Global Warming

I read an article today by Stephen Livesay, the president of Bryan College in Tennessee. It is entitled "Global Warming: Does God Have a Plan?" Global warming is certainly a hot topic (pun intended) and it's hard to understand all the angles. I can't say whether Dr. Livesay is entirely correct in what he writes. What impressed me, though, was the way that his worldview informs his perspective on the manner, rather than letting the media furor make his mind up for him. Here are some excerpts from the article . . .

The popular media plant seeds of worry that global warming will melt the ice caps on the poles and produce massive flooding for many of our cities. Yet, God has told us that He has put boundaries on the water. "You clothed the earth with floods of water, water that covered even the mountains. At your command, the water fled . . . . Then you set a firm boundary for the seas, so they would never again cover the earth." Psalm 104:6-9

. . . .

Certainly we should do everything possible to provide and maintain clean water and air and to conserve and use wisely all the earth's resources. To claim, however, that CO2 emissions are the primary cause of global warming and that the effect of global warming is harmful if not devastating to the future of planet earth is not supported by good science and rejects our Creator's activity in sustaining His creation.

. . . .

Many well-intentioned Christians, however, have rushed to embrace the popular deception that environmental stewardship mandates taking immediate and drastic steps to curb greenhouse emissions in order to protect our planet. In the process, we have also embraced a theology that denies God's promises and plans for His creation and have accepted questionable scientific claims that CO2 emissions are the primary culprit of global warming.

. . . .

Global warming and climate change have not taken God by surprise; His creation is not fragile. He built into His creation the ability to adjust to changing conditions that come from internal and external sources. He will not allow this earth to be destroyed until He makes a new heaven and a new earth; that is, until His purposes are fulfilled (Revelation 21:1-3).