The value of the things is not in themselves autonomously, but that God made them, and thus they deserve to be treated with high respect. The tree in the field is to be treated with respect. It is not to be romanticized (as if it had feelings). When you drive the ax into the tree when you need firewood, you are not cutting down a person; you are cutting down a tree. But while we should not romanticize the tree, we must realize God made it and it deserves respect because He made it as a tree. The Christian is a man who has a reason for dealing with each created thing on a high level of respect...Thus God treats His creation with integrity: each thing in its own order, each thing the way He made it. If God treats the tree like a tree…the man like a man, shouldn’t I? And for the highest reason: because I love God—I love the One who has made it! Loving the Lover who has made it, I have respect for the thing He has made...
Francis A. Schaeffer
Pollution and the Death of Man, The Christian View of Ecology, pp. 54-57.
Francis A. Schaeffer
Pollution and the Death of Man, The Christian View of Ecology, pp. 54-57.
