Without a respect for life, all life, responsible agrarianism cannot occur. In advocating this respect, I am not condoning the worship of nature. Rather, I am advocating the honor of God who made all things to function in harmonious concert one with another. To advocate vegetarianism, for instance, over omnivorism, is to accuse nature of violating itself -- something it cannot do. Omnivores have no less place in nature than do vegetarians and, by this same concession, neither do carnivores have any less a place in nature than do omnivores. The issue is not one of suitability but of survival. God created nature to sustain itself and, herein, He (not nature) is worthy of our worship and His plan for our survival is worthy of our respect.

 

The watershed of respect for life is that all life has value. The life of plants has value for animals. The life of animals has value for plants. Man has value for both plants and animals and both plants and animals have value for man. God made it this way and wherever we ignore this intrinsic value, nature, as a whole, suffers. And nature is not many, but one. It is comprised of inseparable components whose individual natures contribute meaningfully to the irreducible integrity of the whole.

 

Nature consumes only what it needs to survive with integrity. But herein is the crux of the matter. What does human nature truly "need" to survive and what does it merely crave? Wherever mere craving drives our agrarian ambitions (or any ambition for that matter), something is off-balance and we ought to endeavor to curb our appetites. Where bloodletting and death are unnecessary, vegetarian alternatives ought to be preferred.

 

Now, I like a good steak as well as the next omnivore, but I don't "need" one every day. In fact, if I can get away with steak once or twice a month I count myself lucky. But my attitude toward steak and in favor of life would shift considerably if I had to raise and slaughter my own beef. It is with this attitude of compassion for the labors of animal husbandry, and appreciation for the animals we've raised, that we ought to more judiciously choose the nutritive content of our daily fare.

 

Without a commitment to the conservation of resources, agrarianism can never be anything more than irresponsible. We may claim to esteem life, but by our wasteful lifestyles we are declaring ourselves to be hypocrites. We cannot profess to respect life while wasting the resources that support it. Agrarianism is a life-conserving, life-sustaining occupation and, except with the gravest consideration, it ought not engage in life-risking practices. Therefore, the question naturally ensues, "What are life risking practices?"

 

For an agrarian, whatever does not conserve resources threatens to abuse them and wherever resources are abused, life is eventually threatened. Conservation is not the highest value we pursue, but it is an essential discipline central to all life. If we claim to respect life but fail to conserve the resources that support it, what can we honestly say about ourselves? At the very best, we can only claim ignorance. But more likely we will have to admit to a lack of real conviction.

 

 

 

After espousing a more realistic measure of manhood than that celebrated in the media, Mr. Kimball goes on to say, "A Biblical worldview that ignores the agrarian mandate is unbalanced. Modern Christianity that eschews its fundamental agrarian responsibility is missing the mark. Christian men who neglect their call to be husbandmen are neglecting their responsibility as men of God."

 

 

Without a Biblical agrarian mandate, unrestrained consumerism makes perfect sense. But where a Biblical agrarian mandate is enjoined, the conservation of life and the conservation of resources are synonymous and, ultimately, of equal import. They are two ends of the same stick. If life is not conserved, resources dwindle. If resources dwindle, life fails.

 

Far from condoning the risk of life and limb in order to gain the wealth and benefit of resources, responsible agrarianism requires the judicious application of all resources, human and natural, to minimize the risks to life and limb. Genuine agrarianism always promotes life and, therefore, promotes the conservation of resources. But it is the Biblical agrarian mandate that provides us with the incentive for multi-generational benevolence.