It's Hot!

In the book of Nehemiah, at the conclusion of the reconstruction of the walls of Jerusalem, we find that Israel gathered to declare praises to God. We can find these words in chapter 9:
(5) "Stand up and bless the Lord your God Forever and ever! "Blessed be Your glorious name, Which is exalted above all blessing and praise!
6 You alone are the Lord; You have made heaven, The heaven of heavens, with all their host, The earth and everything on it, The seas and all that is in them, And You preserve them all. The host of heaven worships You.

This is a vibrant expression of God our Creator.  Psalm 19 tell us that the heavens declare His glory. He has created a place for us to dwell, a planet that provides us with incredible natural resources and a climate that is suitable to sustain life.  The Bible tells us that the planet will be destroyed in the end times, but not at the hands of man, but according to the hand of God.  In the meantime, we are called to occupy and steward the earth, but we are not to be fearful by those who would want to scare us into thinking that somehow humanity is so powerful that it can destroy this resilient planet.

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On the sixth day of creation, as we find in Genesis 1, God made the crowing glory of that creation and gave human being certain responsibilities. We can read in that chapter:
26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

While Americans celebrated the Fourth of July last week, those who sound the alarm about climate change had plenty to talk about it seems.  An ABC News story related:

For four days in a row, the planet reached its hottest day ever recorded as regions all over the world endure dangerous heat.

Earth warmed to the highest temperature ever recorded by human-made instruments when the average global temperature reached 17.18 degrees Celsius, or 62.92 degrees Fahrenheit, on Tuesday, as millions of Americans celebrated the Fourth of July, data from the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Prediction shows.

The article went on to say that the first day in that 4-day stretch of climate records was on Monday, which was exceeded Tuesday, tied on Wednesday, then average temperatures went still higher Thursday, when "global temperatures climbed to 17.23 degrees Celsius, or 63.01 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the NCEP."  The ABC article said, "The heat blanketing much of Earth has been driven by El Niño in combination with the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global warming, researchers say."

On Monday of last week, Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis posted a response to a new survey, in which he says: "...the climate alarmism screamed every day through the media to terrify people into drastic action certainly has consequences. For example, a recent survey of 5,000 parents from Mexico, India, Singapore, the UK, and the US highlights just one of these consequences—fewer children are being born."  That survey showed that 53% of the parents surveyed "shared that their apprehensions about the future of earth’s climate 'ha[ve] impacted their perspective on having more children.'”  Ham said, "Yes, people are choosing not to have children because they are concerned about the physical climate of the world their children will grow up in."

As Ken noted in the blog post, that survey was covered in that day's edition of the television program, Answers Live, which is aired from the Creation Museum near Cincinnati and available through Facebook Live and YouTube.  Well, on that hot July day in northern Kentucky, my wife, Beth, and I were in the studio audience for that edition of the program. One of the three hosts, Jessica Jaworski, offered comments in response to this survey, reminding the audience that God is "both author and sustainer of His creation" that "He will care for His creation," and that, "We see that laid out in Genesis."

Jaworski referred to "real-world" satellite data that has been in use since 1979, which shows that the earth is not warming to the extent that people need to be fearful.  Of course, we recognize that the Bible teaches us that we are not to fear. 

Ken Ham wrote a piece in response to a book by environmental activist Greta Thunberg a few months ago.  He stated the she...

... has built her worldview from the foundation that man determines truth, and that view impacts how she interprets the world. As a result, she’s interpreting the world very wrongly!

Now, as Christians, we must reject her starting point and instead start with God’s Word. Scripture should be our foundation and the lens (worldview) through which we interpret everything, including claims about climate change and environmental activism.

He goes on to say:

...there’s no biblical or scientific reason for the cacophony of panic Greta and others like her create when it comes to climate change. Now, this doesn’t mean there aren’t environmental issues we should be concerned about. Of course there are! And we should care about them because God has placed us here to have dominion over his creation (Genesis 1:26), wisely tending and keeping it for his glory and our good. But as we care (or “steward”), we must have the proper perspective that (1) humans are image-bearers of God and therefore not animals, like Greta believes we are; (2) God is sovereign and earth is carefully designed by him; (3) we are to have dominion over creation; creation does not have dominion over us; and (4) we live in a fallen creation, suffering the effects of sin and the curse (Genesis 3).

Steve Milloy, who studies and critiques claims of so-called "climate change," debunked some of the information given in a Washington Post article, tweeting out the following:

June was not the warmest June on record. 

June 1998, for example, was warmer, per NASA satellite data... despite a 66% increase in industrial era atmospheric CO2...

He adds:

Sorry, but there has been no global warming in 8 years and 10 months despite 500 billion tons of emissions.

Emissions-driven warming is a hoax...

Needless to say, Milloy questions the Post's claim that July 3 and 4 were the hottest days on earth in "125,000 years"!  

We should always make sure that we develop our conclusions based on facts.  There are sources of information that are shouting loudly that we should be so fearful of the catastrophe that is coming on the earth that we should cede our freedoms and place our trust in unelected bureaucrats, who, unfortunately, are being supported by elected leaders.   But, erroneous information has its consequences, as the survey about people not having children due to the fear of "climate change."

The fact is, God has created a beautiful universe and placed us on a planet that contains the right conditions for humanity to live and flourish.  It is an earth marred by sin, no doubt, but it is also an earth that God has given humanity stewardship over.  So, we can take practical steps to take care of God's creation, exercising our stewardship role.  But, we can also recognize that, despite the industrialization that has occurred, the earth is surviving just fine.  And, it will until God Himself destroys the current earth and creates a new heaven and a new earth, just as He promises in His Word.