In the fall of 1517, theologian Martin Luther begin the Protestant Reformation in part based on his critique of indulgences offered by the Catholic Church. At the time, a friar named Johann Tetzel had been encouraging the faithful to buy indulgences, which entitled the purchaser of forgiveness for sins. Tetzel had been selling the indulgences to raise money to build St.
“ You die, the worms eat your body, and Simba sings about the Circle of Life until the sun explodes, everything incinerates, and the universe goes dark.” ............one of your greatest lines of all time IMO
and yet it is the poor that give the power to the secularists to burden their lives. Will they never learn? It's tiring to vote against my own economic interests to help folks that call me evil and racist.
Yeah, the woke folk don't realize that the big gas-guzzlers also accommodate the car seats that are also mandated...well into childhood depending on where you live. And the pickups get us through the snow when our jobs demand that we be there on time. Part of joining the woke camp is a loss of interest in and compassion for how other people live.
As John says below, there's the absolutism and then there's simply doing our best to care for what we're given. Absolutism and its climate apocalyses (apocalypsi?) have scared a whole generation much as a certain kind of preaching did in the 19C. No doubt there's a connection there -- terror of mass death can force a conversion. We learn from history and repeat.
The lack of compassion is what drives me mad about the environmentalism, the state of woke, and everything that goes along with it. It's a religion, as Erick says, where one is completely sure one is right and the consequences of not going along with it are not just evil but catastrophic.
How to reach people like that? I'll say again, the woke people I know absolutely believe in this. Do we start with where they are and work them out of it? It's a slow effort but would pay dividends. (Given that they have to listen first, but if it's an offshoot of evangelism then they *want* to convert us. Because we are lost souls otherwise.)
It is arrogance that leads the Woke-O Haram to believe that polluting humans are responsible for climate change and that only woke humans can fix it. The climate has been changing for eons. It gets cold, then it gets hot, then it gets cold again. It has been happening since the beginning of time. The Creator manages the creation. It is entirely up to him and our human emissions (or lack thereof) have little or nothing to do with whether or not the planet gets hot or cold. It is silly to think that if we all just work together to make it colder, the world will be a better place.
While we should pursue knowledge, theories of climate change, evolution and critical race are just that............theories. They are not proven fact. Pursue knowledge but don’t worship it. At the end of the day, if we all use our resources wisely, as God commands, we will spend less, pollute less and give generously to the advancement of the Kingdom.
If only Christians, who purport to believe that they were given a charge by God in Genesis to be stewards of His creation, were as concerned about the Earth as those nasty “secularists,” wouldn’t that be a great world!
Rather than take the bait James lays out, let me say that the two great commandments are "Love God" and "Love your neighbor" - all the other commandments and laws come down to those two, according to Jesus.
Looking after one another and taking the charge to fill the earth and subdue it seriously are certainly a part of God's orders. Frankly none of us has done particularly well at either commandment or their extensions, which is why we're totally dependent on God's grace alone to be rescued from our ultimate demise in eternity.
Returning to earth for a moment, James' gibe comes closer to home than most of us would wish - we're not doing a great job here in the USA of looking beyond our own comfort to the care and nurture of our fellow travelers here on earth, nor are we focused on maintaining a good balance of "fill" and "subdue". That said, if one researches where true charity and volunteerism occurs across the board is focused, one would find the various groups of Christians to be at the top of the heap compared to our secular brethren. The gov't is really inefficient at things like true charity. It's great at putting up barriers and regulations to keep us in line (and that statement assumes gov't is wise in its exercise of power...I think anyone could argue that point). It is not great at loving one another.
To the flip side, more along James' jibe, do I jump at every Chicken Little mathematical model that pops up? As an engineer, I look for data, both current and historical for context. Whether I am a Christian or not is irrelevant to the science of climatology. Whether I think critically about these matters as a human is more to the point.
It is passionate, yet ignorant, people that tout "settled science"; any true practitioner knows the only thing settled about science is what we (think we) know today or even opine about it. Mathematical extrapolations can help course-correct if one assumes they address sufficient variables, but mostly require course-correction themselves as observations and accounting for more variables improve the data set. So far, the models continue to be pushed as is with no real accounting for things like meteorology's impact over the centuries, geological phenomena such as earthquakes, volcanic activity and tectonic plate movement that play a serious role in disrupting quiescent environmental factors used to model climate.
Will we get it right (or right-er) some day? Perhaps. Could it be too late if we discover that somehow we puny humans managed to overwhelm God's exceedingly robust creation? Also perhaps. Are we assuming God is no longer in charge so needs a hand from us? Almost certainly, from the secular perspective, this is the only answer.
Man is his/her own savior - this is exactly what Erick points out - we have met our god (and enemy) and he is us. Worship as you will at whichever altar fits your thinking. Anything that ignores "Love God" as utmost commitment falls well-short of worthy of my worship.
Too much of a belly-full, I'm afraid. For any that get this far, thanks for bearing with me :-)
Our call to be good stewards of God’s creation does not mean that we have to accept as the proper way to do so the solutions of the secularists, especially when they are largely based in Marxist thoughts, which by definition deny the existence of God. Reasonable people can and should disagree with things such as “carbon offsets”, which do nothing to actually reduce carbon emissions, but are thinly disguised blackmail by anti capitalist radicals.
So, so true.
Great post!!!!!
“ You die, the worms eat your body, and Simba sings about the Circle of Life until the sun explodes, everything incinerates, and the universe goes dark.” ............one of your greatest lines of all time IMO
How arrogant to think we can stop “global warming”? I laugh each time I hear it. This article gives credence to the hypocrisy.
and yet it is the poor that give the power to the secularists to burden their lives. Will they never learn? It's tiring to vote against my own economic interests to help folks that call me evil and racist.
We must all rise up and cry "The Emperor is naked" and not just stand stupidly and accept what the "Woke" minority demands!
I love it.
Yeah, the woke folk don't realize that the big gas-guzzlers also accommodate the car seats that are also mandated...well into childhood depending on where you live. And the pickups get us through the snow when our jobs demand that we be there on time. Part of joining the woke camp is a loss of interest in and compassion for how other people live.
As John says below, there's the absolutism and then there's simply doing our best to care for what we're given. Absolutism and its climate apocalyses (apocalypsi?) have scared a whole generation much as a certain kind of preaching did in the 19C. No doubt there's a connection there -- terror of mass death can force a conversion. We learn from history and repeat.
The lack of compassion is what drives me mad about the environmentalism, the state of woke, and everything that goes along with it. It's a religion, as Erick says, where one is completely sure one is right and the consequences of not going along with it are not just evil but catastrophic.
How to reach people like that? I'll say again, the woke people I know absolutely believe in this. Do we start with where they are and work them out of it? It's a slow effort but would pay dividends. (Given that they have to listen first, but if it's an offshoot of evangelism then they *want* to convert us. Because we are lost souls otherwise.)
I’m educated, respected and successful. People can’t believe I don’t believe in climate change in quotes. I’m doing my part to evangelize.
It is arrogance that leads the Woke-O Haram to believe that polluting humans are responsible for climate change and that only woke humans can fix it. The climate has been changing for eons. It gets cold, then it gets hot, then it gets cold again. It has been happening since the beginning of time. The Creator manages the creation. It is entirely up to him and our human emissions (or lack thereof) have little or nothing to do with whether or not the planet gets hot or cold. It is silly to think that if we all just work together to make it colder, the world will be a better place.
While we should pursue knowledge, theories of climate change, evolution and critical race are just that............theories. They are not proven fact. Pursue knowledge but don’t worship it. At the end of the day, if we all use our resources wisely, as God commands, we will spend less, pollute less and give generously to the advancement of the Kingdom.
If only Christians, who purport to believe that they were given a charge by God in Genesis to be stewards of His creation, were as concerned about the Earth as those nasty “secularists,” wouldn’t that be a great world!
The “secularists” in China and India are polluting more than enough for the rest of the world. Go there and rant. We all will be better off.
Was that charge before “the fall”??
Environmentalists are never satisfied.
I don’t shop at Walmart. Problem solved.
Rather than take the bait James lays out, let me say that the two great commandments are "Love God" and "Love your neighbor" - all the other commandments and laws come down to those two, according to Jesus.
Looking after one another and taking the charge to fill the earth and subdue it seriously are certainly a part of God's orders. Frankly none of us has done particularly well at either commandment or their extensions, which is why we're totally dependent on God's grace alone to be rescued from our ultimate demise in eternity.
Returning to earth for a moment, James' gibe comes closer to home than most of us would wish - we're not doing a great job here in the USA of looking beyond our own comfort to the care and nurture of our fellow travelers here on earth, nor are we focused on maintaining a good balance of "fill" and "subdue". That said, if one researches where true charity and volunteerism occurs across the board is focused, one would find the various groups of Christians to be at the top of the heap compared to our secular brethren. The gov't is really inefficient at things like true charity. It's great at putting up barriers and regulations to keep us in line (and that statement assumes gov't is wise in its exercise of power...I think anyone could argue that point). It is not great at loving one another.
To the flip side, more along James' jibe, do I jump at every Chicken Little mathematical model that pops up? As an engineer, I look for data, both current and historical for context. Whether I am a Christian or not is irrelevant to the science of climatology. Whether I think critically about these matters as a human is more to the point.
It is passionate, yet ignorant, people that tout "settled science"; any true practitioner knows the only thing settled about science is what we (think we) know today or even opine about it. Mathematical extrapolations can help course-correct if one assumes they address sufficient variables, but mostly require course-correction themselves as observations and accounting for more variables improve the data set. So far, the models continue to be pushed as is with no real accounting for things like meteorology's impact over the centuries, geological phenomena such as earthquakes, volcanic activity and tectonic plate movement that play a serious role in disrupting quiescent environmental factors used to model climate.
Will we get it right (or right-er) some day? Perhaps. Could it be too late if we discover that somehow we puny humans managed to overwhelm God's exceedingly robust creation? Also perhaps. Are we assuming God is no longer in charge so needs a hand from us? Almost certainly, from the secular perspective, this is the only answer.
Man is his/her own savior - this is exactly what Erick points out - we have met our god (and enemy) and he is us. Worship as you will at whichever altar fits your thinking. Anything that ignores "Love God" as utmost commitment falls well-short of worthy of my worship.
Too much of a belly-full, I'm afraid. For any that get this far, thanks for bearing with me :-)
Our call to be good stewards of God’s creation does not mean that we have to accept as the proper way to do so the solutions of the secularists, especially when they are largely based in Marxist thoughts, which by definition deny the existence of God. Reasonable people can and should disagree with things such as “carbon offsets”, which do nothing to actually reduce carbon emissions, but are thinly disguised blackmail by anti capitalist radicals.
One more thing; carbon offsets are only effective as a form of virtue signaling, one that the virtue signaler somehow has to pay for.
Disagreeing in some ways with the climate alarmists does not mean one doesn't care about the environment. Absolutism is their schtick.