Climate change and Biblical fundamentalists

However there is a fundamental flaw in such a fundamental view. Even if the Bible predicts things getting worse and worse towards the “end”…. We have to ask a very real question to ourselves:

 

If the world is destined to get worse and worse and then the end will come, then is it our job as Christians to help make the world a worse and worse place to try to help usher in the end? Or is it our job to get on with the work of spreading love and grace and peace (the Christian message), and seeking to help people in real ways? (That would include fighting climate change as much as possible since climate change will hurt so many people). Personally, I believe the latter. 

 

If the fundamentalist wants to argue from Biblical material, then hold on a second… I am rolling up my sleeves and getting ready for the fight. …

 

OK: According to the Bible, God created the earth and all that is in it. And every time God created a new life form, a new plant, a new animal, the very environment itself, God looked at everything he made - every step of the way - and kept saying "This is good!" (Read Genesis 1). Ok… so it appears that God really loves his creation. He loves the variety of species and the many different types of flora and fauna. He loves the animals that he takes delight in looking at. He loves the trees, the flowers, the mountains, the waterfalls - all of it!

 

Now if we say we share the heart of God and we want what he wants, and we delight in what he delights in.... then what do we do about the destruction of the environment? What should we think about the elimination of so many wonderful species? Do we just sit back and say "It will all burn one day anyway... I may as well get rich out of helping it go in that direction along the way!"? Or do we say: "I will resist that path and do all I can to help preserve the creation, the variety of species, the planet itself.

 

And by resisting that trend, I will help two things in so doing: I will help other humans (who the Bible says are “made in the image of God”) and I will reflect God's own love for the creation at the same time.

 

If Revelation is to be taken as literally as some suggest (really worthy of a whole other discussion)... and some day a third of all plants will die; and a third of all fish will die; etc. then it is still good to stop and pause and think about something else: That same book also talks about wars increasing and hurting and killing many; it talks about famines coming as well. Should we who follow the teachings of the good book, encourage wars and famines because of the prophecy? Or do we still try to show love and be peacemakers in a war torn world? Do we seek to alleviate suffering and poverty? Or do we encourage it (to speed on the final day!)? I would say that even passionate fundamentalists would agree that we must resist evil trends. We won’t want to see more wars and more deaths by starvation. In fact we will do all we can to go in the opposite direction. And the same should be true of the destruction of the environment.

 

Consider Revelation 11:18 (the book that has the vivid prophecies about the end of the world): "The nations were enraged and thy wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged...the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth." God will punish those who destroy the earth. He will not say "well done good and faithful servant!"

 

We have a mandate to care for the creation. To be good stewards of something entrusted to us. To be good managers of someone else’s stuff! If a Bible believing Christian does not want to care for the creation, all I can say is “they don’t seem to be reading the same Bible that I’m reading!”

 

Jim Reiher