This post is dedicated to the Christians who ask themselves that soul-searching question: What would Jesus drive? According to the pro-environment Evangelicals who run WhatWouldJesusDrive.org:
the Risen Lord Jesus cares about what we drive. Pollution from vehicles has a major impact on human health and the rest of God’s creation. It contributes significantly to the threat of global warming. Our reliance on imported oil from unstable regions threatens peace and security.
Christians often point out that in Genesis God gave humanity dominion over the earth and everything in it. It’s refreshing to know that some see this as a careful stewardship rather than a gluttonous Chuck-a-Rama style feast-for-all. This ties in with the parable of the talents, where the careful stewards are rewarded, the wasteful one punished. I may have to write more about these Evangelical environmentalists, as soon as I find out more about them.
The taglines for the site: “Because transportation is a moral issue” and “It’s about loving your neighbor.”
Amen, brothers and sisters. Amen.
14 responses so far ↓
1 PodMonkeys // Apr 27, 2006 at 3:14 am
Wouldn’t he just walk, or drive a pack animal?
Hybrids still use petroleum and electric cars are great, but the generation of the electricity is still highly polutive. I think most power in America comes from Coal plants that use about a 120 car train worth of coal a day, and put out as much pollution as every car and truck in America. Not to mention the ecological devastation involved in cutting off entire mountain tops. (Thanks for the info National Geographic!)
We ourselves could use public transportation, but Jesus as a role model would, in my opinion, stick to modes that do not generate polution, at least not anything more than natural.
On a slightly related note, the U.S. Army has started a program looking into the use of more power efficient equipment, from lightbulbs to vehicles.
2 Miko // Apr 27, 2006 at 4:08 pm
Personally, I think Jesus drives an old diesel (now bio) bus rescued from certain landfill by he and his apostles and he carpools everywhere, picking up hitchhikers and letting anyone ride who wants to.
3 pilgrimgirl // Apr 27, 2006 at 5:04 pm
Miko:
I totally love to image of the Jesus bus. I wanna ride! I’m thinking it would make a great short story to write about a hitchiker who’s picked up by Jesus. Cool.
Personally, I’m pretty sure that Jesus would ride a bike. But I do kinda like imagining him on a skateboard…
4 John // Apr 27, 2006 at 9:53 pm
You guys rock!
One of my professors (who is also an ordained Buddhist priest), met his wife on a cross-country trip on a converted bus with futons instead of seats. That’s the kind of bus I’d like Jesus to drive, with Buddha and Mohammed sitting lotus-style in the back, swapping mystical experiences.
5 Miko // Apr 28, 2006 at 5:25 pm
Ms. Pilgrim: my friend returned from a year in Ireland with the exclamation “Christ on a bicycle!” which he claimed was common there. (In all my time there, I’d never heard it once, but he’s not the lying type.) When he later formed a volunteer theater troupe, they were called Christs on Bicycles…when I forwarded this link to others who knew him, they all agreed that Jesus rides a bike. I think I’m out voted, but I like the futon idea!
6 Rich // May 4, 2006 at 6:17 pm
“And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” - Genesis 1:2
Of course He prefers surfing to all other modes of transportation… ;o)
7 pilgrimgirl // May 5, 2006 at 12:27 pm
Hehe Rich!!
And I think, according to Mo cosmology, that Satan is one awesome surfer, too. Eh?
8 John // May 5, 2006 at 5:16 pm
Since Jesus can do whatever he wants, maybe he sits on a futon on the back of a bike. Which is…um…balancing on a surfboard?
Here’s the doctrinal support for surfin’ Satan, in the intro to Doctrine and Covenants 61:
9 Josh // May 11, 2006 at 10:51 pm
Wow. The answer is obvious. Its in the Bible. It is economical and completely environment friendly because Jesus rides on a cloud. And not only is it clean, and quiet, unlike cars and busses it can even rise and lower to and from the heavens.
Revelation 14:14 Then I saw the Son of Man sitting on a white cloud.
10 Josh // May 11, 2006 at 11:07 pm
Yes, Genesis does indeed suggest that we should be good stewards of the earth and creatures over which we have dominion….
wow, it almost looks like John has something nice to say about evangelicals.
Of course from a theologically liberal view of Genesis which usually sees Genesis as irrelevant, and more in the realm of allegory, the argument for good stewardship would be rendered non-authoritative. If creation is just a story, then we were never really told to take good care of creation. so dominion over the earth could be interpretted to be “gluttonous Chuck-a-Rama style feast-for-all”. After all the trademark of liberal interpretation of the bible is that the reader determines what the text says and means. By this we find that every interpretation is valid, which cannot truly be because two contradicting viewpoints cannot neccessarily be valid together if one suggests the other is invalid, which would bring us to the final conclusion that every opinion is allowed because every interpretation is equally invalid. But that all seems kinda sad and purposeless so I’m glad I’m not a liberal theologian.
11 John // May 12, 2006 at 10:49 pm
Josh, I can’t help but point out that the irony in your comment is that theological liberals are the ones who are also pushing politically liberal environmental policies. Pro-environment Evangelicals are the anomaly in the U.S.
Theologically and politically conservative evangelicals, esp. pre-millenialists and dispensationalists (who are part of Bush’s core constituency), are generally supportive of the more energy-imbibing “gluttonous” policies that you attribute to theological liberals.
Anyhow, I like the idea that some Biblically-strict evangelicals are turning pro-environment. It gives me hope.
12 Josh // May 13, 2006 at 7:48 am
You know your “Biblically-strict evangelicals” description reminds me. I’ve had a redefining or maybe perhaps a clarification of my beliefs lately. Although you might still think I’m a fundamentalist. “why does it have to be one way or the other” has been running through my head lately on any topic that pushes one extreme or the other. But I’ve come to this point where, I find myself in the middle.
My belief about biblical orthodoxy is that I am a fundamentalist, and “biblically-sctrict”, hermeneutic. The bible sets clear lines of belief and theology.
However my belief about orthopraxy (right living) is that I accept devotional, allegorical, and a many-layer approach to scripture in order to discover the many applicative and illustrative layers in the scriptures. In this respect I agree with postmodernist theology.
Put them together and you have the belief that you need to study the word properly, but you need to apply it and experience it for it to have any life-changing and improving effect.
hope it wasnt too much of a tangent. just felt like sharing it.
But to get back on topic. I’ve always been an environmentalist. I was even a member of Calperg while at Davis. Of course many of them probably would have kicked me out if I told them I was an environmentalist, because without proper care of our forests and environments, not only would we destroy our precious treasures of life in them, but we would have no deer or wild boar to hunt.
13 Religion and Technology | Mind on Fire. // Dec 6, 2007 at 1:56 pm
[…] Continuing in the vein of WWJD, over at GetReligion, tmatt brings up the subject of “bumper sticker theology“, a […]
14 HWJV? | Mind on Fire. // Feb 10, 2008 at 11:09 am
[…] In catching up on the news today, I came across a pagan article titled “Who Would the Goddess Vote For?” Because I think it’s a little closer to our collective cultural understanding, I’d like to change the question to How Would Jesus Vote? The CA primaries are over, so I’m a little more interested in general political leanings or November election proclivities; if there’s a primary near you, or some other area relevant to you, please weigh in. If you like, change it to “Joseph Smith” or “Buddha”, but I’m curious to know how everyone thinks religious figures (or atheist, perhaps What Would Richard Dawkins Do has a place on someone’s wrist) would vote. (We’ve already covered what some of them would drive.) […]
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