thumbnail<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/isbn=1587432749\/bakerbookhouseA<\/a><\/span><\/font>
http:\/\/www.brazospress.com\/Book.asp?isbn=978-1-58743-274-3<\/a><\/p>\n

Part of deprogramming yourself from the culture of excess involves decreasing the amount of waste in your life.  Of course part of this involves decreasing your carbon footprint– creating less carbon waste by driving more fuel efficient vehicles and in general using renewable energies.   <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

So, yes of course I am
\ntalking about recycling all sorts of things, but in addition to that you need
\nto evaluate how much decent food, clothing, etc. you are simply throwing away
\nfor no good reason.  <\/span>That should never
\nhappen. Waste not, want not.  <\/span>No more
\ngroaning about leftovers. Don’t take more food than you can and should eat, and
\nwhen you go out to eat if the portions are too large, share, or bring it home
\nand eat it later. Period.  <\/span>And in the
\nnon-health Gospel department stop eating ‘fast food’ or food that is otherwise
\ngoing to imperil your health.  <\/span>Your body
\nis a gift, indeed Paul calls it a temple, 
\n<\/span>given by God.  <\/span>Stop treating it
\nlike a toxic waste dump or a garbage can. <\/p>\n

And this brings me
\nto the issue of energy consumption. 
\n<\/span>Christians need to be going green as rapidly as possible to be a good
\nwitness. This means hybrid cars, and smaller one’s as well.  <\/span>It means energy efficient light bulbs and
\nsolar panels if possible. It means don’t leave the air conditioning running
\nwhen you are not there most of the day, and so on.  <\/span>We need to be conservers, not just consumers,
\nincreasingly.  <\/span>You would be amazed how
\nmany resources such practices free up.  You would also be amazed at what a good Christian witness opportunity this becomes as well.  Even so simply a thing as weather-proofing your house can be an opportunity to share the Gospel with a neighbor.  Christians should be those who take care of what they have,  realizing that all good gifts ultimately come from God.  <\/p>\n

The story of Adam and Eve makes clear enough that we are indeed called to be God’s conservationists, tilling the earth, tending the garden, helping things to grow, wasting nothing.  You should not listen to those in the Christian community whose theology goes like this— ‘well the world is all going to Hades in a handbasket, but it doesn’t really matter since I have my ticket to heaven’.  This is a false theology not least because what the Bible says is that God is planning an Extreme Makeover Edition of the earth, and that after the resurrection we will be spending an eternity down here on mother Earth. This being the case, conservation and ecology now foreshadows and provides a foretaste for the good earth when it merges with the heaven and heavenly ones coming down from above. God is a conservationist of not merely you and me, but of the whole of his creation, and all creatures great and small.  This is why the prophets when envisioning the final future think of the lion lying down with the lamb without thinking of lamb chops!  The peaceable earth is the final future they envisioned, with nature and human nature  being in harmony with God’s original plan of Shalom for it all. <\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/isbn=1587432749\/bakerbookhouseA http:\/\/www.brazospress.com\/Book.asp?isbn=978-1-58743-274-3 Part of deprogramming yourself from the culture of excess involves decreasing the amount of waste in your life.  Of course part of this involves decreasing your carbon footprint– creating less carbon waste by driving more fuel efficient vehicles and in general using renewable energies.   So, yes of course I am talking about recycling…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":199,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nNew Year's Resolve: Jesus and Money Part Seven - The Bible and Culture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-seven.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Year's Resolve: Jesus and Money Part Seven - The Bible and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/isbn=1587432749\/bakerbookhouseA http:\/\/www.brazospress.com\/Book.asp?isbn=978-1-58743-274-3 Part of deprogramming yourself from the culture of excess involves decreasing the amount of waste in your life.  Of course part of this involves decreasing your carbon footprint– creating less carbon waste by driving more fuel efficient vehicles and in general using renewable energies.   So, yes of course I am talking about recycling…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-seven.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bible and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-01-21T14:33:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2009\/12\/Jesusmoney-thumb-400x400-10353-thumb-400x400-10354-thumb-400x400-10359-thumb-400x400-10360-thumb-400x400-10368-thumb-400x400-10371-thumb-400x400-10372.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ben Witherington\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New Year's Resolve: Jesus and Money Part Seven - The Bible and Culture","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-seven.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New Year's Resolve: Jesus and Money Part Seven - The Bible and Culture","og_description":"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/isbn=1587432749\/bakerbookhouseA http:\/\/www.brazospress.com\/Book.asp?isbn=978-1-58743-274-3 Part of deprogramming yourself from the culture of excess involves decreasing the amount of waste in your life.  Of course part of this involves decreasing your carbon footprint– creating less carbon waste by driving more fuel efficient vehicles and in general using renewable energies.   So, yes of course I am talking about recycling…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-seven.html","og_site_name":"The Bible and Culture","article_published_time":"2010-01-21T14:33:21+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2009\/12\/Jesusmoney-thumb-400x400-10353-thumb-400x400-10354-thumb-400x400-10359-thumb-400x400-10360-thumb-400x400-10368-thumb-400x400-10371-thumb-400x400-10372.jpg"}],"author":"Ben Witherington","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-seven.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-seven.html","name":"New Year's Resolve: Jesus and Money Part Seven - The Bible and Culture","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-seven.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-seven.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2009\/12\/Jesusmoney-thumb-400x400-10353-thumb-400x400-10354-thumb-400x400-10359-thumb-400x400-10360-thumb-400x400-10368-thumb-400x400-10371-thumb-400x400-10372.jpg","datePublished":"2010-01-21T14:33:21+00:00","dateModified":"2010-01-21T14:33:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/d1fd6c7893819eabc624db38ecfd8426"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-seven.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-seven.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-seven.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2009\/12\/Jesusmoney-thumb-400x400-10353-thumb-400x400-10354-thumb-400x400-10359-thumb-400x400-10360-thumb-400x400-10368-thumb-400x400-10371-thumb-400x400-10372.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2009\/12\/Jesusmoney-thumb-400x400-10353-thumb-400x400-10354-thumb-400x400-10359-thumb-400x400-10360-thumb-400x400-10368-thumb-400x400-10371-thumb-400x400-10372.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-seven.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New Year’s Resolve: Jesus and Money Part Seven"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/","name":"The Bible and Culture","description":"All Things Biblical and Christian","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/d1fd6c7893819eabc624db38ecfd8426","name":"Ben Witherington","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/75e\/75ec11e1916a2008bc4cc638a0a0de2fx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/75e\/75ec11e1916a2008bc4cc638a0a0de2fx96.jpg","caption":"Ben Witherington"},"description":"Bible scholar Ben Witherington is Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary and on the doctoral faculty at St. Andrews University in Scotland. A graduate of UNC, Chapel Hill, he went on to receive the M.Div. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Durham in England. He is now considered one of the top evangelical scholars in the world, and is an elected member of the prestigious SNTS, a society dedicated to New Testament studies. Witherington has also taught at Ashland Theological Seminary, Vanderbilt University, Duke Divinity School and Gordon-Conwell. A popular lecturer, Witherington has presented seminars for churches, colleges and biblical meetings not only in the United States but also in England, Estonia, Russia, Europe, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia. He has also led tours to Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt. Witherington has written over thirty books, including The Jesus Quest and The Paul Quest, both of which were selected as top biblical studies works by Christianity Today. He also writes for many church and scholarly publications, and is a frequent contributor to the Beliefnet website. Along with many interviews on radio networks across the country, Witherington has been seen on the History Channel, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, The Discovery Channel, A&E, and the PAX Network.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/author\/bwitherington"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}