Response to Russell Moore on Gulf Oil Spill

Last week Dr. Russell Moore wrote a blog post critiquing Christians for an “uneasy ecological conscience” and an “inadequate view of human sin” as if to equate the two, though never really defining the first. He goes on to critique Christians’ alleged belief in the free market as well as invoke Romans 13 to say a governments’ bearing the sword means protecting people from such accidental spills.

The real shame here is that the sentiment is profoundly pessimistic. Beyond that, much of the logic is just plain wrong.

Do Christians have an “uneasy ecological conscience”? Maybe, but how on earth can anyone know? Dr. Moore probably means to imply that Christians aren’t doing enough or aren’t making the government do enough for them to try to protect the environment from harm. That man should be protecting the world from harm and making it fruitful rather than desolate is a no-brainer. But anyone who thinks that Christians have really slacked here (at least enough to lay the blame on all of them as Moore does) lately has likely bought scare science of the government socialists hook, line, and sinker. Is man really causing immense harm to the environment? No. And more to the point, it is only thanks to free markets and modern industrialism that the environment has as many protections as it does. Visit any society where the government runs things and you’ll find incalculable more waste than you will in a free market society.

Moore is also likely overestimating the extent of the oil leak and its effect. This is understandable since it is after all near his hometown of Biloxi. The media hasn’t explained to its listeners there are two kinds of crude, light and heavy. This oil happens to be light, which means most of it is evaporating once it’s on the surface (The Valdez spill was heavy crude). Did you know there are volcanic eruptions underwater that are constantly spewing forth far, far more toxic chemicals than this pipe? And that there is ocean life that lives right next to these natural toxic plumes? Amazing! 

Did you know that the average time that elapsed between each of history’s top ten accidental oil spills prior to BP Deepwater was 26 months. But the amount of time between the most recent of these top-ten spills (which occurred in September 1994) and the BP Deepwater spill is 187 months.

Do we have an inadequate view of human sin? Of course. I’m sure this land would look a lot different were Christians to have an adequate view of it. But what does that have to do with the oil spill? That we haven’t yet realized the curse also effects our environment?

Most disappointing to me is that Dr. Moore’s first major concern is that we don’t understand how terrible this is because it threatens our national security. Even if it were a threat to national security, which is highly debatable and likely a line we’ll start hearing from the government so they can increase their control of the energy markets, that should not be our primary concern here. Beware the politician (or the pastor) who tells you such and such is a threat to our national security etc.: they are pandering to people who are irrationality devoted to their nation state. Let’s worry about the spiritual security of our neighbors and coworkers, and let God worry about or obliterate our national security. Seriously though, that’s a sorry state of affairs when a situation like this in the gulf has us worried about our national security, and not somehow using it as a conversational topic for evangelism and spreading the supremacy of Christ in all things.

Dr. Moore claims “we believe in free markets”. Of course, that’s true if you believe what your local Republican politician is telling you, but if you actually look around and observe the world around you and your politicians and government has actually been doing you’ll realize that we actually don’t believe in free markets here. Some people do, but the vast majority favor government intervention of one sort or another. And the implication of a belief in free markets is that we trust corporations to protect natural resources and habitats. Yes! Who else should I trust? The government?? The number one killer in all of history of human lives, destroyer of property, and resources? Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The last organization I want in charge of an oil field (or any piece of land) is the government. The romantic view of government tells us that politicians actually care for their constituents and the environment. The realistic view says they only care about advancing their own careers and getting the most out of the job as possible. It’s the romantic view (which is also the one held by Dr. Moore and most Christians) that has an inadequate view of sin.

So why trust corporations then? Primarily because they are far more accountable to society. BP (for instance) may not give a hoot about the environment or the Gulf of Mexico eco-systems or US national security. That they don’t care is not a problem at all. That consumers in the market care makes all the difference in the world. You see, governments are far less accountable to people (even though we’re told and believe whole-heartedly otherwise) than businesses in the market. BP’s stock has lost over 30% since the rig went under, and this has created terrible publicity for them. You don’t think I should trust them to fix the leak on their own and with all their other rigs? Of course they will, Tony Hayward (the CEO) will see to it since his job and the future of his company is at stake here. The government’s only incentive for getting this fix is so that it can garner more trust from it’s citizens and get reelected next term.

Lastly, Dr. Moore invokes Romans 13 to say this is an example of how government should bear the sword – “to restrain those who would harm others (Rom. 13). When government fails or refuses to protect its own people, whether from nuclear attack or from toxic waste spewing into our life-giving waters, the government has failed.”

Actually, no. The passage does not use the subjunctive form as Dr. Moore does: “for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.”

He doesn’t care out wrath on would be wrongdoers but on those who have done wrong. Moore also seems to confuse what constitutes a wrongdoer as well. It is everyone from those who drop nuclear bombs, to those whose oilrigs break. I wonder whom else we should include in range that extensive. Is the government really supposed to somehow protect us from or even “punish” those who have accidents happen under their watch? There are two alternatives for you to choose from: 1) No government interference in the market at all, and 2) A socialist and fascist society in which all is government controlled and to live life is a crumby existence. You say, “But there must be a middle ground; look at the United States!” Yes, look at the United States, ever since we started trusting government to take care of us it has never stopped increasing its power and control over our lives. Seriously, it has always been increasing, no matter who or what party has been in power. And that is how liberty and prosperity is lost, one little slice at a time, all in the name of some other good until we’ve reached a state of affairs that is revolting for its dehumanization of man mechanization of the world and wonder how we got there. That is the world Dr. Moore and his fellow “social conservatives” are working towards with each new government restriction and program they advance. True social conservatives remember that the government is the most anti-social organization ever, wrecking havoc in the lives of all it touches. They remember that trying to create an earthly paradise by means of the government will only produce a living hell.

Accidents happen, Dr. Moore. And the only way a government can prevent them is by preventing advancements in technology, thus stifling the creative human spirit and limiting prosperity and our standard of living. “So materialistic!” you say. Yep, and if you want to help the poor physically you happen to need materials like modern medicine, shelter, cars, and maybe thousands of products that have petroleum as an ingredient.

I hope Christians will see situations like this as an opportunity to magnify Christ, as an opportunity to remember that He is in control of all things, as an opportunity to realize that towns like Biloxi don’t have to become “oil-drenched crime scene[s]” but can become renewed places physically and spiritually for the advancement of the Kingdom. God draws straight with crooked lines. Out of this mess I’m sure will come something beautiful that cannot be fully known, and perhaps even on this earth the full extent of the beauty will not be fully known.

How long oh Lord...He has dealt bountifully with me.

In my series on the Already…Not Yet I have mainly been looking at conditions or characteristics of what it means to live in the Already or in the Not Yet, such as faith to sight, or tears and sickness to glorified bodies. Today we will look at a Psalm, one that you likely have heard of. It begins, “How long Oh Lord...” and repeats that phrase three more times in the next couple verses.

Here we see David’s distress in relation to God, himself and his enemy. There are many situations in our lives when we can empathize with the sentiment here: God seems to have forgotten us, inner turmoil of thought engulfs us and our enemy’s ascendancy seems to threaten not only our life but also our faith in God’s justice.

Then the darkness passes. Sometimes it takes weeks, months, years. Usually, though, the suffering does come to an end, and at the end there is joy. (Tony Woodlief recently put it, “The more suffering you have, the more joy you will have. If you want less suffering you’ll have less joy…”) In his introduction to the Psalm, Derek Kidner says, “If the path is prayer(3f.), the sustaining energy is the faith expressed in verse 5. The prospect from the summit (5) is exhilarating, and the retrospect (6) overwhelming.” Most or all of us can relate to this – suffering is concluded with salvation from God and his dealing bountifully with us.

I think that this Psalm, and by extension, our corresponding experiences in life which this describes can be viewed as pictures of what the “Already…Not Yet” looks like. In a sense, they are poor pictures, because it is impossible to truly experience, even for a moment the kind of glorious future that awaits the Christian. But they are pictures nonetheless. In simplistic form we have: 1) trial; difficulty, followed by 2) blessing & joy. In a sense though, this can be a description of our entire lives as believers. Our entire lives can be characterized as a trial, and as difficult. In the New Testament the Christian is described as a pilgrim, and traveler belonging to another city. As devoted followers of Christ we are to expect many trials. However, at the end of all this we will have an eternity of joy. (Cf. Ps. 16:11)

So, whenever we experience these periods of hardship after which God grants relief we should be quick to remember that joy and blessing we have then is only a super small picture of the infinite joy and blessing that awaits us in eternity.