Am I becoming a liberal?

I must confess that one of my biggest hangups with the whole conservation/Green environmental movement has been that has been championed by liberals, whose amoral or convenient morals drive me insane. I have not ever been a big fan of the so called “science” behind many of the “extreme” views of global warming. For much of my life I have never been real concerned with conservation unless it meant saving me money.
Since then somewhere along the way to now I have been convicted that I have no idea how much longer God’s going to let this storyline continue, and if the church didn’t at least try to take care of the needy people and at most try to change the social, political, and biological environments in which it lived then what would the world look like in 200 years. Sure Jesus may come back tomorrow, but I don’t know that, and my apathetic attitude toward responsible consumption and disposal could do nothing but harm those left to live here 200 years from now.
With that being said I believe our responsibility is not so much in what we do with our waste, although I believe it to be important. I also do not believe that limiting what we consume is most important either. Instead I believe we need to begin asking the question, “Why am I consuming this?” or “Why should I consume this?” or “What might be the negative impact of not consuming this?”
Asking these questions seem to go against my love of capitalism and the ideal that I cling that a free economy is good and Socialism is bad. However, I believe I can still hold that I might think a free economy is good while at the same time demanding that auto manufacturers design more fuel efficient cars, that KY collect a deposit on Aluminum and plastic containers, and that the city of Georgetown ramp up it’s recycling program to include home pick up, or at least designate neighborhood depositories.
For the church to have the attitude that , “Everything’s gonna burn anyway.” gives the impression that we’re whimsical about this planet, which happens to be just as unique as I am in comparison with the millions if not billions of other planets out there. I think that because Earth is so unique, holding that Tom Cruise and John Travolta are really crazy, it’s no wonder God’s first command to Adam and Eve was to care for it.
My impression is that most political liberals are pro-environment because they don’t believe there is anything else after this life, and that we’re stuck with the Earth as long as we can sustain life. And most political conservatives are anti-environment as a negative response to all things liberal. I think the Church would begin to make huge strides in releasing itself from the bondage it has placed itself in with conservative politics if it began to say to the world, “We care, and so we’re going to ask the hard questions before we consume and make waste. Because when Jesus comes back in 500 years we want Him to be able to look at what we’ve done with His planet and for people and be glad He left it in our hands.

Questions inspired by our conversation so far.

Are we ever excused from being Christ-like because we are human?

Is there support for that in the Bible?

Do you usually excuse your fallen state instead of confess and repent of it?

Is there a happy medium between understanding our fallen state and yet rejecting it by accepting the higher calling of holiness?

Can we accept the call of holiness upon our redeemed lives and still hang out with without looking down upon the unholy people?

What would it look like?

See: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/may/22.39.html before replying to this. Apologies to DH and Emily for not lending them this crutch beforehand.

The Church and The Culture – Article #2

We are the Church, a community where people discover who they are, who God is, and how they can help each other make significant advances against evil by bringing justice and mercy to people, by caring for the poor, widowed, and orphaned, by loving everyone in order to bring God’s Kingdom to earth.

The Church is the ONLY environment on earth where people can reach their full potential.
It’s where sin is confronted, confessed, forgiven, and redeemed.
It’s where sickness is discovered, healed, and made whole.
It’s where success is measured by the amount of love that is shared and not the amount of work done, or numbers impacted.
It’s where we realize that we are safe and yet on a dangerous mission to eradicate evil.
It’s where we realize that living abundantly does not translate into lots of stuff.
It’s where we feel the most sorrow.
It’s where we feel the most pain.
It’s where we feel the most shame.
It’s where we feel the most joy.
It’s where we feel the most love.
It’s where we feel the most hope.
It’s where we feel the most peace.
It’s where we feel the most ALIVE!

Since this is all true, and we continue to trust that it is then we should be about enabling a transformation by the power of the Holy Spirit that is of the most violent and yet tender kind that rips away the infection of sin and replaces it with the adoration of the Son.
We will create an environment where we will enable every individual: leaders, followers, and seekers, to be CONTINUALLY transformed into the likeness of Christ encouraging everyone to die to their self and rise with Christ.

We will create an environment where we will enable the community to be transformed both within the local congregation and within EVERY community into which our congregation sends ambassadors.

We will not follow culture for the sake of being relevant, but instead we will create a new culture by redeeming the redeemable, and by using the gifts of art in the forms of music, painting, drawing, digital imaging, technology development, sculptures, architecture, dance, and drama to transform culture. We will not withdraw from, but will draw in the outcast. We will not condemn, but will lovingly correct. We will not become entangled in sin, but will help free those oppressed and in bondage.

We will care for the creation that we have the opportunity to care for so that our neighbor might enjoy its fruits. This will involve reducing our waste and will involve making informed and conscious decisions about what we consume, and from whom we consume. It will also involve the giving of time, money, and talent so that no one within the Church is in need, and so that we might those with needs outside of the Church.