Bradford, a physics professor whom I met at the park, had a
few questions for me after we had talked about his beliefs. One was about the lack of concern among
Christians for climate change.
Bradford had been heavily involved in his family’s non-denominational
church when growing up but has now abandoned the Christian faith and considers
himself agnostic. Given his deep concern
for the environment it appears that the indifference of many Christians for the
environment is a major reason for his indifference to Christianity.
But would it really make a difference in their belief and
commitment to the Gospel for skeptics like Bradford if Christians made climate
change their top priority? For example,
instead of reaching out with the Gospel, would it be a better use of my time as
a Christian to reach out and initiate conversations for climate change
awareness? Or what about racism? Or how about education, or obesity, or politics?
Here’s a few quick thoughts about climate change in
particular that I shared with Bradford.
First, all people are made in God’s image – past, present,
and future, and all have worth and value as fellow human beings. We began as caretakers of a garden, and
though God’s creation is now fallen we owe it to future generations to do our
best to use resources sustainably and to work for a healthy environment for all. We’ve been blessed with science to detect
environmental problems as well as to discover ways to solve them, and I believe
we should use it as a gift of God.
Second, I don’t believe we should expect or require
Christian churches to lead the way in climate change awareness. It’s not our mission. All people have been blessed with an
intellect and a God-given knowledge of good and evil, known as our moral
conscience. I believe this not only
helps us as individuals know our guilt and need for the Savior, but it also
ensures that most people at least try to be good, even though in our rebellion
against God we try to do good on our own terms.
This means that there will always be people – Christian or
otherwise - seeking to justify their existence with good works such as working
to save the environment. Individual
Christians may be gifted as scientists, inventors, or advocates for the
environment, but so are non-Christians and all should work together, while the
church should support their work and not impede their progress.
Third, with his extensive church background I knew Bradford
is aware that many Christians feel that the environment isn’t worth the effort
since Jesus may return any time and the world as we know it will soon come to
an end. While technically it is true
that Jesus’ return has never been closer, it could be in our generation or 1000
generations from now. Despite the
uncertainty, the loving thing to do is to serve those possible future
generations with our environmental stewardship.
Finally, as a Christian I believe that all the problems of
human existence including pollution, the greedy and selfish use of resources,
and the lack of concern for future generations, are really just symptoms of a
deeper problem. I see them as symptoms
of our sinful nature while only the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the cure. People don’t immediately change deeply
ingrained sinful habits and lifestyles once they receive the Gospel and are
born again, but at least they become open and motivated to make positive
changes through repentance. For me,
sharing the Gospel is an indirect way of doing our part to work for positive
changes to all the problems of the world, because they are all really just
symptoms of a broken relationship with God that only the Gospel can restore.
PS – Bradford graciously allowed me to record our
conversation, which can be seen in its entirety HERE
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