Charles+

<snip>It seems to me our repetition of the creed, our concentration on
"the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come",
coupled with the emphasis on the "salvation of the soul" or "immortality
of the soul" has led us to concentrate on the restoring of our lives and
to neglect the fleshing out our understanding of "the restoration of all
things."

One of the problems with the more rabid "green" movement is that it
forgets that even though there is the restoration of all things, man is
the pinnacle of creation (hence, the most important part).  God did not
create the trees and the animals to commune with him in a personal and
free way in the same way that he created mankind for those things.  It
was a man who brought all of creation to despair through sin, and it as
a Man who redeemed it.  So I'd argue that the emphasis on the redemption
of mankind is valid because it is that redemption that redeems all of
creation through our stewardship of it.  We've just proven to be lousy
stewards.

MLW+