A theological perspective on climate change

As we know, the current popular opinion concerning our natural environment is that the earth’s atmosphere is warming. This effect is seen as the primary cause of unusual weather patterns such as flooding, disastrous windstorms and drier conditions leading to forest fires. Furthermore, it is commonly held that this trend is the result of carbon emissions resulting from human activity, especially by the use of fossil fuels for energy.

It seems the world is now convinced that a united effort by all nations to counter this trend is not only possible but undeniably necessary. Based on the conclusions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), there is

now a strong political movement to unite the world in order to save the planet.

But I’ve discovered that there is a long list of scientists who keenly challenge this commonly held notion of climate change.

In the first place, they question the accuracy of the findings of the IPCC.

Secondly, they argue that any changes in weather patterns that do occur are simply the result of natural processes, not unlike climate variations that have existed on Earth for centuries.

They accuse the IPCC of being alarmists who are motivated more by political ideas than true science.

From a biblically theological perspective, one can’t help but be more inclined to agree with this minority view of what’s actually occurring in the world and how it’s affecting our environment.

The biblical view begins with the idea that God is the one who created the world (Genesis 1,2) and continues to sustain it year after year and season by season.

After the flood of Noah’s time (circa 2500 BCE), God said to Noah that as long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will not cease.

The overriding declaration of the Bible consistently assigns responsibility for weather patterns in our world to the creator and sustainer of our universe.

After all, for example, he was the one who caused various plagues to descend upon the land of Egypt in the time of Moses (Exodus 7-11) or made the sun and moon to stand still for a full day in reply to Joshua’s prayer (Joshua 10:1214). And he is the one, in Jesus, who calmed the stormy Galilean Sea in answer to the alarm of his disciples (Mark 4:39-41). Even in my own experience, I must confess, I have often seen weather patterns change in response to prayer.

At the same time, biblically speaking, we humans have a responsibility to use Earth’s resources as good stewards or managers of God’s gifts. When God created men and women, he said, fill the Earth and subdue it (Genesis 1:28). In other words, all the world’s resources, including its minerals and precious metals, should be seen as good gifts from God which he intends for our blessing.

Our problem is that we tend to leave God out of the picture, thinking that we ourselves are the creators of our world and the managers of everything that happens in it, including the weather. And in the process, we are also often selfish in the use of the earth’s resources.

When it comes to climate change, perhaps it would be better to take the long view, which a biblically theological perspective is able to substantially provide.