Book Review: Serve God Save the Planet

Title: Serve God Save the Planet

Author: J. Matthew Sleeth

Publisher; Zondervan

Web site: www.servegodsavetheplanet.org

Date: 2006

ISBN: 978-0-310-27534-3

Length: 255 pages

Quote: “After I became a Christian, I went through a process of examining my life…I considered myself an enlightened environmentalist.”

And now, of course, he considers himself even more of one.

It was wonderful to read the list of well-known Christians who’ve embraced the idea of concern for the environment as stewardship of God’s Creation. Billy Graham, Rick Warren, Francis Schaeffer, John R.W. Stott, Paul de Vries, Pope John Paul II, Jack Hayford, Brian McLaren, and Ron Sider have all endorsed some ideas in common with Dr. Sleeth (he’s an M.D.).

It was sad for me to see how many bad old ideas Sleeth has accepted in the name of going Green, or Greener. As of 2006 he’d never thought through the differences between True Green and Poison Green. True Green Christians will find much to agree with in this book, and almost as much to disagree with.

It was so easy to picture a certain kind of Christian latching onto Green ideas to replace the rules most churches have discarded, by now, about hair and hemline lengths and what not to do on Sunday. “The Sleeths have sold their big house and given away more than half of what they once owned.” Hurrah for them, but if you’re not certain that you, your children, and your grandchildren will always enjoy a high enough income to go back out and buy replacements for things you find yourselves missing, you will regret that tossing spree…especially when you consider how little money you can actually recover on secondhand clothes or furniture, and how little of that money, if donated to international charities as Sleeth says his was, will actually reach the poor, as distinct from feeding the totalitarian governments that perpetuate the poverty in countries that may actually be rich. 

Again, the Sleeths claim that clothes last longer if air-dried. Some people look better in faded colors than in bright new ones, but if you hang wet things outside in my part of the world they don’t dry; they just pick up collections of fungi and bacteria that make clothes smell very interesting and may raise blisters on the wearers’ skin. 

Then there’s a piece of piosity about how to discourage children from playing sports. Isn’t it nice to be able to afford to throw away Junior’s chance at a college scholarship?

I actually like this book, and recommend it—with the warning: Read with discernment. You don’t have to buy into the Poison Green ideas to use the True Green ones, and the good news is that, apart from any holier-than-thou value some Poison Green ideas may have in some circles, the True Green ones are more fun. True Greens aren’t trying to punish ourselves for being rich by working to build a system of global tyranny that will keep poverty “equal” all around the world. We’re just trying to avoid waste, save money, and stop poisoning ourselves and all those around us.

For more specific ideas about ways I serve God and save the planet, see my forthcoming frugal Green book, working title Two Thousand or Less.  Meanwhile, I’d recommend reading this book, and also How to Live Your Dream of Volunteering Overseas, in which people who’ve done it discuss very frankly how international missions do and don’t work.

What works for us in North America, for our local environments? Sleeth could benefit from taking more time to think about this. We hear some silly and some absolutely vile ideas being packaged in "Green" rhetoric, these days. Some computers are more efficient than others but there's nothing Green about electronics. New household appliances may or may not be more efficient than old ones and typically they're much less durable. Living in a slum rather than a house with adequate room for a whole family may or may not do permanent damage to you--it's a gamble--but it's not a Green choice. 

However, some frugal Green changes really do work. Walking instead of driving may solve your weight problem as well as liberating all that money you were pouring into the car. You can bathe as often as you need to and still reduce wasted water, and the money city water services charge for it, by keeping all water taps tight, not living with leaks. You can reduce pollution, noise, and wasted effort by having a mix of non-food plants in the front yard and food plants in the back--no more motors! 

Sleeth gives readers plenty of ideas to consider. You might want to mark your book, or make lists, of which of his ideas are (1) Poison Green, (2) good but not likely to work for you right away, or (3) things you can start doing now.