Here are a few thoughts I've been working on lately.
1. There has been a move within evangelical Christianity to address called the Creation Care movement which seeks to correct apathetic attitudes within American Christianity over the issue of global warming. The question I have is: If the predictions of global warming are true and the human race is on the brink of annihilation, then what does that say about God's providence? Especially in light of God'covenant with Noah? On the other hand, God tells us that we are supposed to take care of the earth. My only conclusion is that a belief in God's providence along with a belief in man's responsibility to care for creation can not be mutually exclusive.
2. What is law without love and what is justice without mercy? We know that justice is good, but is justice the sole measurement of goodness?
3. Is America truly a Christian nation? The fact of the matter is that most of our founders were not what we would call Biblical Christians by today's evangelical standards. Notice I said most, not all. Practically all of them believed in God, but many of them were deists and unitarians. Furthermore, how can we say we are a Christian nation especially in light of what our fathers did to blacks and native Americans?
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4 comments:
i have recently done some light research about global warming. it seems that Christians are taking a few different positions. one is not acknowledging the issue at all. some groups are forming organizations to take pro-active action against global warming which they consider a problem. and another group is taking the stance that global warming may not be a problem, and that it is an issue that is highly politicized, partisan, and exaggerated by the media and al gore.
any thoughts? :] the position of exaggeration of global warming problem is interesting. it takes what seems to be a simple problem and adds other realistic dynamics which turn it in to a very complex situation. i'm actually leaning towards this viewpoint currently, that the effects are exaggerated and there is way more to the problem than it might seem like initially.
Toby,
Thank you for your thoughts. I'm actually considering producing a film on this subject within a few years. First, I have to tackle the subject of peace and just war within a Christian context. Please keep all your research so I can look at it later.
Currently, I don't have a preference for either view. I don't know enough about the issue to make an intelligent argument either way.
I'll hit all these random thoughts with my own. On the issue of global warming, it's not "is it occuring," it's "what are humans doing to contribute?" CO2 ("the" greenhouse gas) gets the main blame from alarmists in the environmental community, but how much of an impact has it had? Our planet has gone through climate change before our time and will undoubtedly go through more. Should we radically alter how the human race uses resources simply to slightly reduce something which has a possible impact on a natural change? The problem is that nobody's really willing to sit down and do a cost-benefit analysis on this - instead, most people on both sides just want to scream. God gave us brains to think about this sort of thing. Can we try using them?
On our founding fathers...I really feel that this is something that has become a major myth within American Christian society. America is not today a Christian nation. But can you truly have a Christian nation? I think that this almost implies that Christ can be the personal savior of people as a group, who show their faith through - what? Laws? Mores? Accepted codes of social conduct? No - America was founded to be a place where faith could flourish without being encumbered by forced religion. Our founders did wisely recognize the importance of Christianity in maintaining a stable and safe free society. But I seriously question how a nation founded on a rebellion (aren't we told to obey our leaders) built through the slaughter of native Americans (trail of tears, anyone?) and constantly defined by discrimination against the newest group of people to the land (Germans, Irish, Eastern Europeans, Chinese, Vietnamese, Mexicans, the list goes on) could be realistically considered Christian in any way.
So can you have laws without love? Absolutely. But you can't have love without acknowledging that there are laws - both ones which govern how we live and those which define the reality of our world.
W,
Thank you for your comment. I can see you have thought about these issues.
Aaron
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