Thursday, October 18, 2007

Climate Change (14) - Who is Responsible

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.

I am not certain of the direct cause of global warming. It might be our cars, it might be volcanoes, or changing weather patterns, or it might be the work of the evil one. It does not really matter which. God gave us responsibility for the earth, so we are responsible for what happens here.

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.

1 comment:

Steve Scott said...

"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 am convinced that many people, even Christians, don't get this concept. They don't understand the meaning of law. God to them is some whimsical, moody authoritarian who just makes up punishments out of nowhere. Judgment is built-in to creation. No politician would ever engage in the foolish action of trying to repeal the law of gravity, but they try to repeal the laws of economics all the time. And the consequences are destructive.