I was born into a Seventh-day Adventist family and grew up attending Adventist schools and, for the most part, attending Sabbath School and Church Services. One of the many consistencies throughout this very consistent upbringing was, and still is, the Bible.

However, while it was always there, I never really understood the importance of this book. Sure, I had been told that it was God’s Word, I was to treat it with respect and it provided a great source of test material for many of my teachers’ who delighted in forcing my fellow classmates and I to learn ‘memory verses’. This was the extent to which I interacted with the Bible until the age of about 15.

Then, due to my attendance at an Adventist secondary school I had to study the subject ‘Texts and Traditions’. Sometime during the remainder of my time at Secondary School I studied The Gospel of John.

My mind was blown, my eyes were opened somewhat wider and my life was changed.

Now, I think that most Christian related life changing experiences seem to have to do with accepting Christ as a personal saviour, for me that came later. Until this point people had told me that the Bible was amazing ‘because it spanned hundreds of years and yet remained consistent and that many of the authors we poorly educated but had somehow (most likely divine intervention) managed to write coherent stories, poetry or sermons.’

But in studying the Gospel of John I realised that the Bible was more amazing than I had ever imagined. I had no idea that one book, indeed even one passage, could be read into on so many different levels. I mean on the surface, the Gospel of John tells a story but if you break it down, the very first verse is amazing in itself. It obviously links back to the book of Genesis referencing ‘the beginning’ and then says some strange things about ‘The Word’.

I remember our first assignment when studying John – Our teacher told us that the key term of the Gospel of John was “Word” or in the Greek “Logos” and we were to investigate what was meant by “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) As this is not a Bible study I won’t go into a dissertation of my findings but I was, from this point on, hooked on John.

My study took me deep into Jewish traditions and festivals, parallel imagery of light and dark, birth and death, significant numbers, metaphors about water and bread and, most importantly, forced into decisions about who this man Jesus actually is. And that’s still only scratching the surface! So impressed was I by the masterful use of linguistic structures in this text that I wanted to know if other books offered the same kind of depth. I got hold of some bible commentaries, concordances and interlinear translations of the Bible and was not disappointed.

The consistency of the Bible as a whole, the links between the books and the complex structuring yet in many cases simple prose and beautiful poetry leaves me in awe. I literally can’t find the words (even with a thesaurus) to express how amazing this collection of books really is! I’m not sure that those who told me that the Bible was amazing ‘because it spanned hundreds of years and yet remained consistent and that many of the authors were poorly educated but had somehow (most likely divine intervention) managed to write coherent stories, poetry or sermons’ actually understood how they were completely underselling the Word of God to me.

Now, I used to love to pore over my commentaries, concordances and interlinear translations but somehow life as a working adult has become busier than I was as a studying student and I find myself either time or energy poor. However, resources are so readily available now days – you don’t need to buy a several volume commentary, concordance and interlinear Bible – you can find them all on the internet.

I would also highly recommend checking out The Bible Project as a fantastic starting point to studying The Word. It lays out in simple terms how to read the Bible while giving each book historical context and alluding to topics and themes for further study.

In closing I am reminded of one of my favourite texts in John “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) and what I found when I studied into what it means to be a ‘follower of the way’.

So we hear remarks about Christians not being especially environmental or not believing in climate change. They are big generalisations, but what is our own church’s view on the environment?

This is a topic not widely preached but Stewardship of the Environment is in fact an official statement of the Seventh-day Adventist Church:

“It is the belief of the Seventh-day Adventist Church that humankind was created in the image of God, and is thus to represent God as His steward and to manage the natural environment in a faithful and fruitful way. Nature is a gift from God.

Unfortunately, men and women have been increasingly involved in an irresponsible destruction of the earth’s resources, resulting in widespread suffering, environmental degradation, and the threat of climate change. While scientific research needs to continue, it is clear from the accumulated evidence that the increasing emission of destructive gasses, the massive destruction of the American rain forests, and the depletion of the protective mantel of ozone (the so-called greenhouse effect), are all threatening the earth’s eco-system. There are dire predictions of global warming, rising sea levels, increasing frequency of storms and destructive floods, and devastating desertification and droughts.

These problems are largely due to human selfishness and greed which result in ever-increasing production, unlimited consumption, and depletion of nonrenewable resources. Solidarity with future generations is discussed, but the pressure of immediate interests is given priority. The ecological crisis is rooted in humankind’s greed and refusal to practice good and faithful stewardship.

Seventh-day Adventism advocates a simple, wholesome lifestyle, where people do not step on the treadmill of unbridled over-consumption, accumulation of goods, and production of waste. A reformation of lifestyle is called for, based on respect for nature, restraint in the use of the world’s resources, reevaluation of one’s needs, and reaffirmation of the dignity of created life.”

Statement approved & voted by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Administrative Committee (ADCOM) – Oct 1996. 

In the face of so many natural disasters occurring right now (think of the hurricanes and floods that have occurred just in the last week), it is a stark reminder of how those dire predictions mentioned in this statement continue to come true and that unfortunately the future state of our planet looks bleak.

In light of the church’s stance, perhaps we need to reevaluate our own stance when it comes to environmental stewardship. Do we REALLY care about deforestation and the consequential habitat loss for so many creatures that God created? Do we care that many delicate ecosystems both on land and in water, so intricately designed by God, are being destroyed at an alarming rate? Are we strong advocates against such acts of devastation?

Do we help individually by carefully choosing sustainable materials, by using chemical free products, by avoiding heavily processed goods? Do we minimise our waste by recycling as much as possible and minimising our use of disposables? Do we reduce our water, gas and electricity consumption? Do we buy only what we need? And so forth.

Being a good steward of the environment should really come naturally for a Christian. Just as we love God we should love His precious animals, plants and diverse environments enough to feel compelled to want to protect them. To do what we can. As the church has clearly stated, “Nature is a gift from God.” We are to look after it, respect it and in this age we need “reaffirmation of the dignity of created life.”