Celebrating Earth Day Like a Mormon

[Third Hour]

Happy Earth Day! Here are five easy things you can do, either alone with or with your family, to appreciate the gifts of our Heavenly Father's creation. 1. The Fruitful Field There's a tradition of farming and gardening in the Church. From Jacob's Olive Tree Allegory to President Hinckley's Walnut Tree, our faith is rooted (pun intended) in literal and spiritual planting. Church leaders have encouraged growing gardens to further self-reliance, but growing plants can also serve as a source of beauty. You may not be able to grow a floral display like those on Temple Square, but everyone has space to grow something. The Church has published some handy materials on how to nurture your own little patch of earth. 2. Consider the Ravens In Luke 12, Jesus taught his followers to “consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?” Birds might not have houses, but that can change. Putting a bird-feeder near your...

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[Guest MormonGator]

Sorry to be the mean guy here but I'm very skeptical about "Earth Day". I think most things you do (generic term) to "save the environment" are done so you can feel better about yourself and morally superior to those who aren't environmentalists.  

Edited April 22, 2017 by MormonGator

[Guest]

43 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

Sorry to be the mean guy here but I'm very skeptical about "Earth Day". I think most things you do (generic term) to "save the environment" are done so you can feel better about yourself and morally superior to those who aren't environmentalists.  

A lot of people out there use environmentalism as a substitute for religion.

[Guest MormonGator]

2 minutes ago, DoctorLemon said:

A lot of people out there use environmentalism as a substitute for religion.

One of the ironic things here is that I'm a big animal rights guy and I think there is evidence for man made global warming-I just don't think dimming your lights or driving a Prius will really do anything to change it. 

[Mike]

55 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

Sorry to be the mean guy here but I'm very skeptical about "Earth Day". I think most things you do (generic term) to "save the environment" are done so you can feel better about yourself and morally superior to those who aren't environmentalists.  

I suppose Earth Day is beneficial in a similar way to Mothers Day, or any other "Day" that one might feel is important. So yes most things I do probably just make me feel better. But I still think it's important not to pee in the same stream that runs to where you want to recreate. The same is true of a few dozen other things that I "could" do to make the world a little bit worse--I still feel like not doing those things contributes to forestalling the tide. In any event I like clean water, clean air, and green places--so I think of myself as an environmentalist.

 

[Vort]

Environmentalism is a religion, and Earth Day is its holiest pseudo-holy day. Environmentalism is a little like feminism, in that when you hear (some) people describe it, it sounds perfectly reasonable and even good. But seeing the reality tells you just how off the popular descriptions are.

[Guest MormonGator]

7 minutes ago, Mike said:

I like clean water, clean air

With the exception of @mirkwood I know of no one so unpleasant that they want dirty water, smog, and no green places. Seriously, not even @Vort.  

[Mike]

27 minutes ago, Vort said:

Environmentalism is a religion, and Earth Day is its holiest pseudo-holy day. Environmentalism is a little like feminism, in that when you hear (some) people describe it, it sounds perfectly reasonable and even good. But seeing the reality tells you just how off the popular descriptions are.

I suppose there are a lot of ism-religions. And I've seen a lot of people who seem to worship things that make noise and smell bad. 

[Guest MormonGator]

23 minutes ago, Mike said:

I suppose there are a lot of ism-religions.

"When men believe in no God, they will believe anything."-GK Chesterton 

[Mike]

1 minute ago, MormonGator said:

"When men believe in no God, they will believe anything."-GK Chesterton 

Since the same is true of many people who do believe in God, I think it's more accurate to simply say that many people will believe in anything. -Me

 

[The Folk Prophet]

What's Earth Day?

[mirkwood]

19 hours ago, MormonGator said:

With the exception of @mirkwood I know of no one so unpleasant that they want dirty water, smog, and no green places. Seriously, not even @Vort.  

I have capabilities on this forum...I'm going to treat you like Facebook did.

[mordorbund]

1 hour ago, mirkwood said:

I have capabilities on this forum...I'm going to treat you like Facebook did.

You're going to monetize his public personal life?

[mirkwood]

2 hours ago, mordorbund said:

You're going to monetize his public personal life?

[Guest]

Uuhhmmm... Trying not to judge...

[Guest LiterateParakeet]

@Mike  count me in as being an Environmentalist!

@MormonGator I never used to recycle or what not . . .  but then I was asked to give a talk on Environmentalism in Sacrament meeting.  I thought that was an odd topic for Sacrament meeting (I still do), but I decided that it was a great opportunity to challenge my "every talk should be centered in Christ" mantra.

So I did some research and found a couple quotes from our Leaders (I can't remember what they were it's been a couple years) but the bottom line was this:

(Analogy) When my boys went on their missions to third world countries, I obsessed over finding them shoes that could last the whole two years.  The reason being I knew from experience how hard missionaries are on shoes, and how hard it is to find a decent pair of shoes in a third world country on a missionary budget.  They were going to be so far away, and I knew they would experience hard times.  I couldn't go with them, but I could at least help them with this one thing to make them more comfortable.

I think of the earth, as kind of like those shoes.  Christ (the Creator) knew that for our growth we needed to spend some time "away" from Heavenly Father, and He knew that this time would be hard for us so He created a beautiful world to help ease the journey a bit, and to provide for our needs.

Sure my little bit of recycling, or whatever else I do is a drop in the bucket....but I can't help but think it would be ungrateful of me not to do my part.  The earth is a loving gift from Father and how we treat it shows that we remember that. 

That was the gist of my talk.  I don't know what it did for anyone else, but I have been doing my best to take care of the earth every since.

And the shoes?  Did they last?  Yes, my second son is due to come home and June.  He had been reluctant to accept my shoe suggestion because Fisherman sandals...(which are appropriate for his mission...but my mission was in the same climate so I know!!!) didn't fit his sense of style, and he's frugal and didn't want to pay that much for shoes.  They are holding up, and he is grateful to have shoes that breathe.  He said he learned, "Always trust a woman when it comes to shoes."  LOL.  

ETA:  I don't recall which quotes I used in my talk, but here's a great link: https://www.lds.org/topics/environmental-stewardship-and-conservation?lang=eng&old=true

Edited April 24, 2017 by LiterateParakeet

[estradling75]

If we were to use the origins of a Holiday and a valid reason not to celebrate it we would not have Christmas, Easter, or (Mirkwoods fav) Halloween.

Christmas and Easter (and to a lesser extent Halloween) exist the way they are today because earlier Christians took those pagan cerebrated them like.. well a Christian.

No reason we can do the same with Earth Day.  We can start with the idea that God set us up as Masters of the Earth and the things there in.  And like with everything God has given us he is going to hold us accountable for what we do with it.  Thus we need to be wise stewards of the Earth and what we do with it.