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Nancy Pelosi Got The Bible Verse RIGHT
Wow. The Webs is abuzz with folks bickering over Bible verses because the bastion of Christian faith, who influences so many people, by the way, insinuates the CREATOR instructed mankind “To minister to the needs of God’s creation [and it] is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.”
I don’t think Ms. Pelosi was going for a Bushism…but she should have made it clear that she was paraphrasing…because she would be condemned if she tried to make us think the Bible actually says that.
Believe me, I was all lined up to throw the first stone, but after actually looking at some verses, I find that what Ms. Pelosi paraphrased is actually quite correct and can be found in the Holy Bible.
I have this book of themed verses that I was reading through recently and it covers the ‘environment.’ These are the passages it highlights (which I give in the Jewish Publication Society translation):
GOD blessed them and GOD said to them, “Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it; and rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep on earth.” Gen. 1:28
Master it and rule… hmmm. If GOD made us lord of HIS creation, doesn’t that mean we are responsible for it? We can be good (surrogate/foster) parents or bad parents.
But this verse is rather interesting: The LORD GOD took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden, to till it and tend it. Gen. 2:15
Now that verse gives the impression that mankind is supposed to indeed be responsible for the earth based on the phrase ‘tend it’… It may have been so Adam would have food, but didn’t he already have food since the LORD made Adam after the plants and wildlife (and he had not yet been cursed)?
So far, GOD’s instruction is to take care of (tend) what HE has given us responsibility for.
Check this one out…instruction from GOD during a time of war: When in your war against a city you have to besiege it a long time in order to capture it, you must not destroy its trees, wielding the ax against them. You may eat of them, but you must not cut them down. Are trees of the field human to withdraw before you into the besieged city? Only trees that you know do not yield food may be destroyed; you may cut them down for constructing siegeworks against the city that is waging war on you, until is has been reduced. Deut. 20:19-20
Apparently our GOD is against waste and careless destruction. I don’t blame HIM. When HE created it, HE found it all perfect (or good)…but what would we know about perfection or ‘goodness’ anyway. If the LORD is against waste and careless destruction of HIS creation, perhaps we should be, too.
So, the LORD made us lord over the earth and told us to care for it (tend it) and does not want us to waste it or carelessly destroy the things upon it. All things have a purpose, based on the passage in Deuteronomy. If it is not for food, perhaps it can be used for shelter, or clothing or some other needed material.
Am I making that part up, or is that what you read in the Bible as well?
In Leviticus the LORD even tells Moses he is to give the new land that HE is giving them a sabbath. Six years you may sow your field and six years you many prune your vineyard and gather in the yield. But in the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath of complete rest, a sabbath of the LORD: you shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. Lev. 25:1-7
We respect the sabbath and try to ‘keep it holy’ because it is the LORD’s day of rest. But what was so special about this new land ‘flowing with milk and honey’ that GOD said it should not be tilled or pruned or gardened in anyway for a whole year? Is it that GOD wanted to give the earth rest, too? I don’t imagine the earth would have just gone wonky and unproductive if it was tilled and pruned and whatnot all year round continuously. It sounds like to me that perhaps the LORD wanted us to have some respect for HIS creation, to nurture it and not abuse it (exhaust it). After all, it does provide food for us.
Based on these Bible verses, it does appear that ‘ministering to the needs of GOD’s creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the GOD who made us.’ Of course I am not saying I am in danger of hell because I don’t recycle. But just imagine? Why is that you don’t drop your litter on the streets? Would you feel any kind of conviction (guilt) if you did? How about witnessing someone riding their motorcycle over regular old plain green grass again and again and again…until the grass is just dead and brown and ugly? What’s the difference (if you find any) between scientists working with lab rats and kids torturing a small animal?
GOD may not have said word for word, ‘Thou shalt not defile the earth or trod it down or that which is upon it,’ but again, based on these Bible verses, it does appear that HE wants us to treat HIS creation respectfully and to care for it and to not needlessly waste it.
I cannot speak for Ms. Pelosi here, but I really doubt she actually meant we are to hold nature and the environment as some kind of deity. I know there are folks who literally worship trees, the sun, the moon and the stars and whatnot, but I doubt that’s what she was going for.
I will respect the earth and all that is upon it because the One who made me also made all that is around me. I will do this because I respect and fear HIM. In everything I do, if I put the LORD first, it is indeed an act of reverence, i.e., worship.
Loading ...That’s just my two cents. Please don’t throw stones.
And if you’d like to know my political stance on Nancy Pelosi, please take a look here.
The book which led me to these Bible verses is ‘TouchPoints: GOD’s Answers for Your Daily Needs.’ It was a free hand-out on the street type of thing, as I am opposed to some of Tyndale’s translations (NLT), which I find misleading quite often. Which is why I used the Tanakh (which can also be misleading sometimes…which is why I have KJV and NKJV).
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I think you’re missing hte point- nothing about caring for the earth implies the caring is a form of worship as Pelosi has repeatedly said it is. Sabbath by the way is a day of rest- Pelosi and the environmental groups have taken the obvious command to ‘keep the earth’ and ‘master the creation’ and turned it into somethign it was never meant to be- worship of the earth- where the earth becomes more important than people.
You said [[HE found it all perfect (or good)…but what would we know about perfection or ‘goodness’ anyway.]]
Yet we are told by God that the earth was cursed- no longer the good that He originally created. When reading God’s word, it is very important to know all God’s word, not just bits and pieces that seem to support a person’s position because quite often there are passages that completely refute the position when hte whole word is taken into account.
Noone is disputing that God said to take care of hte earth, but that care does not imply worship as Pelosi and enviros suggest it means- Sorry, but Nancy’s insinuations are not biblical.
You said [[I know there are folks who literally worship trees, the sun, the moon and the stars and whatnot, but I doubt that’s what she was going for.]]
Don’t underestimate her- Her goal is to suck trillions of dollars by enacting ‘carbon credits’ and ‘carbon reductions and mandates’ and she is settign hte stage by claiming that it is our biblical duty to enact these carbon mandates as a form of worship to God- infact many sefl-professed Christians seem to be selling this idea- not just nancy.
Interesting read, just hopped over here from another site to read your thoughts.
Though I may not necessarily agree, it’s always good to see another side.
I’m a little “meh” as to connecting what Pelosi said to the Deut. verse - I find that going through the Bible specifically looking for something to support a view, it is very possible to mold things to fit an agenda/purpose.
However, I do agree that the bickering online is silly. Why chastise some Democrats for misquotes or even untruthful attempts at appealing to some audience? Many who could criticize or see this as an “ah-ha — gotcha!” opportunity are just as liable to make a similar mistake. It is in our faultiness that we are reminded that we’re human, imperfect beings needing the redeeming love of the perfect Father.
Cool - enjoyed the post - thanks for the thoughts
Your brother in Him,
Adam
CottShop & Adam: I respect your opinions. But I guess you are convinced that Pelosi is using religion to push her personal platform…she’s kind of saying ‘we should do this because GOD says we should.’ That, I have a problem with. But her actual statement I still believe is supported by scripture. Which I should have made clear was the point of my post, so forgive me for assuming to know Pelosi’s intentions.
And, yes, CottShop, I know what Sabbath means…and based on that Bible verse, GOD instructed Moses to give the land a sabbath, too, as into refrain from tilling it and whatnot every 7th year… as we are to refrain from work activities and take a day of rest every 7th day (whenever that is for you).
Also, CottShop, you wrote: “Yet we are told by God that the earth was cursed- no longer the good that He originally created. When reading God’s word, it is very important to know all God’s word, not just bits and pieces that seem to support a person’s position because quite often there are passages that completely refute the position when hte whole word is taken into account.”
You’re right, so why don’t you put this passage in context? GOD did not say the earth was cursed… he said the ground, the land was cursed. The ‘land’ does not mean the whole entire earth…if that was the case, perhaps the term ‘earth’ would have been used as it is in Genesis 1.
In Genesis 3:17-19 it reads:
Then to Adam He (GOD) said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;
Cursed is the ground because of you;
In toil you will eat of it
All the days of your life.
“Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;
And you will eat the plants of the field;
By the sweat of your face
You will eat bread,
Till you return to the ground,
Because from it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return.”
If you examine this verse, it doesn’t even have anything to do much with the earth. It’s more about Adam, about how he will now have to labor and toil and have difficulty providing his own food… Remember, GOD had created trees that yielded every fruit:
Gen. 1:16-17 reads: The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
Adam didn’t have to prepare any food when he was in the Garden of Eden, but now, because he desired to eat the forbidden fruit, he would now have to work like he never had never worked before just to feed himself.
Hey, CottShop, I’m no Bible expert or scholar although I’ve been reading and re-reading GOD’s Word for years now, but I do remember to examine verses clearly and to always try to put things in context. I did not take any of those verses ‘explaining’ Pelosi’s statement out of context. They support the approach we should use when it comes to treating the earth. That’s all.
Thanks again, for your comment and criticism.
[[she’s kind of saying ‘we should do this because GOD says we should.’]]
iF that’s all she had said, I would have no problem with her words, but unfortunately, that’s not all she said- she said several times that God tells us that tending the earth is a form of worship- which it clearly is not
[[The ‘land’ does not mean the whole entire earth…if that was the case, perhaps the term ‘earth’ would have been used as it is in Genesis 1.]
When I speak of the earth I was referrign to the ground- the whole ground, not just where Adam was- all the ground has been cursed- otherwise there would be whole areas where no thorns grow, where no rocks lay to impeed the plow, where no fungi exist to spoil the goods grown etc.
[[GOD instructed Moses to give the land a sabbath, too, as into refrain from tilling it and whatnot every 7th year… as we are to refrain from work activities and take a day of rest every 7th day (whenever that is for you).]
Not sure why you’re even bringign these verses into the issue when htey have nothign to do with hte fact that Nancy said several times we are instructed to worship the earth or that it’s a command by God as a form of worship?
[[Why chastise some Democrats for misquotes or even untruthful attempts at appealing to some audience? Many who could criticize or see this as an “ah-ha — gotcha!” opportunity are just as liable to make a similar mistake.]]
Because she is preaching a false doctrine- thta’s why- and no- we wouldn’t be lible to make a similar mistake- what Nancy is doing is calculated and is biblically incorrect- noone is ‘bickering’ about her mistake- we’re point9ing out false doctrine just as Christ did so that others aren’t misled by deceitful lyings.
[[I find that going through the Bible specifically looking for something to support a view, it is very possible to mold things to fit an agenda/purpose.]]
Which is precisely what she is doing, and precisely what folks are exposing as the false doctrine that it is. As well, I’m sure Nancy misuses the bible in order to justify her stance on issues such as abortion and other liberal issues which are clearly anti-biblical, and if so, those false doctrines will be exposed as well.
CottShop, if you don’t know why I included those verses in my post, then I suppose this is where our conversation ends.