Sunday, July 6, 2008

Paradise Paved

For the past few weeks, I have been hearing the Counting Crows cover of Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi" on the radio. The lyrics have stuck in my head and I hear myself singing "oooooooooo ba-ba-ba oooooooo" throughout the day. Sad, I know. But when I really started listening to the lyrics, they spoke to me. Of course, I am sure that they were originally penned with a secular world view point, but they can also be applied to a Christian's world view. For those of you aren't familiar with the song, here are the lyrics:

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot SPOT
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don't know what you’ve got
‘Til it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They took all the trees
And put them in a tree museum
Then they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em
Don't it always seem to go,
That you don't know what you’ve got
‘Til it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Hey farmer, farmer
Put away that DDT now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please!
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you’ve got
‘Til its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Come and took away my old man
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you’ve got
‘Til it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

I said
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you’ve got
‘Til it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Doesn't that seem to be the way everything is going now? "What? Is that vacant land I see? Well, we can't have that now, can we??!! Of course not! Let's tear it down and replace it with concrete. Isn't concrete lovely? It's smooth, hard and nothing will grow on it! Besides, we have museums! We can see what it looked like in there!" Now, I do realize I am exaggerating a point, but it seems that nothing ever "stands in the way of man's progress."

Way back in Eden, God put Adam and Eve (and by extension, the rest of the human population) in charge of His Creation. We are to have "dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth" (Genesis 1:28). Unfortunately, the word "dominion" has been defined differently by mankind than was originally intended. The word means to learn about His Creation and then make applications where mankind and the rest of the world will benefit. It in no way means to take all one can get from the Earth and use it for one's own personal gain without regards to the consequences for everything else. But isn't that how mankind has operated for most of his existence? What shames me the most is that, especially during this present time, Christians seem to be the ones that go about their lives with a total disregard for what their actions are doing to Creation. We, of all people, should be at the forefront of efforts to wisely learn from and use Creation for our benefit and God's glory. Is God really pleased when He watches His Creation being used and abused by His highest creature? No, I think not.

On the other hand, I don't believe that Creation is doomed to become extinct with only cockroaches and mice surviving. Referring back to my Earth Day post, God is still in control. Nothing happens without His knowledge. The root cause of all this "crisis" is sin. Sin brought Death, and extinction is nothing more than the death of a species. I feel that each death saddens God, but not more than when Man rejects Him as his Lord and Savior.

Therefore, we as Christians should take the lead in promoting conservation. Instead of huffing and puffing or rolling one's eyes while making snide remarks when one hears about "saving the planet", we should want to be in the forefront and lead mankind by example in the proper way to learn, take care of, and use the Earth for Creation's benefit and God's glory.

Have a blessed day.

1 comment:

Kellie said...

You go, bro! I am right there with you... singing the song, too!!!!