I once had the pleasure of having dinner with an environmental scientist. I asked him how he got into that field, and as it turned out, he was a Christian who had fallen in love with God's creation and wanted to dedicate his life to studying it.
We must have talked for more than an hour about the importance of preserving biodiversity. After dinner, I walked with him out to the parking lot to say goodbye.
As he was unlocking his car, I said "wait a minute, don't you care about air pollution?" He replied, "Yes of course, as a father I am particularly concerned about the effect it could have on my children and grandchildren."
I had to point out, "But you are driving a diesel car!" This got him all in a huff and he started stumbling on about improved gas mileage.
It was clear that he knew there was a contradiction between his beliefs and the car he was driving, but somehow he has kept driving that diesel car as long as I have known him.
This conflict between belief and behavior isn't at all unusual - in fact we see it in God's own people again and again.
In Exodus 32, verses 1-5, the people ask Aaron to make an idol, as Moses has gone up the mountain to talk to God. Aaron gives in and makes a golden calf.
But notice he doesn't stop there. He builds an altar to God in front of the calf.
He tried to let the people worship both God and the calf at the same time! Of course, this didn't
