D2MG@SDSUMUS (Kurt Evans) (01/12/90)
Bill,
Let me open by agreeing with your statement that Elizabeth is
"one of the most loving, caring, charitable Christians I've ever met."
My initial problem with "connectedness with others and nature" is
that we live in a fallen world where "others and nature" are in conflict
and unholiness, filled with death and destruction.
Romans 1:25 says, "They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and
worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator." Thus we see
a clear distinction between God and nature.
Romans 8:19-22 is even more clear about the fallen state of the
world: "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing
of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of
its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; because
the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and
obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. We know that the
whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now."
I will close with an excerpt from *A Crash Course on the New Age
Movement* by Elliot Miller, who was converted from New Age spirituality
to Christ.
"Christians should have no problem accepting that everything within
the universe is interdependent, and that this God-ordained order should
be respected in all human activities. It is perfectly appropriate for
believers to be active in, for example, ecological causes.
"Unity is also valued in Christian teaching, based in the perfect
harmony that exists between the Persons of the Trinity (John 17:20-21).
However, since all is not one in essence, unity for the Christian is
strictly a matter of the will, and must be grounded in conformity to
*God's* will.
"There are many creatures (earthly and otherwise) who are *not*
in conformity with God's will, and to unite with them would be to rebel
against God. Thus, the value of unity is conditional..."
For Jesus' glory,
Kurt