Climate Change: Is This the End?

Introduction

YouTube Video “Sorry”

https://youtu.be/eRLJscAlk1M?si=WQbearMmwty4miCp

The Voices Are Everywhere

This is just one video of thousands on YouTube that speak of an imminent disaster from climate change.

Those under 40 have been greatly impacted.

Many of them have no little or hope.

This is because they have been brought up under the belief that humans are in charge of the future of the planet.

That whether or not there is an earth in the future depends on us.

That if we are to save the planet — we must change our behavior significantly.

And that great, irreversible damage has already been done that will take “hundreds to thousands of years to overcome.”

And that further delay will only increase the magnitude of the cataclysmic catastrophe to come.

No wonder we have so many filled with anxiety and dread.

A CNN report last October (10/11/23) revealed:

Climate change related events and distress are linked to greater risks of anxiety, depression, strained social relationships, and suicide.

It is impacting the way young people make decisions about their career and relationships.

The consequences of extreme weather and climate anxiety affected decision making, impaired cognition, and lower levels of self-control.

“They’re worried about it because they know it’s going to affect their future,”

“How do you plan for the future when you don’t know what the future will look like?”

Adolescents are susceptible to mental health effects – like trauma and anxiety – from climate change-related natural disasters, but they can also be indirectly affected.

Weather events, heat and pollution can disrupt a child’s life: classes might be canceled, their home might be damaged, or they might experience food insecurity.

This is leading some to question having children.

It is said that bringing new life is morally questionable due to unavoidable suffering and harm that comes with existing.

A childfree lifestyle is seen as the responsible and compassionate choice.

More population equals more pollution.

2009 Oregon State Study was published. The premise: A person is responsible for the carbon emissions of their descendants.

Parents are responsible for half of their children’s emissions.

Grandparents are responsible for 1 quarter of their grandchildren’s emissions.

The study coined the phrase “carbon legacy.”

1 child adds 9441 tons of carbon to the atmosphere over their lifetime.

So, the more children one has the more a person contributes to global warming.

2019 - A prominent NY US Representative said:

Basically, there’s a scientific consensus that the lives of children are going to be very difficult. And it does lead, I think, young people to have a legitimate question: Is it OK to still have children?

Jessica Combes, a 39 YO English Teacher told CNBC: “I refuse to bring children into the burning hellscape we call a planet.”

Another 39 YO, Thom James told CNBC: “I had a major depressive episode last year based on existential angst over the world my children would be growing up in.

I’m constantly thinking about when its going to be appropriate to dissuade them from having children of their own, as I think we’re really past the point of no return.”

This really is a part of the cultural reality right now — and those of us who are older must not dismiss it.

Their anxiety and concern is real and we need to acknowledge that.

But we also need to help them see the need for perspective.

The Latest in a Long Progression

Solomon said:

Ecclesiastes 1:9–10 CSB

9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Can one say about anything, “Look, this is new”? It has already existed in the ages before us.

There has always been those who tried to whip the world into a frenzy about the earth’s destruction.

1910 - Haley’s comet.

It was said that the tail of the comet was made of poisonous gas and it’s toxic fumes would cause widespread death.

Some people stuffed towels under their doors and covered keyholes with paper.

1950’s - extraterrestrial invasion.

It was said that aliens from the planet Clarion had beamed down messages that a flood would destroy the planet.

People quit their jobs and sold their belongings in anticipation of hte end.

1960’s - nuclear holocaust.

bomb shelters and “duck n cover”

1970’s - global cooling

It was believed that the earth’s temps had cooled several degrees over the first half of the 20th century.

In the early 70’s newspapers were filled with dire predictions.

2000’s - global warming.

In This Lesson…

Time will not permit an exhaustive look at this matter.

This lesson has nothing to do with politics.

What it does have to do is whether we will choose to live by a biblical worldview.

It is alarming to see how many Christians are getting swept up in basically what is a godless movement.

It is our aim here to look at some Biblical truths on this matter that should reorient our focus back to the fact that God is in control — and that fact alone should put our minds at ease.

We Live on a Cursed Planet

Everything we experience while living on earth is inside of a curse. And it all leads back to the consequences of the first sin - with Adam and Eve.

Sin brings consequences. And it wasn’t just for Adam and Eve and Satan … but the earth itself was cursed.

Genesis 3:17 CSB

17 And he said to the man, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’: The ground is cursed because of you. You will eat from it by means of painful labor all the days of your life.

It was God himself that caused the planet to be corrupted.

And from that we had to learn how to survive in a world far different from the way it was created.

We had to learn how to grow food.

We were subjected to work and toil until our life ends.

The curse brings along with it all sorts of things that never occured before sin.

One of those consequences has to do with weather.

The prevalence of severe storms and rising and falling temperatures is nothing new.

Seasons and fluctuations come and go.

Paul said the whole creation is awaiting redemption:

Romans 8:20–22 CSB

20 For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly, but because of him who subjected it—in the hope 21 that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage to decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now.

The creation groans — not because of what we’ve done to it — but because of what God has done to it.

As long as the earth remains, it will be under a curse.

Earth Exists for Us

God created the earth — it is His responsibility to preserve it.

Exodus 9:29 CSB

29 Moses said to him, “When I have left the city, I will spread out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know the earth belongs to the Lord.

This verse is Moses speaking to Pharoah - plague of hail.

Who is in charge of weather?

Who owns the earth?

Since God owns it, it is His responsibility to preserve it.

Colossians 1:16–17 CSB

16 For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.

Our responsibility is to exercise good stewardship by using what God put here for our benefit.

God has given us:

Water, trees, air, fossil fuels, electricity, natural gas, precious metals and elements in the earth to use so we can flourish and experience joy.

We Are to Subdue the Earth

Let’s go back to Genesis.

Genesis 1:28 CSB

28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.”

Subdue means “to bring the earth completely under our control for our own good.”

We have been given the freedom to extract its resources and develop its capabilities.

We are not an intruder into the creation.

The idea behind the bulk of the environmental message of our day is that humans are the problem and the earth would be better off without us.

The Biblical worldview paints a different picture:

Genesis 1:26–27 CSB

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.

God has given us everything in and on the earth to be used for our own enjoyment.

Genesis 1:29–30 CSB

29 God also said, “Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth and every tree whose fruit contains seed. This will be food for you, 30 for all the wildlife of the earth, for every bird of the sky, and for every creature that crawls on the earth—everything having the breath of life in it—I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

It has been created for our benefit.

the resources God gives are renewable.

Job 28 - mining turned over the mountains. Dams stopped rivers.

Sounds like their was land degradation and deforestation going on 1000’s of years ago.

We need to be thankful that God has given us the ability to subdue the earth.

Our planet is beautiful to behold - I’ve been to some marvelous places - that shout out the glory of God. I’ve been to some places in Alaska and the Canadian Rockies that probably don’t look much different from the way they did 1000 years ago.

But these unsubdued places are inherently deadly. (You are not the highest thing on the food chain.) Staying there can be harmful to your health.

I love the desert - but staying there w/o water & shelter is not advisable.

I’ve been in the jungle in S. America - not subdued — and pretty deadly.

The more unsubdued a place is the more deadly it is.

And so, letting the earth go actually doesn’t preserve life — it harms it.

We all really need to appreciate how we live on a subdued part of the earth that has been developed.

Good Stewards Do Not Abuse the Planet

We have a responsibility to wisely manage what God has given us.

Psalm 8:5–9 CSB

5 You made him little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: 7 all the sheep and oxen, as well as the animals in the wild, 8 the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea that pass through the currents of the seas. 9 Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is your name throughout the earth!

Showing respect for the creation demonstrates respect for God (the giver) and ourselves.

The principle of working and watching over the creation still applies.

Genesis 2:15 CSB

15 The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.

God Will Bring the Earth to an End — Not Us

Ultimately, every physical thing is temporary. God will bring it to an end. The earth is not eternal.

2 Peter 3:7 NASB 2020

7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly people.

“reserved”

God has a reservation out — everything has a date stamped for its destruction.

Only God knows when that will be.

2 Peter 3:10–11 ESV

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,

The day of the Lord is ultimately a day of judgment for the ungodly.

Human history ends with fire and judgment.

If you think we’re messing up the earth — you haven’t seen anything when Jesus messes it up at the end.

We are not in control. We do not get to choose how or when the earth will be destroyed.

We are not as big as we think we are.

Colossians 1:17 CSB

17 He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.

Jesus Christ is the one holding all things together — not us.

As We Close…

There is obviously more we could say — but time will not allow.

There is probably another entire sermon we could do that addresses some of the problems with the scientific consensus of our time and others out there who are skeptical of it.

And there is probably another sermon all together on the moral, political, and societal implications of the current environmental movement that has taken over the western world.

In this lesson, I have wanted to cover the basic biblical worldview that should direct our hearts and minds on this matter.

The planet is cursed.

The earth was created for us.

We should be good stewards of the gift we’ve received.

God is in control and will determine when the end will be.

Until that comes, we need to remember:

Genesis 8:22 CSB

22 As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.”

While the earth remains … the patterns and systems of the earth will not cease as long as God wishes for them to exist.

Let these words bring you peace … and humble you … as part of God’s creation.