The Monday Hum: Evangeligreenies?
…No, I don’t mean what you might find up the nose of a Christian with a cold.
TheBereanCall.org’s radio program, Search the Scriptures Daily, quotes an Orlando Sentinel article from Feb 22/08 on evangelicals and global warming:
“Global warming is an offense against God….America needs our biblical outrage….we as a nation will face a judgment from God if we don’t do this.”
– Rev. Richard Cizik, National Association of Evangelicals’ vice-president of governmental affairs
Cizik has been covered by enviro mag Grist, the Washington Post, PBS’s Religion & Ethics Newsweekly and Christianity Today for his opinions on global warming. Other major evangelical leaders, including James Dobson, have called for him to be silenced or fired for his stance on the climate change controversy. According to a quote referenced by Christianity Today, Jerry Falwell brands it “be[ing] duped by these ‘earthism’ worshippers.”
To Grist, Cizik gave his justification for prophesying God’s doom on America for polluting: “The Bible clearly says in Revelation 11:18 that ‘God will destroy those who destroy the earth.’”
Also from the Grist interview, here’s the underlying framework shaping Cizik’s beliefs: “The Bible also teaches us that Jesus Christ is not only redeeming his people, but also restoring God’s creation.”
Personally I’m not sure the evidence in the world supports that interpretation of God’s Word.
As the Washington Post puts it, “Cizik has been a leader in efforts to broaden evangelicals’ political agenda beyond abortion and same-sex marriage.”
Here’s the question this raises: Are any of these things a truly evangelical agenda? I’d heard a rumour–maybe it’s old and out of date–that evangelism meant living out and verbally explaining that people are in need of God’s forgiveness for their personal sins, not their carbon credit balance. It’s an internal thing, not an external one.
In my humble opinion, reducing the idea of God’s judgment to one issue–any issue–is bound to appeal to human thinking. We’d all like to think there’s a magic formula to make a perfect, holy God ignore our inward brokenness and our disconnection from His nature. Especially if all it takes to keep Him blessing us (or at least not judging us) is to put a lid on greenhouse gases.
But then, we seem to live in a culture that’s content to treat symptoms, and scared to address causes.
That’s my opinionated opinion for this week.
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Weigh in on global warming and/or Christian Restoration teachings in our comments section.
April 16th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
It’s hard anymore to define what “Evangelical” means. I have about given up trying. So many people have so many meanings and associations with the word it almost just does not mean anything. So, putting aside that rubric, there is a growing sense of concern amongst historic orthodox Christians (Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox) that concern for the glory of God and the good of man must include concern for the health of God’s world. I am certainly one of those, being what many would call an evangelical Protestant. But I am uneasy about Cizik’s position for several reasons. First, assuming he is right on global warming, how does he know America will face judgment from God if we don’t attend to global warming. There are many sins, even environmental one’s that I think might be closer to the front of the line. That’s just empty talk. Just blather. He doesn’t know that. The phrase “destroyers of the earth” in Revelation 11:18 could possibly be, but probably is not, a reference to environmental degradations. However, Israel’s disregard for the land, their failure to give sabbath rest to the lad, was one of the reasons for the time length of their exile. Third, and OK, I expect to get here, but as passionate an environmentalist as I am, I am not convinced on the extent or causes of global warming, and I fear that many very real tangible environmental issues that involve public health and the integrity and beauty of creation are being put aside in all the global warming hoopla. Fourthly, Cizik speaks for himself, only.
We do have reason to believe that the “fall” included the fall of the whole of the created order. And yes, we also affirm and believe in a “new heaven and new earth.” Until this earth is renewed by the events of those days, we have a responsibility to love God and love our neighbor, which means caring for God’s creation for both reasons. And Cizik is right that Christian citizens should care just about abortion and gay marriage. many other issues matter in the ongoing role we have as lovers of God and neighbor, and even as we seek to present the truth of ghe gospel of Jesus Christ. We cannot preach the gospel with integrity to our neighbor if we are killing him with our waste products for example. And pray tell, how many people do you know, when they need retreat, when they need to get away and pray and be with their God, prefer parking lots and freeways and such. We need special places for the sake of God’s glory as their beauty reflect back to him, for the sake of the creatures which God declared to be “good” and which he blessed, and for the sake of our own spirits as we seek to hear God amidst the din of this noisy dirty world.
Joel Gillespie
Greensboro, NC