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Weathering the End Times Donald W View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Liberty University Digital Commons Eruditio Ardescens The Journal of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary Volume 2 | Issue 2 Article 2 February 2016 Weathering the End Times Donald W. Holdridge Sr. Liberty University School of Divinity, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/jlbts Part of the Biblical Studies Commons, and the Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons Recommended Citation Holdridge, Donald W. Sr. (2016) "Weathering the End Times," Eruditio Ardescens: Vol. 2: Iss. 2, Article 2. Available at: http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/jlbts/vol2/iss2/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@Liberty University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Eruditio Ardescens by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Liberty University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Weathering the End Times Cover Page Footnote The uthora has been teaching graduate courses in the area of OT Studies for LU's School of Divinity since 2009. This article is available in Eruditio Ardescens: http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/jlbts/vol2/iss2/2 WEATHERING THE END TIMES Donald W. Holdridge Sr.1 Today’s scientists disagree over what the earth will look like in the centuries to come. Some seriously doubt whether there will be much of a future if civilization’s industrial activities continue to increase the temperature of the planet. Where do Christians line up on the future global climate debate and how do the prophetic Scriptures contribute to this discussion? Introduction: What’s all the Fuss About? One cannot turn on the evening news without hearing something alarming about the effects of Anthropogenic (man-generated/caused) Climate Change (ACC) impacting one part of the earth or another. This issue has been highly politicized, with a former Vice President declaring during a Global Warming message in 2008, “The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk.”2 It has been advanced by members of the scientific community as well. Noted physicist and cosmologist Steven Hawking warned that the Earth “might end up like Venus, at 250 degrees centigrade and raining sulfuric acid.”3 There is even a growing body of those under the umbrella of Christendom who believe that mankind will inevitably destroy the planet if current practices continue unchecked. Pope Francis recently issued an encyclical urging those of good heart around the world to counter the harmful effects of ACC.4 1 Donald W. Holdridge Sr. is an Associate Professor of Bible for Liberty Divinity School. 2 Jerry Shaw, “Al Gore Global Warming Quotes: 8 of Former VPs Classic Climate Change Lines,” Newsmax, Nov 25, 2014, accessed July 31, 2015, http://www.newsmax.com/FastFeatures/al-gore-global-warming-vp-lines/2014/11/25/id/609616/. 3 Alexa Olesen, “Steven Hawking Warns about Global Warming,” USA Today, June 22, 2006, accessed July 31, 2015, http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/science/2006-06-22-hawking- warming_x.htm. 4 In the opening paragraph of the encyclical, the following prayer of St. Francis is given to set the tone, “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us….” Three paragraphs later Pope Paul VI is quoted as saying, “Due to an ill-considered exploitation of nature, humanity runs the risk of destroying it, and becoming in turn a victim of this degradation.” Francis I, Laudato Si’, [Encyclical Letter on the Care of Our Common Home], Before launching into this topic, it is important to distinguish between Climate Change (CC) and Global Warming (GW). The latter term is but a subset of the former. Climate Change includes all kinds of severe shifts in the weather, whereas Global Warming only refers to the overall increase of temperatures on the planet. When the media refers to Climate Change, they are typically referring to changes that mankind has caused. Yet, there are natural factors behind Climate Change that need to be considered as well, such as solar activity and fluctuating ocean temperatures. Thus it can be assumed that almost everyone believes in CC to one degree or another. The key question is, how much of the planet’s climate is influenced by human industrial activity, and how much is due to the forces of nature, or the forces behind nature? Since the Church is wrestling more and more with how to respond to this issue, it is essential for believers to get a clearer picture of the truths laid out in the Bible, so they can compare them with the data being advanced by scientists and theologians. This article is an attempt to place prophetic Scripture side-by-side with the key issues and evidence regarding Anthropogenic Climate Change in order to help Christians react appropriately to the current climate of Climate Change. Climate Change: The Current Debate within the Church The mainline denominations within Christendom have jumped on board with the United Nations’ scientists of the International Panel on Climate Control (IPCC) founded in 1988. They blame humanity for the rise in the earth’s surface temperature over the past century.5 Surprisingly, an increasing number of evangelicals are also joining this camp. The following sections lay out some secs. 1 and 4, accessed July 3, 2015, http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa- francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html. 5 “The theory behind global warming holds that emissions from automobiles and industrial activity will reduce the rate at which heat from the sun is reflected back into space from earth’s surface. Acting like the glass panes in a greenhouse roof, these accumulation ‘greenhouse gases’ will produce a gradual rise in average global temperatures.” Jeremy Rabkin, “Greenhouse Politics,” Commentary 104, no.5 (1997): 40. “The IPCC is a consultative body of volunteer scientists charged with periodically assessing the state of knowledge in many areas of research relating to climate change….The IPCC has come to be viewed as the singular authority on climate change.” Mary-Elena Carr and Madeleine Rubenstein, “Challenges to Authority: Understanding Critiques of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,” Union Seminary Quarterly Review 63, no.1 (2010): 42. The IPCC’s 4th Report claims “the evidence is ‘unequivocal’ that the earth is warming at a dangerous rate.” Harold Wells, “Climate Holocaust, Mortal Planet, and Eschaton,” Touchstone 30, no.3 (2012): 9. major arguments for and against ACC, and define the major “Climate Camps” that presently exist within Christian circles. Climate Change Catastrophe The elevation in atmospheric temperatures has been attributed to the burning of fossil fuels in factories and automobiles which causes a rise in Green House Gases (GHG). If these GHG are doubled, it is predicted that glaciers will melt, the sea levels will rise, food production will decrease and more species will become extinct by 2050.6 ACC advocates believe that a rise in global temperature of 2 degrees Celsius will lead to greater melting of the polar ice caps, declining fresh water supplies, coastal flooding, a lower pH in the oceans (Ocean Acidification), deadlier storms, more forest fires, increased infectious diseases and the death of hundreds of millions of the world’s poorest people.7 Since ice reflects more of the sun’s rays while dry ground absorbs them, the more the polar ice caps and glaciers disappear, the less heat from the sun gets reflected back into space and the more heat is retained by the earth’s atmosphere.8 The Anglican Communion Environmental Network claims, “we are now demanding more than [the earth] is able to provide….We are engaged in the process of destroying our very being.”9 The Bishops of the Episcopal Church believe that the words of Jeremiah 12:4 “describe these times and call us to repentance as we face the unfolding environmental crisis of the earth.”10 6 B. Heap and F. Comim, “Climate Change and Well Being,” International Journal of Public Theology 3 (2009): 45. Adding more CO2 to the atmosphere is like adding more insulation to one’s attic, trapping more heat in the house instead of radiating it out. With this scenario, experts predict a global average warming trend of 2-4 degrees Celsius by 2100 or sooner. Thomas Ackerman, “Global Warming: Scientific Basis and Christian Responses,” Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 59, no.4, (December 2007): 255-56. 7 Barbara R. Rossing, “‘Hastening the Day’ When the Earth will Burn? Global Warming, Revelation and 2 Peter 3 (Advent 2, Year B),” Currents in Theology and Mission 35, no.5, (October 2008): 363. 8 “Surface air temperatures were generally unchanged from 1850 to 1900, increased somewhat from 1900 to 1940, decreased and flattened from 1940 to 1975, and then experienced a rapid rise from 1975 to 2005.” Ackerman, “Global Warming,” 251, 256. 9 The burning of fossil fuels could elevate global temperatures by 3 to 11 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of this century. “A Pastoral Teaching on the Environment from the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church,” Anglican Theological Review 94, no.2 (Sep 2011): 305-07. 10 Ibid., 305. “How long is the land to mourn, and the vegetation of the countryside to whither? For the wickedness of those who dwell in it, animals and birds have been snatched “Climate modelers generally agree that farmers in sub-arctic latitudes will benefit from warmer summers and milder winters, their forecast for the rest of the planet approximates an apocalypse: famine, drought, hurricanes, floods, mass extinctions…. Most of these calamities, said to be of such a scale that they could threaten the viability of human civilization.”11 Some believe that humanity is heading for a climate holocaust.
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