In response to an article on the Christian Post website this week entitled ‘Vanderbilt professor claims some pro-lifers use Bible to distract from climate change’ the following repost from September 2023 is in order. Christians do gather their information for moral, social, and world issues from the Bible, including ‘Climate Change.’ A link to the article with other claims by the Vanderbilt professor is posted below.
“Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. Such shifts can be natural, due to changes in the sun’s activity or large volcanic eruptions. But since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas……Because the Earth is a system, where everything is connected, changes in one area can influence changes in all others. The consequences of climate change now include, among others, intense droughts, water scarcity, severe fires, rising sea levels, flooding, melting polar ice, catastrophic storms and declining biodiversity.” (1)
The above statement is furnished to us from the ‘United Nations Climate Action’ page. The following are from the pages of the Bible which concurs with the United Nations at least to the effects of climate change. “Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” (Ro.8:20-22 nlt) Scripture confirms the created earth is under the curse of God and it came about after sin entered the paradise of the Garden of Eden. “And to the man he said, ‘Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree
whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.’” (Gen.3:17 nlt) The earth experienced its first ever change of climate during the great flood of Noah’s day, for it had never rained before that time in history. Scripture records for us in Genesis 7:11-12, “When Noah was 600 years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the underground waters erupted from the earth, and the rain fell in mighty torrents from the sky. The rain continued to fall for forty days and forty nights.” (nlt) Waters bursting up from the ground with rain falling from the sky for the first time ever no doubt that is climate change.
The point is climate change is not restricted only to the last 200 years. But the recent noticeable changes cannot be denied. Every individual living on planet earth, especially Christians, has a responsibility to be a good steward of God’s creation for our generation and the generations to come. We are to praise God for His magnificent creation and work to maintain its wondrous beauty as far as it depends on us with what we can do.
The Bible also gives us encouragement that we will not destroy the earth. Our planet will not succumb to our increasing manmade climate change. After the great flood, God told Noah, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” (Gen.8:22 esv) The seasons will not change regardless of our recklessness but will remain. They will remain until the next disastrous climate change effect takes place during the tribulation period described in the book of Revelation. “I watched as the Lamb broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became as dark as black cloth, and the moon became as red as blood. Then the stars of the sky fell to the earth like green figs falling from a tree shaken by a strong wind. The sky was rolled up like a scroll, and all of the mountains and islands were moved from their places.” (Rev.6:12-14 nlt) We can eliminate fossil fuels entirely, but it will not save the planet from sure destruction during the tribulation period.
The earth we know will racially change in the future, but not by us driving our electric vehicles. Jesus Christ will return at the end of the tribulation and established His Kingdom and will rule on earth for a thousand years with Satan bound and cast into the bottomless pit. What will our environment and climate be like, we don’t know. But we do know that Christ, God the Son, will be here on earth ruling, I’m sure the ‘son’ will shine.
The ultimate and final climate change will be at the end of Christ’s thousand-year reign on the earth. Satan will be sent to his eternal final destination, the lake of fire, along with all those whose names were not found written in the book of life. The apostle John writes in Revelation 21:1-4, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, ‘Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever,’” (nlt) and there will be no worries about carbon emissions, fossil fuels and climate change. The climate will no longer change.
(1) https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/what-is-climate-change
Vanderbilt professor claims pro-lifers use Bible to avoid climate | Politics
Word for the Soul 