{"id":707,"date":"2017-12-06T11:04:05","date_gmt":"2017-12-06T11:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ifesworld.org\/conexion\/a-climate-for-change\/"},"modified":"2019-05-20T12:55:35","modified_gmt":"2019-05-20T12:55:35","slug":"a-climate-for-change","status":"publish","type":"conexion","link":"https:\/\/ifesworld.org\/en\/blog\/a-climate-for-change\/","title":{"rendered":"A climate for change"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4>Responding to climate action opposition<\/h4>\n<p>Climate change polarises Christians. Many are passionate about minimising its harmful impacts on the poor and on God\u2019s groaning creation. I was in Paris in late 2015 for the COP21 Climate talks, praying and campaigning along with colleagues from A Rocha, Tearfund, the Lausanne Movement and the World Evangelical Alliance. Yet, less than a year later, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/fact-tank\/2017\/04\/26\/among-white-evangelicals-regular-churchgoers-are-the-most-supportive-of-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">75% of US white evangelicals<\/a> elected a President who has called climate change a Chinese hoax and has now withdrawn the USA from the Paris agreement.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/265895292191248385?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 6, 2012<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Professor Katharine Hayhoe, a leading climate scientist who has been listed as one of TIME\u2019s 100 Most Influential People and Fortune\u2019s 50 World\u2019s Greatest Leaders, is also an evangelical pastor\u2019s wife and spends much of her time explaining climate science to sceptical Christian audiences. She was in London recently to give the annual John Stott London Lecture, and told The Guardian: \u201cOh, I\u2019ve been called\u00a0\u2026 some really disgusting stuff. Most of it is just hateful, hateful language, a lot of it anonymous.\u201d If you want to read more about Katharine\u2019s work, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texasmonthly.com\/articles\/katharine-hayhoe-lubbock-climate-change-evangelist\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u2019s an excellent article from Texas Monthly<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>So, why does climate change action divide Christians? Why do some believe it is a dangerous distraction whilst others see it as a crucial moral issue? Why do so many more simply ignore it as irrelevant to their faith and daily lives?<\/p>\n<p>In the end it\u2019s about theology. Is Christianity a purely spiritual battle or does it impact how we treat the earth and the poorest? Which matters more to God, economic growth or justice and the integrity of God\u2019s creation? What biblical themes and passages have relevance to an issue that simply wasn\u2019t in the thinking of people in biblical times? In the rest of this article I want to look some questions often raised by Christians who oppose involvement in climate action.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Isn\u2019t it humanist arrogance to think we could have changed the\u00a0climate?<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Ironically, the opposite is true! Biblical prophets saw a clear and direct link between human sin and environmental chaos. Hosea 4:1\u20133 is one of several passages that speak of climatic change leading to collapsing harvests and wildlife extinctions when God\u2019s people\u2019s fail to keep God\u2019s laws.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThere is no faithfulness, no love,<br \/>\nno acknowledgment of God in the land. [\u2026]<br \/>\nBecause of this the land dries up,<br \/>\nand all who live in it waste away;<br \/>\nthe beasts of the field, the birds in the sky<br \/>\nand the fish in the sea are swept away.\u201d Hosea 4:1b,3,\u00a0NIV<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It was the secular thinking of Bacon, Descartes and the Enlightenment which separated the spheres of nature and culture, and placed humanity above and separate from nature. Today we need to recover the biblical worldview that humanity and the earth\u2019s systems are deeply interconnected and interdependent.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-caption\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ifesworld.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/0ef00-185yalvpejl1fdoijzli8hg.jpeg\" data-width=\"3915\" data-height=\"1772\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"> by <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/LzwNq8DVQzs?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Willian Justen de Vasconcellos<\/a> on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h4>Can we trust\u00a0science?<\/h4>\n<p>There\u2019s a strong correlation between Christian scepticism of climate science and rejection of \u2018mainstream\u2019 science on issues such as evolution. Yet, committed Bible-believing Christians including Katharine Hayhoe and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/John_T._Houghton\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sir John Houghton<\/a> are leading climate scientists. Science, carried out honestly, carefully, and with peer review is a friend, not an enemy, of biblical faith. It is simply thinking God\u2019s thoughts after him, as Johannes Kepler observed. The first scientist was Adam, who in naming the creatures exercised the curiosity, discernment and careful classification essential to the scientific method. Every single national scientific academy accepts the global consensus that burning fossil fuels is adversely affecting the global climate.<\/p>\n<h4>Isn\u2019t the climate God\u2019s problem, not\u00a0ours?<\/h4>\n<p>Some argue that since Jesus\u200a\u2014\u200anot the disciples\u200a\u2014\u200acalmed the storm (Mark 4:35\u201341) all our climate action is pointless: We should pray and leave it to God! Yet, whilst human action won\u2019t save the planet, God chooses to work through people. God\u2019s saving plans in the climate catastrophe of Noah\u2019s flood involved human action. As those called to reflect God\u2019s image we\u2019re tasked to reflect God\u2019s character in servant leadership (\u2018dominion\u2019) towards the earth and its creatures. Romans 8:19 reminds us that creation is waiting for God\u2019s children to be revealed\u200a\u2014\u200ain other words for the Church to stand up and take action. Both climate scepticism and the more widespread apathy and inaction in many churches, are denials of our biblical call to serve and preserve the goodness of God\u2019s world.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. Romans 8:19,\u00a0NIV<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h4>Is the UN climate process part of an anti-Christian conspiracy?<\/h4>\n<p>Some allege an occult elite is behind the UN\u2019s climate process. They\u2019re right that climate change is a spiritual battle but they\u2019re wrong about the enemy. As the many Christians involved in the UN will affirm, there is no secret agenda. The dangerous spiritual forces that Jesus repeatedly warned about\u200a\u2014\u200aaddiction to greed and wealth\u200a\u2014\u200aare at work in the lies that protect powerful vested interests in fossil fuels, polluting industry, and unbridled consumerism. Political leaders need our prayers for God\u2019s Spirit to break through the deadlock and for climate action that will reduce rising temperature, address climate injustice, and serve and preserve the creatures God declared \u2018very good\u2019 in Genesis 1:31.<\/p>\n<h4>Respond<\/h4>\n<p>So, as Christian students what can we do? Three things: pray, study, act! Pray for God to give you his heart that groans with the groaning of creation (Romans 8:18\u201328). Study the Bible\u2019s teaching on caring for creation\u200a\u2014\u200amy book <a href=\"http:\/\/www.arocha.org\/en\/resources\/planetwise\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Planetwise<\/a> may be a useful start\u200a\u2014\u200aand study the facts on climate change and its impacts. Then, take action. That might involve writing to politicians, campaigning, volunteering with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.arocha.org\/en\/volunteer-form\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">A Rocha<\/a>, and making changes to reflect the Lordship of Jesus in your own lifestyle.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.arocha.org\/en\/people\/dave-bookless\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Dave Bookless<\/strong><\/a><strong>, <\/strong><em>Director of Theology, A Rocha<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":538,"template":"","area":[],"theme":[],"class_list":["post-707","conexion","type-conexion","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A climate for change &#183; IFES Conexi\u00f3n Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Responding to climate action opposition Climate change polarises Christians. 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