The Bible and Climate Change
OK, for those who were not so keen on my recent post on Republican Congressman John Shimkus and climate change, here is a cross post by Professor James McGrath of Exploring our Matrix, to redress the balance:
That is wrong on so many levels.
Rep. Shimkus said, “The earth will end only when God declares it’s time to be over. Man will not destroy this earth.”
Biblical prophecy, even understanding it within its own Biblical and contextual framework, consistently warns of future disaster so that people may change their ways and avoid the judgment that has been foretold. To suggest that human misbehavior can never have dire consequences because of Biblical predictions seems, even if one were to approach this from a conservative Evangelical perspective, to fundamentally misunderstand the nature of prophecy in the Bible.
Moreover, teaching the Book of Revelation this semester, I’ve also noticed some verses that surprisingly never get mentioned by Christian deniers of global warming. Revelation 16:8 says “The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was given power to scorch people with fire.” And Revelation 11:18 says “The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great–and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”
And so, if conservatives were inclined to look for Biblical texts that might warn of global warning, and punishment for those who harm the Earth, they could find such passages. And so this is just one more in the long list of examples illustrating that there are no Biblical literalists in any meaningful sense, nor anyone who is “Biblical” in the sense that they manage to take seriously all that the Bible says.
Rep. Shimkus may sincerely mean it when he says “I do believe that God’s word is infallible, unchanging, perfect.” But sincerity is not enough. Saying you believe this, and using the Bible selectively to support an agenda that conveniently allows you to maintain a particular way of life to which we’ve become accustomed, doesn’t seem to be treating the Bible with the respect Shimkus claims that it deserves.
November 12th, 2010 at 10:12 am
Are you aware that I am changing job to work on an ecumenical climate change programme? Part of this will be finding ways to encourage more conservative churches to take the issue seriously and reduce their own carbon footprints. I don’t start till mid December. You will be pleased to know that its endorsed by the RC Church and most other mainstream denominations.
November 12th, 2010 at 10:14 am
Ah, no I didn’t know Gordon. Sounds fascinating I look forward to hearing more….
November 12th, 2010 at 10:50 am
Ecumenical climate change programme?
A look at the agenda or mission statement would be amusing, sounds more like a political distraction campaign straight from the desk of MI5.