Will God Save Us From Climate Change...and Morons?

Colleague Eric Fitch sent me a link to a story from the Toronto Star about a U.S. Congressman,  Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL). The Congressman, an evangelical Christian, is convinced that God will save us from climate change and global warming so we need not do anything about these problems.

Here is Cathal Kelly's story:

U.S. Representative John Shimkus, possible future chairman of the Congressional committee that deals with energy and its attendant environmental concerns, believes that climate change should not concern us since God has already promised not to destroy the Earth.

Shimkus already serves on the committee. During a hearing in 2009, he dismissed the dangers of climate change and the warnings of the scientific community by quoting the Bible.

First, he noted God’s post-Flood promise to Noah in Genesis 8:21-22.

“Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though all inclinations of his heart are evil from childhood and never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.

“As long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will never cease.”

Forgive me - I'm not a Biblical scholar, but I see nothing in that passage that says that God has promised to protect us from climate change/global warming. We can still have Earth, albeit one a lot hotter than it is now. But Earth will still be there, along with humans, night, day, summer, winter, plants, animals, etc.  Maybe Rep. Shimkus has a direct line to the Almighty.

But Shimkus' statement gets to a more troubling issue: that of using Biblical quotes, passages from the Koran, etc., to set national policy, especially science and environmental policy.

My Biblical knowledge is sparse but I remember some lessons from Brother Doyle's sophomore Biblical studies class many years ago: by judiciously selecting quotes and taking them out of context, you can justify Biblical support for practices most of us consider morally repugnant. He then proceeded to list a bunch of things the Bible 'supported': slavery, abuse of women, segregation, and a host of other unpleasant things.  

Ooops - I forgot that Shimkus used another quote. From the story:

Then he quoted Matthew 24:31.

“And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds from one end of the heavens to the other.”

“The Earth will end only when God declares it’s time to be over. Man will not destroy this Earth. This Earth will not be destroyed by a Flood,” Shimkus asserted. “I do believe that God’s word is infallible, unchanging, perfect.”

The story ends with this:

On Tuesday, Shimkus sent a letter to his colleagues burnishing his credentials by saying he is “uniquely qualified among a group of talented contenders to lead the Energy and Commerce Committee.”

May God save us from the likes of Rep. John Shimkus.

 "Nature abhors a moron." -- Campana 15:1

"I can do all things through him who strengthens me." -- Philippians 4:13

Comments

[david tandey]

It is hard to imagine God would allow Human greed and stupidity to destroy his Creation but one day we will find out.

[ROBERT DEL ROSSO]

Someone said "nothing prevents a man from understanding something when his income depends on his not understanding it". To paraphrase that, I believe that Cong. Shimkus' campaign contributions depend on him not understanding global warming! (full disclosure: I am a born-again christian, but I am really embarressed when other christians use the Bible for political purposes!

[Oregon Water Thorn]

Jayme is right. God promised that HE would not destroy the earth, but he has clearly not stepped in to prevent US from destroying US. We can destroy ourselves all we like but the Earth will abide.

[Chris Brooks]

Scary. Just a few years ago this article might have been found in the Onion. It appears that reality has overtaken satire.

[Jayme]

It's not God who is going to destroy the earth, it's us.