Guidance From The Bible
The Bible begins by proclaiming that God is the Creator of all things, and that He declared everything he had made to be good (Gen. 1 & 2). Human beings were created to be images or reflections of God on Earth, especially in our stewarding of God’s good creation. Psalm 104 describes the harmony of the created order, wherein God
“provides grass for the cattle,
and crops for people to cultivate,
so they can produce food from the ground,
as well as wine that makes people feel so good …
Over here is the deep, wide sea,
which teems with innumerable swimming creatures,
living things both small and large.
The ships travel there,
and over here swims the whale You made to play in it” (vv 14-15, 25-26, NET).
The Book of Ecclesiastes recognizes the constancy of the natural world in contrast to the fleeting nature of humanity; we are born, live for a time, and then die, all the while the cycles and seasons of life continue.
“A generation comes and a generation goes,
but the earth remains the same through the ages” (1:4).
Further on it states in verse 10:
“Is there anything about which someone can say, ‘Look at this! It is new!’”?
Well, begging your pardon, but yes — plastic.
God created the systems of the Earth to be great cycles of life: nothing is wasted; everything contributes to the well-being of the whole.
But plastic? Not so much. God didn’t create plastic. If there is one thing that thumbs its nose at the Creator’s design, if there is one product that contradicts what Ecclesiastes proclaims — “the earth remains the same through the ages” — it is plastic.
Single-Use Plastics: Contrary to God’s Design
Products made of plastic have provided many benefits to our lives; take a quick look around your house or school or workplace and you’ll see.
But if one thing shows the weakness of the way much of our manufacturing currently works — take raw materials, make them into products, throw them “away” when done — it is single-use plastics. They are designed to be used just once and then thrown “away.”
Trouble is, there’s no “away” in God’s creation. As the Bible attests, God didn’t design His creation that way. Single-use plastics are clogging up God’s great cycles of life and harming us and God’s other creatures.