I might seem to be wanting to stop climate change and wanting to bring heaven on earth, but that's not really what I believe. So I would like to explain.
I urge people to take climate change seriously and change our lifestyles so as to reduce it. Especially God's people. It became clear to me as I read your letter that what I am really concerned with is not that climate change is happening, but with why it is happening; not with trying to prevent it, but with changing our hearts.
What really concerns me is our selfishness, our worship of convenience and pleasure rather than of God, and our refusal to take responsibility for that which God placed in our care. We are like the evil shepherds of Ezekiel 34 who drank the milk, clothed themselves with the wool and ate the choicest sheep, but did not heal the sick, tend the lame, seek the lost, but with force and harshness ruled the sheep. "So," says God, "I will destroy you evil shepherds."
What really concerns me is that those who bear Christ's Name before the rest of the world ('Christians') seem to be those who are most tied up with their own selfish pleasures. They might be 'spiritual' pleasures of feeling forgiven and feeling good about God, but they are selfish pleasures nonetheless. What really concerns me is that this dishonours the Name of Christ before the rest of the world - so that people turn away from Him on the grounds that the people who bear his Name are those whose lifestyles are destroying the earth.
What concerns me is attitude. The attitude of care towards the rest of creation is better than an attitude of squandering it without care - and yet those who bear Christ's Name tend to be the latter while many of the former are those who do not bear Christ's Name. Of course, not everyone who bears Christ's Name is like that, but I am appalled by the selfish stubbornness of those who say "Well, when Christ comes again, the earth will all be burned up so why bother caring for it; all we should do is pray and worship, and look forward to our deliverance." And people see that and turn away from the Saviour of the World on their account. *That* is my concern.
Am I trying to bring heaven on earth? No, and yet yes.
Let me explain the 'yes' first. Maybe not heaven itself, but rather God's kingdom. When God created the heavens and the earth he gave part of his creation (humans) the inestimable privilege of representing him and his self-giving love to the rest of creation (which includes other humans). Before we turned away from him this was something akin to his kingdom here on earth: God's rule was acknowledged and was real. But we did turn away, and wanted to establish our own kingdom here. God acted to save us and his whole creation, but not just in a way that 'rescues' us 'out' of the mess. Rather, he does so in a threefold salvation described in Romans 8:
This threefold salvation restores our Creation Mandate. As we repent and let Christ rule in our hearts, we begin, here on earth, to let the Holy Spirit change our lifestyles and attitudes, orientated to Christ rather than to ourselves. And by the power of the Holy Spirit we work and act differently, with power. We become, as Paul put it, "workers together with God".
This 'work' involves "going into the whole world, teach them to obey all I have taught you" [the Great Commission as Jesus Christ gave it]. But "all I have taught you" is more than the explictly recorded sayings of Jesus. It includes the attitude and heart of Jesus. Thus, for example, William Wilferforce said "God has set before me two great objects: the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners [which word meant 'attitudes' in those days]"
This is the 'yes' to bringing heaven on earth. The Lord's Prayer echoes this:
May your holy Name be honoured
May your kingdom come
May your will be done
On earth as in heaven.
All three 'on earth as in heaven'. Salt and light.
However, I also answer 'No': heaven will never come on earth. This is not just because of the presence of sin, evil and the evil powers you talk about, but because it was not God's plan. Rather, this life is a preparation for the next. That we see through a glass darkly, suggests that we see truly but not fully.
I might be wrong (and most of church teaching through the past 1500 years would gainsay me) but I believe in Continuation. That is, (something of) what we do here and now continues through into the next life, into eternal life. Except that what inhabits that land is a fuller, glorified version of what inhabits this. For example, the healing-tree at the end of [the book of] Revelation bears fruit not once a year but 12 times a year, and its leaves are not merely to photosynthesize but to provide healing for the nations. What we do here and now will survive and continue, refined, into the eternal life with God.
However, not all that inhabits this land will continue into the next. We will go through fire, not to be destroyed but so that what we have built with gold, silver and precious stones will survive and will be freed from the dross, the stuff that we have built (with hay and stubble) which is valueless and a distraction [I Corinthians 3].
It is my belief that the abolition of slave trade is a building-of-gold that was for the time of the late 1700s. Sceptics warned that getting rid of the slave trade would ruin the economy; in fact the reverse happened and the British economy flourished after that. I believe that abolition of the slave trade will continue through into eternal life: there will be no slave trade there, even though the Bible does not explicitly condemn slavery, because it is a building-of-gold that continues through. It is of gold because it reflects the heart of God and was forged out of repentance, faith and 20 years' of painful struggle.
A few days before he died (and before the slave trade had been abolished) John Wesley penned the following letter to William Wilberforce:
"Dear Sir, Unless the divine power has raised you up to be as Athanasius contra mundum, I see not how you can go through your glorious enterprise in opposing that execrable villainy which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature. Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? O be not weary of well doing! Go on, in the name of God and in the power of his might, till even American slavery (the vilest that ever saw the sun) shall vanish away before it."
[For more, see my tablular comparison of the conditions Wilberforce faced with those we face today as we are challenged to change our lifestyles towards environmental responsibility and climate change.]
However, I believe that God does reward here and now in this life what we do in repentance and faith boldly for him. But we cannot see ahead to how God would reward us. Rather, we repent and act in faith with a willingness to lose what we thought was valuable, with the attitude which Fox expressed "If the colonies cannot be cultivated without it [slave trade] they ought not to be cultivated at all." Then we find that God - to our surprise - not only restores what was truly valuable but does so in a new and even more glorious way. Here and now, not only in eternal life.
That was the late 1700s. Today is different, with a different call to repentance and a different call to bold action in faith: we should repent of our irresponsible attitude towards the rest of God's creation, and act in faith to rectify the damage we have caused, as far as we can. Our acting of faith in today's situation is to change our lifestyles to ones that no longer damage the planet. In doing so, we must face the possibility of losing the conveniences and pleasures we have become used to. And we might even risk damaging the global economy.
It is possible that, if we repent and act, God will avert climate change, or at least lessen its impact on the poor and needy of the world. It is also possible that with our lower standard of living (fewer cars, less electricity, etc.) he will bless the world's economy in ways we cannot conceive of. But we repent and act on climate change, not hoping that God will avert climate change and bless our economy, but being ready to lose the conveniences and pleasures we currently enjoy, because it is simply *right* to do so. Because it is our loving duty to show the attitude and love of Christ that sets no store on our own possessions and conveniences.
Then, whether God averts climate change or not is his sovereign, loving choice. He averted the threatened collapse of the British economy predicted by Wilberforce's enemies. But whether he does avert climate change or not is not the point. The point is that we have repented, acted in faith for Christ, and thus built in gold rather than in hay and stubble. My work for averting climate change might be blessed by God to avert it here and now, but the deepest reason I do so is because it is building-with-gold, for something that will remain and shine in the eternal life with God. (And not for my own glory but so that there will be a blessing brought into the eternal life which cause all the angels to marvel at God's wisdom and love.)
John says "I might be wrong, though, I honestly don't feel I am." I respect that - a statement of true humility that is not modesty. However, I feel exactly the same: I might be wrong, though, I honestly don't feel I am.
I believe that what John has said about climate change does not disagree with what I believe about it. But I don't mind whether we agree or disagree, as long as you both pray for me in the way you believe is right. For example, I don't mind if you ask God to change my way of thinking. If my way of thinking is not of God, then I *want* it to be changed. Even if it costs me my pride. Because if it is not of God then it is a building-of-stubble and not -of-gold.
This page, "http://abxn.org/climate.change.html" is part of Andrew Basden's abxn.org pages - pages that open up discussion and exploration from a Christian ('xn') perspective. Written on the Amiga with Protext, in the style of classic HTML.
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Created: 1 January 2009. Last updated: 21 April 2014 removed ../, better title. 16 Nov 2024 canon, bgc, new .end,.nav to rid u-net.