GLOBAL WARMING

The Catholic Pope's release of his encyclical Laudato Si has reignited the debate over climate change, to the extent that any aspect of it had begun to fade. There are two separate threads to this debate that must be kept separate in order to maintain the integrity of the discussion. First is the acknowledgement of a personal moral imperative to care for the environment in any way possible. As citizens of the world, we each have that obligation to do our part. The second is acknowledgement of the inevitability of some degree of global warming. The Bible states that summer and winter will always exist as long as the earth endures (Genesis 8:22). However, snow is a curse connected to unfaithfulness and disobedience to God. Deuteronomy 28:15-45 states numerous curses that accompany disobedience (many of which we are now experiencing) among them that "The Lord will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed" (Deuteronomy 28:24). So while we should expect a continuing ebb and flow of the seasons, such that summers and winters will continue, we also should expect to have less snow and milder temperatures as our world begins to move closer to God's ideal. In fact, Isaiah 35 promises abundant rains and blooming deserts as the Lord Messiah's return draws near. To some extent, therefore, gradual global warming is perhaps a sign that nature is beginning to prepare for Messiah's return and it should give us reason to celebrate as we await the Messiah.