As far as we trace the human history, our generation lives in a much more artificial environment than any previous generations. And now, this pandemic forces us to live in a virtual space of electronics. Nevertheless, we also witness the high tide of nature worship, mostly in the Western hemisphere. There is broad but loose solidarity of many forms of nature-worship spirituality, philosophy, movements, activisms, and political parties. Many Christians also subscribe to nature worship and participate in it in various ways. It is not easy to define nature worship because there are so many ideas and attitudes or practices. But we can observe that its followers presume the existence of a soul or spirit that enlivens nature as one organic body. Therefore, they worship Mother Nature or Mother Universe. In a sense, it is a form of animism – a belief that lifeless things also have souls. Nature or the universe is its origin and autonomously governs itself. Man is merely a tenant on earth. Meanwhile, nature worship is also a type of pantheism – a belief that the universe or nature is identical with divinity. Then, man is also divine as a part of the divine organism of the universe or nature.
However, the very first chapter of the Book of Genesis plainly shows us how foreign to nature worship spirituality the Judeo-Christian revelation is. The Bible teaches God created the universe and nature. It makes clear that the universe or nature did not evolve by its own force. God created it with a purpose. What is it? Genesis expresses it in this way: “God saw that it was good.” As the meaning of the word ‘universe’ itself implies, God created the world for ‘order’ and ‘harmony’ that reflect God’s nature. The ‘good’ implies much more than just feeling a pleasure. It reveals the goodness of the Lord. The universe and nature exist to reflect God’s goodness. The purpose of nature and the universe is to give praise to God’s goodness.
Some people stop at the beauty and order of the universe and nature and start worshipping them. But the Book of Genesis invites us to see beyond the beauty and peace. Genesis teaches us the purpose of all creation. God created us to reflect his goodness. And he wants to call us ‘good’. That is why he created us.
