Climate Change Who Done It

I want to post this because I think this thesis is worth considering. On the other hand, I will tell you right now that some of Ron's conclusions I do NOT agree with at all. I will post a response to them later. The basis of my response regarding responsibility is that we have less than we think physically and more spiritually than is readily seen. This is a two pronged response in responsibility. It is arrogance to think we can affect the global climate by what we do or don't do. We are peanuts, all six billion of us together are peanuts compared to the bulk of life on the earth flora and fauna; compared to the global ecosystemic weather patterns. We are insignificant in cause or cure. While it's good personal stewardship to live a fasted lifestyle, it's folly to believe it matters at all in a physical sense. Of course it matters in a spiritual sense and God is sensitive to all that. But, more later.

Ron McKenzie and his Global Warming Climate Change Responsibility. His words follow:



I have shown that global climate change was prophesied in the book of Revelation. This will lead some readers to conclude that they are not responsible and do not need to worry about the problem. However, the fact that global climate change fits with of God's purposes on earth does not absolve us for from responsibility. The opposite is true. The book of Revelation describes global climate change as a judgment upon human action. Climate change is not part of God's perfect plan; it is his response to irresponsible human behaviour on earth.

God created mankind to be steward over this earth, after saying:

Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth (Gen 1:28).

Humans are responsible for everything that goes wrong on this earth, so we are responsible for global climate change. We have either caused it directly by our behaviour on earth, or God has to allow it as a judgment to turn us back to his ways. Either way we are responsible.

When God brings judgment on human action, he generally does not need to initiate the judgement. Usually the judgment is just the natural outworking of wrong choices and actions. The reality is that when we reject God's way, things go wrong. I suspect that global climate change is the natural consequence of human disobedience to God.

What human disobedience causes God to allow a judgment that does so much harm to the earth? The events described in Revelation are caused by three main sins. Firstly, the church is lukewarm and lacking in zeal (Rev 2,3). This translates into a variety of false religions and idolatry. Secondly, human rebellion manifests itself through enormous growth in political power. The people of the world reject the kingdom of God and choose to build the kingdom of man. The kingdom of man eventually morphs into a world empire.

The third area of disobedience that brings the judgment described in Revelation is a lifestyle that uses the earth that God placed in our care as a tool for human pleasure. God gave us dominion over the earth, so we could work with him to establish and expand his kingdom throughout this earth. Instead of accepting this challenge, we have used the earth for human plans and pleasure.

The events described in the book of Revelation happen during a time when consumerism is rampant and global trade is important to sustain it. Here is a paraphrase of parts of Revelation 18.

The people glorified themselves and lived luxuriously. The merchants of the earth became rich through the abundance of their comfort. They produced consumer goods that you would not dream about: gold and silver, designer jewellery, stylish clothing, delicate and delicious foods, fashionable furniture, trendy electronics, opulent cars, magnificent SUVs, air travel, exclusive holidays. Some merchants even trafficked in human lives.

People are dressed in the latest fashions and adorned with the finest jewellery. They dine in delicate and delectable luxury.

This passage is a good description of life in our part of the world over the past century. This lifestyle was not part of God's plan, but is the outworking of life without him.

Materialism and consumerism are the sins that bring the judgment of global climate change to the earth. In a sense the meteorologists are right in saying that human lifestyles have had a negative effect on the world that God has entrusted to us. Their only mistake is in not tracing this behaviour back to rejection of God.

When people turn away from God, they start to live for the present. Without God, the eternal dimension to life disappears and people focus on what they can get now. This is one reason why the modern world is so obsessed with consuming more and more stuff. Paul made this clear when writing about life after death.

If the dead are not raised,

"Let us eat and drink,

for tomorrow we die (1 Cor 15:32).

Putting it another way, if there is no God, the future is uncertain, so we might as well party now. The modern world understands Paul's message very well. It has got on with eating and drinking and consuming as if there were no tomorrow. To sustain these high levels of consumption, we have used up more than half of the oil in the world in less than a century. Very little thought has been given to leaving an inheritance to our children.

Consumerism is a natural response for those who have no God. The strange thing is that Christians have joined the party with almost as much zeal. In terms of possessions and consumer behaviour, Christians in the west are almost indistinguishable from those who have no faith in God. Maybe this is partly the consequence of the lukewarmness described towards the beginning of the book of Revelation.

I suspect that a "Jesus-is coming-at-any-moment theology" has also sucked Christians into a negative attitude towards this earth. We have become so obsessed with heaven and escape from this world, that we have forgotten that God might have a longer term purpose for this earth. As we have lost the vision for the Kingdom of God, we have also forgotten our responsibility to be stewards of God's earth.

Well, there is one thing we must not do. Looking to governments to solve the eliminate climate change is a mistake. The will have a good go at building a tower of Babel, but will fail in their objectives. A core purpose of the book of Revelation is to condemn the increasing the power of the state. Therefore, trusting government organisations or international organisations to deal with global climate change is just swapping one sin for another.

The biblical response to judgment is repentance. The Christian response to a warning of judgement should be a change of lifestyle. If we have joined in the binge of consumption that has swept the western world, we need to change to a simpler lifestyle. In every aspect of the way we live, we should start acting as good stewards of the earth that God has entrusted to us. That will change many of the decisions we make about what we use and consume.

For example, Christians have debated the issue of what vehicle Jesus would drive. This is the wrong question. We should be asking what will advance the Kingdom of God. “Do I need a motor vehicle to advance the kingdom of God?” “Do I need and SUV to advance the Kingdom of God or to steward the part of the earth for which I am responsible” “Do I need a V8 grunter to advance the Kingdom of God?"

I can’t say how other people need to change their lifestyle. I do know that the Holy Spirit is constantly showing me how I need to change the way I live.