What's Really at Stake, Saving the Planet or Saving Souls?

In a recent Newsweek article, a Religious-Right Revival, Lisa Miller suggests that Republican presidential nominee, Senator John McCain's selection of Alaskan Governor, Sarah Palin as his veep candidate has sparked a renewal of enthusiasm among the traditional religious right. Miller notes that a new, younger generation of evangelicals have moved beyond the traditional hot button issues of abortion and same sex marriage to issues more in tune with the mainstream such as "global warming, Darfur, illiteracy, human trafficking, preventable disease", etc. While this shift in cares among the "new" evangelicals is really no surprise, since these are the issues pertinent to their generation. It is the driving force behind this shift in concerns suggested by Miller that I find attention grabbing. Where as traditional evangelicals have been primarily motivated by things such as the preservation of the freedom to propagate the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all people, upholding the sanctity of human life, and restoring the traditional family. Today's younger evangelicals are "Eager to help care for the planet, these Christians are building bridges between left and right, between the secular and the devout, even among subscribers to different holy books. These "new" evangelicals, according to the mainstream press, are exciting now because they're politically powerful."

Did you catch it? Their primary motivation is the planet! Now do not misunderstand me, I care for our planet. I believe our planet is very important. In fact, I happen to think it is the most important planet in our universe. I also, understand that we have a God-given responsibility to be good stewards of this planet. However, what I do not understand is why these new evangelicals have made preserving planet Earth the great calling of their generation.

I suspect several contributing factors. However, allow me to touch on what I believe to be the one that tops the list and concerns me most, a diminished view of the authority of the Bible. Miller reported that "of the 60 million white evangelicals in this country, 60 percent of them believe the Bible is literally true." This suggests that 40 percent of them do not believe the Bible to be authoritative for their lives (It is probably not to great a stretch to also suggest that the majority of the 60 percent is made up by traditional evangelicals). Since so many of the younger professing evangelical Christians are not looking to the Bible as the primary basis for the development of their worldview, they must look to other outlets such as pop culture and the mainstream media to form their views. This is why they have developed a distorted non-Biblical outlook that sees taking care of the planet more important than reaching souls with the Gospel. It is also precisely why these evangelicals have put aside the "divisive religious rhetoric" and have no problem uniting with followers of distinctly different faiths. Is it any wonder they have become politically powerful? Unfortunately, in becoming so they have compromised the long standing identity of evangelical Christians in America and undermined the decades of hard work, prayer, and action so many faithful traditional evangelicals have given.

As for the enthusiasm of traditional evangelicals with relation to Governor Palin, there are many things that make her attractive. There is her so called "maverick" reputation, the fact that she is young and a woman, or even the fact that she is a faithful wife and "hockey mom" of a traditional family. However, what I believe makes her most attractive to traditional evangelicals is the fact that she is a conservative evangelical Christian who is shaped by a Biblical worldview. She has been an agent of change in a state where leftist environmentalists have thrived. She led her state in making great contributions to the country regarding the production of oil and other natural resources. She obviously is not a part of the new breed of evangelicals who are focused on saving the planet, and for that I am thankful. We do not yet know enough about the governor to know exactly what kind of an evangelistic passion she possesses, but I have a hunch she like her fellow traditional evangelicals values the saving of human lives for eternity far more than saving the planet.