Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Rev. Dr Peter Walker, Principal of United Theological College, thinks emitting industrial CO2 is sinful. But Jesus told us we must take care of the poor – and there is no greater tool for alleviating poverty than industrialisation and economic development.
RESURRECTING SIN TO ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE
Recent infernos in California and floods in Germany remind us that climate change is a global drama which may end in utter tragedy for the whole creation if we do not act. Just as when a finger bumps a spinning top from its perfect rhythm, and the rotating toy then teeters out-of-balance before finding a new equilibrium or collapsing, the Earth System has been bumped out of balance. And not by accident, but by a willing, decision-making species. That’s us. Earth System Science tells us this planet is finely tuned, yet one species has been serving its own needs to such an extent that the cost to everything else has become intolerable. And it is showing.
…
As strange as the language of Christian theology may seem in the public square today, the human-induced climate emergency, brought about by our selfish abuse of the planet, surely requires a resurrection of the language of sin. There was speculation in early 2020 that Pope Francis might name humanity’s abuse of the Earth as sinful in his statement on the plight of the Amazon. He did not. In Querida Amazonia (Beloved Amazon), Pope Francis did denounce the unrestrained industrial destruction, saying “The businesses, national or international, which harm the Amazon and fail to respect the right of the original peoples to the land and its boundaries, and to self-determination and prior consent, should be called for what they are: injustice and crime.” That language of “injustice and crime” is powerful, yet it is not the most inherently powerful language available to Christian leaders.
The abuse of the Earth is a sin. The climate emergency has come about because of our sinfulness. It is a sign, and may prove the most telling of all signs, of our universal gone-wrongness, and of the fact that humanity has turned in upon itself. Calling people to prayer for the planet without naming the sin that makes those prayers and global action to save the planet essential is a profound moral and theological failure.
Rev. Dr Peter Walker, Principal of United Theological College
Read more: https://www.insights.uca.org.au/resurrecting-sin-to-address-climate-change/
What about the sin of denying food and clothing to the poor?
Matthew 25:34-36 tells us “Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’”
What will the King say to those whom, however well meaning, would rip away today’s abundance of food, clothing and medicine?
Dr Walker, I have no doubt you mean well. But seeking to tear down the keystone of our age of abundance is a direct attack on the reliable supply of food, clothing and clean water to the poor. How do you reconcile your attack on our age of industrial abundance with the Gospel of Matthew?
Only cheap energy and industrial civilisation can deliver the abundance we all too often take for granted, the abundance which has fed and clothed more poor people, and healed more sick people, than anything mankind has ever previously attempted.
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Blind leading the blind. It’s getting to the point that climate change True Believers ignore the reality around them and just go with the propaganda, throwing the widows and orphans under the bus. The poor will be affected the most when everything jumps in price from energy costing a lot more.
Big obvious poker tell here. Parishioners have been declining in numbers and the Christian churches are under constant attack and marginalization by designer-brained wokies. The Catholic Church got onside early because the Marxy Sparxy Pope also hoped to revive his church.
The spiritual leaders observed that supporters of climate change tended to get rewarded handsomely and resisters were pilloried, lost their jobs, and no end of misery.
Did they not see the climate meme was a new competitor for ‘useful souls? Perhaps not, but it was a huge movement that they wanted to add to save their religions.
If it is punishment, it’s not for burning carbon fuels, Revelation16:8,9.
8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun, and it was given to it to scorch men with fire. 9 Men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory.
America has fixed our mistakes of the past, is fixing those occurring now and will be diligent to keep an eye open for future problems. The earth’s ecosystem is not as fragile as claimed. In my opinion only a massive battle using atomic bombs can ruin this earth. Incidents like Chernobyl or Fukushima are destructive locally and remind us to not get sloppy. CO2 is not an issue for the climate.
That glorious combination of fundamentalism paired with stupidity and/or wanton ignorance. Sign of the times sadly
I have a degree in Theology.
(A small one, small enough that I’m thankful it’s not common to add it to end of one’s name. With my tendency toward typos, I’d probably end up saying I was an “Ass. of Theology.)
However, I prefer to strive to be one who, as in Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. KJV
(Yes, I have a long way to go.)
Someone once asked Jesus this question:
Matthew 22:35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. KJV
No mention of saving the whales or the planet.
PS Here’s a reference to what anyone who supposes to speak for God should be preaching:
Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. KJV
(“to the Jew first, and also to the Greek”? The Jews were the first to hear it. Then the “Gentiles”, the rest of us. Luke 24:46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. KJV)
It’s not the bible I have issues with, it’s the bible bashers!
Ie.
American evangelicalism.
5000 miles wide and 1 inch deep.
Seems to me the Australian version is even shallower!
We have a perfect example of this in a local town in the Baltic states, –
announces opening a “bible college” sponsored with yankee money, for all the empty derelict USSR made buildings to great fanfares, co-opts all local people to clear up the mess and start the project, while renovating flats, then unable to pay the bills, paying the locals peanuts or for free…(nothing like volunteer stuff eh?!)
Runs out of dosh while doing courses to indoctrinate the kids.
What more could you want?
Some of us actually have to WORK to pay the bills, instead of living off other people’s hard earned cash.
It hasn’t been easy, the last 2 years, so reading some sanctimonious pulpit jerks lecturing us all, how to justify Van der LAMER proposals to double my electricity bills goes down really great!
The Bible does speak of wolves in sheep’s’ clothing.
It also speaks of those preaching another gospel which is not really The Gospel.
The Gospel is about Man’s rebellion against God and a Just but Loving God’s solution to the mess Man got himself into, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Accept God’s solution, you’re saved by grace (we don’t deserve it). Don’t accept it, you’re not. Your choice.
To preach anything else as a way to God or a work or “our responsibility to the Planet”, is preaching a different gospel.
How do you tell the difference? Look into The Word itself.
“How do you reconcile your attack on our age of industrial abundance with the Gospel of Matthew?” – article
He doesn’t have to justify it, Eric Worrall. He’s an arrogant ass, up there above it all in Cloud Land while the rest of us peons are down here, mired in mud and wondering what it would take to yank him off his Cloud Throne and roll him around in the mud.
Arrogance and pride are essentially the same thing, ergo, Arrogance Goeth Before A Fall.
What a dorkwad!!!!
another nobody
making nonsense claims
but doesn’t understand he is actually making it harder for the poor not better
someone in the UK blamed flooding in Somerset in 2014 on sin…
Was it you, or one of your demented
friendsfiends ??Study just who is the “the god of his world (age)” and get back with me.
(You might want to start with Luke 4:6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.
Climate change is everybody’s favorite movement. To environmentalists it’s environmentalism, to the population bomb guys it’s the population bomb all over again, and to the religious it is religion. The common denominator is fear. People need something to fear.
https://tambonthongchai.com/2020/10/21/climate-change-and-religion/
He could begin to atone by turning off his air conditioning and stop using machinery to do his laundry.
There’s a special little room in Hell for guys like this.
IF Hell exists, of course. I mean, if it doesn’t exist, then there would be no special little room in it. It would only be an imaginary projection of a mind who believes in Hell, and who also believes in CO2 caused climate change, the silliest thing in which a normal, thinking human being could possibly believe.
So breathing must be sinful. No wonder the Uniting Church is losing member.
Stopped reading the above article by Rev. Dr Peter Walker after hitting this in his first paragraph:
“Earth System Science tells us this planet is finely tuned, yet one species has been serving its own needs to such an extent that the cost to everything else has become intolerable.”
What paleoclimatology science tells us is that the Earth has naturally experienced five major Ice Ages, and we are currently in the one known as the Quarternary. The previous three Ice Ages have had durations ranging from 40 to 100 million years.
In addition, paleoclimatology science tells us that within Ice Ages there are cyclic periods of relative cold (known as “glacials” or “stadials”) and periods of relative warmth (known as “interglacials” or “interstadials”), with the period of the last nine such full cycles averaging to be about 100,000 years.
This data contradicts the claim that “this planet is finely tuned”.
To give but one example to put this into perspective, just 21,000 years ago, the Chicago area was under 3000 feet of glacial ice, but in June-July 2021 there were major news stories about heat waves in Chicago (as well as other cities across the US).
To re-phrase the above quote from Rev. Dr Peter Walker,
“The cost to humanity to survive a natural glacial period would be intolerable. If it’s not just pure luck, mankind should give thanks to God that the current interglacial interval enabled us to become civilized.”
Rev Walkers statement that “everything else (or anything) has become intolerable” is also a heck of an exaggeration (lie).
Since the Lone Ranger is out of the picture I guess Biden is the only answer left. What a country.
Christ people are stupid. I thought we had got rid of all this sky fairy crap ages ago, but it keeps coming back.
If co2 is sinful, the good reverend must cease breathing forthwith.
The abuse of the Earth is a sin. The climate emergency has come about because of our sinfulness. It is a sign, and may prove the most telling of all signs, of our universal gone-wrongness, and of the fact that humanity has turned in upon itself. Calling people to prayer for the planet without naming the sin that makes those prayers and global action to save the planet essential is a profound moral and theological failure.
I don’t remember seeing this in the Bible .
In the Bible, Genesis 8:22
The promise of the rainbow is where God promised that
While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Any who profess to believe in God and believe He keeps His promises won’t be on the AGW bandwagon.
There is still a rainbow after the rain when the sun comes out.
There is still summer and winter, there is still cold and heat,
I chose to believe God over deluded charlatans who have rarely been accurate in any predictions.
God’s predictions always happen, 100 times out of 100.
And will continue to do so.