Ecology and Worldviews

When the topic of ecology comes up there seems to be two extreme views and a balanced view: 

Pantheism is a religious worldview that holds that the everything is god.  So, taking care of the earth is like taking care of ourselves.  Pantheists, in general, try to take care of the earth but they believe the entire cosmos is god.  

On the other extreme, Humanism is a philosophical worldview that holds that the world is only material and humankind will find a solution to the problem of pollution.  This is the view that technology will nearly always take care of the problem.   In general, most humanists are atheists (i.e. there is no God).  However, there are also some Christians that hold to a cost-benefit analysis of ecology.  They hold that God's economy of ecology is one in which we are to "take dominion" of earth (Genesis 1:26).  These Christians have humanistic leanings but may not be outright humanists.

While it is a great thing that Pantheists try to take care of the earth and Humanists try to find solutions to the pollution problem, A.T. Servants believes that a balanced view is a Biblical view.  Contrary to Humanism, the Bible says that we are to care for the earth as stewards.  Technology does not always fix the problems found in ecological ethics.  In fact, the negative results of not taking care of the earth as stewards may be the result of sin (e.g. Jeremiah 12:4-11).  We are to take care of our camp (e.g. Deuteronomy 23:12).  Contrary to Pantheism, the Bible holds that God is distinct from the world as a painter is distinct from a painting (e.g. Genesis 1:1--God created the cosmos).    While God cares for the earth (e.g. John 3.16--For God so loved the world...), He will destroy it and then He will recreate the earth again (e.g. 2 Peter 3:13).  So, keeping this in mind, we believe that we should be good stewards of earth but we should not worship it.  We believe that we should take care of the gift of creation and worship the creator that gave it to us.