The More Frightening Option
Mar 07
The popular theory of global warming that is being latched onto espouses human responsibility and, therefore, human control. We have the ability, through various means, to correct this. We have a choice. The idea suggests that the choices we made in the past have led us to where we are today and we must make additional choices to fix it. We are in control.
Knowledge that one is in control of a situation has the affect of being soothing. We recognize a problem and we fix it. Why? Because we exert control over that problem. So embracing the popular theory of global warming is actually the more tranquil option. We are humans. We made this mess and we are going to clean it up. But they also act as if this is the worst option. We are in a horrible situation and the peril to our future is great. Let me present you with the more frightening option: what if we aren’t in control. What if there is nothing we can do.
What if we are subject to the sun or the tilt of the earth or the currents in the oceans. What if we can’t control the rate at which the polar ice caps are melting by driving a smaller car? What if there is nothing we can do to change it? Then the earth will warm or cool at whatever rate happens.
Let’s say you are driving down the road in a car. You are in control of that car. You can steer it and tell it how fast or slow to go. Not very scary. Now lets take away your ability to steer the car, stop it, or make it go faster. Now you are in an object hurtling through time and space and whatever happens, happens. Which of these two scenarios is more frightening? I think it is pretty obvious.
So if the global-warmians are right then fear not. The Earth is in good hands. We can all buy our carbon credits and live happily ever after. We are the human race, after all, and we will come up with some great plan to save ourselves. That is what happens in the movies all the time.
If they aren’t, and I am right, then heaven help us. But it is times like this, when I feel the most helpless, that my trust in Jesus can shine the most. I believe that even when I am not in control, my God is! What better to hold onto when the world is (possibly) falling apart than the God who created and is in control of it? Suddenly the more frightening option is the one where I find the most comfort and peace. Standing on the Rock that is Christ is infinitely more stable than a pile of carbon credits.
Brian
True, but one of the ways God helps is through his Church–and so if there’s anything that can be done to limit global warming (esp. since global warming, like most change, hurts the poor far more than the rich)…then there really isn’t a reason NOT to do it.
Definitely. Whatever happens (global warming, cooling, or whatever else may come) God’s church should be at the forefront of helping those who need it. But that doesn’t mean I am going to buy carbon credits to help me feel better about myself since there is such dissenting opinion about whether or not we humans have anything to do with climate changes.