Social Principles, Week 2 (Natural World)

We officially dove into the SP tonight as we talked about the Natural World section, which deals with environmental issues, water, pollution, animal safety/treatment of animals, science and technology, space, etc.  We also talked a little about the preamble to the SP and talked a little theology in the midst of that, especially around the Trinity.

We spent the most time talking about recycling tonight.  There were some heated moments where people stated their opinion that recycling doesn't make a difference, there were some thoughts about questioning the process of recycling and wondering if that process was actually more harmful to the environment than not recycling something.  There was a brief discussion about the statement about not using water bottles and fighting against the privatization of water.

We talked about the resources that we use as a church and how we can be better stewards of them.  For example, we talked about how we use too much paper for our worship bulletins and maybe we should use our projector screen more.  We talked about the kinds of light bulbs that are more energy friendly, about cutting down on styrofoam cups, etc.  We mentioned a few times that we needed to educate ourselves more about recycling and the use of the resources that we use.

Everyone seemed to agree on the section of science and technology- that religion and science go together and do not contrast one another, that we believe that God gives us gifts to use in order to help the human body, to use medicine, and that the scientific process is full of God's glory.

I had to keep reminding people that this section all went back to our stated faith in God as Creator and we should ask ourselves how we can best live in this world and take care of it.

I'm also glad that our class covenant hung on the wall in the room- let's just say I referred to it many times tonight!

We won't be having class next week since I'll be in FL, but the week after that is the Nurturing Community section, which will probably get very heated and emotional since we will be addressing sexuality, abortion, suicide, marriage, divorce, etc.  Prayers appreciated for that one!  Stay tuned!