CONTENTS

Chapter                                                        page

 Prologue                                                          vii

Environment Stewardship from a Biblical World View

PART I  - OUR SITUATION

1    FEARFULNESS ABOUT THE FUTURE         1

• Concern over our deteriorating environment

• Fear of a global catastrophe

• A fresh look at our goals

• What can we depend on?

• A proper perspective

• Human nature has not progressed

2    WHAT CAN WE DEPEND ON?                    7

• There is fear in our hearts

• The assumed infallibility of science

• The improper use of science

• Doubting God's ability

• By faith the simple understand

• The truth is simple

3    SCIENCE'S LIMITATIONS                          17

• We assume that we are able to understand

• Faith in science

• False prophets offer false hope

• Knowledge is not enough to change us

• Is the Bible more than a history book?

4    THE IMPACT OF OUR CHOICES                 25

• Culturally acceptable impacts

• The impact of subsistence

• A growing economy & expanding frontier

• Personal responsibility

• Well-done, good and faithful servant!

5    THE RESPONSIBILITY OF WEALTH            31

• We think we know best

• Proper use of what has been entrusted to us

• Wealth brings with it responsibility

• Leaving an inheritance

• Our ideas about stewardship

• Our efforts have lacked gratefulness

• The Church in the environmental crisis

6    THE CONSEQUENCES OF OUR STEWARDSHIP 38

• Feeling we are doing something to help          

• Pain, the consequence of bad decisions          

• Hoping that we are moving forward

• The failure of our good intentions

• God is still in control

PART II  - A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE  

Chapter                                                          page

7    A GEOLOGIST CONSIDERS GENESIS          49

• College as an apprenticeship

• Choosing a world view

• An awareness that God exists

• Why did modern science leave the Church?

• The need for a perspective from outside nature

• Ignoring first hand accounts

• Things of more eternal significance

8    CHOOSING YOUR PRIORITIES                  56

• Stewards or intruders?

• Does God think like we do?

• Learning God’s perspective on nature

• Learning from Jesus’ priorities

• Morality by consensus

• Who decides if something is wrong?

• A disobedient and obstinate people

9    A DISTORTED WORLD                              64

• The world was distorted by sin

• The correct view of nature

• What we will become

• Our struggle to tame the inhospitable land

• Where is the joy in evolution?

• Scripture rather than nature reveals the truth

• What we will become

10   WHY DOES GOD ALLOW...?                      71

• The purpose of suffering

• To show us that we are in need

• The idols we serve

• God’s vineyard

• The limits of God's patience

11   WE ARE BEING DISCIPLINED                    78

• We expect to be punished

• A father disciplining his children

• We need to be reminded

• A guilty conscience

12   WHY MUST THE CREATION SUFFER?        83

• Cursed is the ground because of you

• Nature is God's tool to correct us

• The cost of our nourishment

• The price of our rebellion

• Pointing us to the Messiah

13   GLIMPSES OF EDEN                                  89

• Is nature against us?

• The search for Eden

• God’s extravagant provisions

• Our attraction to glimpses of Eden

• Somehow we have to change

• Restoring the fruitfulness of the land

• Reversing the curse

14   THE SILENCING OF NATURE'S SONG         97

• God's workmanship sings to him

• Worshipping God through nature

• We are muting nature's praise of God

• The mourning of the steward

PART III  - THE DESIRED RESPONSE

Chapter                                                          page

15  WE ARE THE POLLUTION                        112

• We contaminate the creation and ourselves

• Receiving God's blessing but yielding no fruit

• The distorted and abused creation

• The damaged creation shows the cost of our rebellion

• Is nature out of God’s hands?

• We deny that we are being corrected

16   HOW TO RESTORE WHAT WAS LOST?     123

• We forget what God has told us

• We demand a sign

• Following the wisdom of men

• We are being scolded

• What can we do to save the planet?

• We must turn to God

• He has promised to restore and make new

17   WHAT ARE WE TO DO?                           128

• Where are God's people?

• How are we to be involved?

• Building upon biblical concepts

• Fear

• Is there reason to be concerned?

• Zeal will not save the planet

• Humble ourselves and pray

18   THE PURPOSE OF GOD'S INTERVENING 134

• God intervenes into the universe

• Alien forces

• God's plan

• What to do?

• Our place in the world

• God's concern for this world

19   THE SOLUTION                                       142

• We know our guilt but claim to be victims

• We refuse to be dependent

• We hope our skill can save us

• The cure for our wicked world

• His restoring us to himself is the cure

• A cause for hope

20   A GLIMPSE OF THE EARTH'S FUTURE      152

• Prophecies of the future

• The fate of this earth

• The end of this present age

• Creation will be released from bondage

• Dare to dream of that day

• Heaven on earth?

• Then for a short time

21   A GLIMPSE OF HEAVEN                          161

• This world will pass away

• The new heavens and the new earth

• We do not understand what is to come

• How then should we live?

EPILOGUE       REASSESSMENT                    165        

• Still don't understand?

• Caring for the land of milk and honey

• Be confident in this very thing

• Summary

Appendices                                                      178

• A    Flood Geology

• B    Index

• C    Index of scripture references

• D    Index of parables

• E    healingtheland.org