Rooting Out Pollution From Heart and Mind

JEHOVAH did not give humans a yearning for filth or disorder. Their planet home was designed to be a paradise of cleanliness, order, and beauty. God did not purpose that it degenerate into an unsightly garbage dump.​—Genesis 2:8, 9.

However, after humans rejected divine guidance, they began building their own kind of world order. Without the benefit of divine wisdom and lacking experience, they were forced to learn by trial and error. Secular history confirms the Bible truth that humans cannot successfully rule themselves; for thousands of years “man has dominated man to his injury.” (Ecclesiastes 8:9; Jeremiah 10:23) The modern problem of pollution, in all its forms, is a consequence of human misrule.

Adopting God’s View

People desirous of pleasing God try hard to live up to the Creator’s standards of cleanliness. Thus, Jehovah’s Witnesses were faced with a problem when an international convention was scheduled to be held in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in mid-1991.a About 75,000 people would be attending, a crowd that Strahov Stadium could comfortably accommodate. But the stadium had not been used for five years. It had fallen into disrepair, an unsightly victim of the elements. Some 1,500 of Jehovah’s Witnesses spent over 65,000 hours renovating and repainting it. By convention time this clean-up campaign had made the stadium a worthy place in which to worship the true God, Jehovah.

What motivates Jehovah’s Witnesses to be different, while the world in general shows such little appreciation for cleanliness and order? Appreciation for the Bible’s counsel that Christians should root out negative traits, such as selfishness, inconsiderateness, greed, and lack of love. “Strip off the old personality with its practices,” the Bible says. Replace it “with the new personality, which through accurate knowledge is being made new according to the image of the One who created it.” A personality characterized by love for cleanliness, order, and beauty has no room for polluting tendencies.​—Colossians 3:9, 10; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Philippians 4:8; Titus 2:14.

The new personality requires that Christians be pollution conscious, not wantonly polluting or disobediently ignoring antipollution laws that governments enact. It helps them to avoid adopting the throw-away, selfish, and lazy attitude that leads to littering. By promoting respect for the property of others, it rules out using graffiti as a way of expression, as innocent fun, or as an alternative art form. It requires that homes, cars, clothes, and bodies be kept clean.​—Compare James 1:21.

As to people unwilling to put on this new personality, can fault be found with God for barring them from life in his coming Paradise? Hardly. Anyone who still had polluting tendencies tucked away in his heart or mind would threaten the restored paradisaic beauty of planet Earth, much to the sorrow of those who desire to maintain it. God’s decision “to bring to ruin those ruining the earth” is both righteous and loving.​—Revelation 11:18; 21:8.

Active Participation?

Does this mean, however, that Christians are required to promote antipollution or clean-up measures?

Pollution is clearly detrimental to health and public safety. Jehovah has appropriate concern about such matters, as we can see from the laws that he gave the Israelites. (Exodus 21:28-34; Deuteronomy 22:8; 23:12-14) But at no time did he direct them to proselytize other peoples on matters of public safety; nor were first-century Christians ever told to do so.

Today, environmental matters can easily become political issues. In fact, some political parties have been formed specifically for the purpose of solving environmental problems. A Christian who lets himself be polarized along political lines is no longer politically neutral. Jesus laid down for his disciples the principle: “They are no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world.” A Christian who disregards that requirement runs the danger of becoming aligned with “the rulers of this system of things, who are to come to nothing.”​—John 17:16; 1 Corinthians 2:6.

Jesus did not try to solve all the social problems of his day; nor did he tell his disciples to do so. His command to them was: “Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them . . . , teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you.” He did not command them about environmental policies.​—Matthew 28:19, 20.

Explaining what should have priority in a Christian’s life, Christ said: “Keep on, then, seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness.” (Matthew 6:33) When Jehovah, by means of the Messianic Kingdom, enforces his righteous principles on a global scale, environmental problems will be solved permanently and to the satisfaction of all.

Thus, Jehovah’s Witnesses take a balanced position. In view of Romans 13:1-7, it is mandatory that they conscientiously obey governmental laws regulating the environment. In addition, godly love of neighbor moves them to show respect for the property of others​—public or private—​by not disfiguring it and by not discarding waste indiscriminately. But they are clearly not directed to take the lead in worldly clean-up measures. They rightfully put preaching the message of God’s Kingdom first, realizing that this is the way to do the most lasting good.

A Spiritual Cleanup

The ancient Israelites were repeatedly warned of the consequences if they polluted the earth by shedding blood, by adopting an immoral life-style, or by showing disrespect for sacred things. (Numbers 35:33; Jeremiah 3:1, 2; Malachi 1:7, 8) Significantly, they were condemned for this spiritual pollution, not for any physical pollution of which they may also have been guilty.b

It is, therefore, spiritual pollution or uncleanness that a Christian today primarily strives to avoid. This he does by putting on “the new personality,” which roots out polluting tendencies from heart and mind. Over four million of Jehovah’s Witnesses are benefiting from this spiritual cleanup, achieving within their ranks religious and moral cleanness, as well as notable physical cleanness.​—Ephesians 4:22-24.

Today is the time for a spiritual clean-up campaign. A physical clean-up campaign earth wide will follow in due time and will save our home from becoming a global garbage dump by giving it the pollution-free environment it deserves.​—Ecclesiastes 3:1.

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