This is my second essay on the subject of Rick Santorum saying he has never believed in global warming. (See my post of April 3, Rick Santorum and Global Warming - Part 1, The Factual Argument)
To quote him exactly: “We’re put on earth to use it wisely and steward it wisely, but for our benefit, not for earth’s benefit”.
what eye thynk: Some conservative Christians like Rick Santorum and Michelle Bachmann, (remember her?), believe that global warming does not exist, that what we are experiencing is just part of the ebb and flow of earth as God created it. Other conservative Christian groups agree that global warming is true, but think we should do nothing about it. “It is entirely the hand of God bringing the world to an end and therefore we cannot and should not resist it” (Quote taken from “Understanding What the Bible Really Says About the Future” on the Biblical Thinking Resources website.)
From everything I’ve read about conservative and evangelical Christians, they believe that we should take the Bible literally and follow it as the true word of God telling us how to live. My question to them is: exactly where are the Bible verses telling us to ignore global warming? Where are the parables teaching us that ignoring melting polar ice and rising temperatures is a holy and just act? There aren’t any. There are no lessons because this problem was unimaginable two thousand years ago. There were no coal burning hydroelectric plants and Jesus didn’t drive an SUV!
There are, however, lots of biblical verses telling us that God created a wonderful earth and only when that earth was complete did He add human life. When God created man, He included a brain with the expectation that we would use it to improve and develop what was around us. Errors were expected, but He designed us with the ability to recognize mistakes and the capacity to fix them.
If Jesus were to appear in Cleveland tomorrow, I believe He would be riding a bicycle on His way to a Greenpeace meeting. After all, earth is a gift from His Father and therefore to be cherished.
I find it appalling that those who would impose their rigid interpretation of godliness on the rest of us are using their God-given brain to rationalize the destruction of His precious gift of earth, the planet He designed to sustain us. What ingratitude. What twisted piety.
Candidate Rick Santorum, (former United States Senator who was 'fired' by his constituency for being an idiot) is running around the country telling us what it is that God wants.
ReplyDeleteFor anyone to attempt to speak for God, without first knowing what it is God really wants, is (in effect) using the Lord's name in vain.
Using that as a yard stick, I do hereby, officially declare, Rick Santorum to be a woman hating, blasphemous phoney, who is STILL an idiot! But, hey, What do I know?
Again i find it difficult to add anything to this wonderful blog, accept perhaps this: using the Bible to justify twisted rationale is, in my opinion, a false front. These "Christians" seem to be in league with the affluent and others who not only are profiting from the status quo, but simply do not want to be inconvenienced by being asked to change their destructive ways. In our persistent arrogance, we assume that if we thought of it, regardless of its affects on the planet, then it must be okay. Rome's burning, guys. Care to use that fire hose there beside you or not?
ReplyDeleteAnd of course now i want someone to draw me a cartoon of Jesus driving an SUV - that would be cool.
Some 'thing' has been rolling around in my head since this post. Until this morning I was unable to isolate, and identify, what it was. Voila! Christianity.
ReplyDeleteOr, being a Christian.
In an earlier Blog you quoted Ghandi's. "I like your Christianity, it's your Christians I don't care for." I probably got it wrong, but that's close enough for my purpose this morning.
Before I say another word, let me say this: "My personal belief is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he that HE is everything the Christian Bible says HE is." I buy into all of this. You got to know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em on something like that. I held 'em.
My personal epiphany came when I was thirty eight. I won''t go into the details here; that's a whole nother story.
I never noticed, until recently, but I walked away from any form of organized religion not long after my salvation. I know this will put me at odds with countless 'Christians', and the very fact that it will, is why I left.
Religious people, in my case Christians, tend to judge others. And, they don't always practice what they preach.
I can, and will, proudly declare that in my epiphany I experienced a feeling that I can only describe as "my soul coming to life". Now, if that isn't being 'born again', I don't know what is.
So, here is what's bothering me. Christ taught us this: "Love". That's what HE taught us. Just two commandments, and both were about love. That was it. 'Love'.
In the past decade or so, there are those who would portray Christianity as an exclusive club. They got involved in politics; the Moral Majority. Whose morals? Theirs of Christ's?
Did Christ ever turn anyone away? Is there any evidence that Jesus rebuked someone because they were differnt? Did Jesus gossip? Or point fingers? And, finally, was he a Republican?
No, no, no, and finally; No.
Does anyone really believe that HE favors one football team over another?
I see ads on television for a Christian Singles (paid) lonely hearts club. There is a Christian "Yellow Pages. I see politcal candidates trying out do each other on the level of their Christain faith.
And, sadly, I also see those among us who are, or were, teetering on the brink of one kind of Faith (not religion ~ don't confuse the two) or another, stepping back from how they perceive Christianity.
Which brings me nearly full circle. The instant I felt my soul come to life I was able to 'see' things clealy. "Things I hadn't seen before came into focus. And, I was 'happy'.
I jumped into church work, getting involved in the many functions 'ordained' by my church. It wasn't long after getting involved that I became privy to the gossip, jealousy, and silly pettiness.
I saw church members, at all levels, judging (and in some cases condemning) fellow church members behind their backs.
I saw Sunday morning smiles give way to Monday morning, "business as usual" ugliness. In short: I saw a bunch of fakes. I saw the Christians that Ghandi spoke of.
In all fairness there are many who believe as I do.
There really are those who recogonize that Christ gave us just two commandments. For these Christians I pray that they continue listen to Christ with their hearts. Don't fall in line behind religious leaders, who preach hatred or bigotry. Was Christ blue eyed and blonde haired? Probably not.
HE is risen! Stand with Him.
Again, dear Thynking Eye, you have hit the target perfectly with your well organized and succinct writing!
ReplyDeleteThe overwhelming problem i am seeing with the "Christian" right wingers is that they are so choosy about which parts of their sacred book that they choose to believe (and work to make their interpretations of these statements into rules that everyone else must be subjected to) vs which parts they seem to sweep entirely under the rug. I find that i, not a believer in this book or their religion, tend to believe far more in the parts that they discard (like the parts about loving one another and treating each other kindly), than the parts that they use to develop wild and destructive interpretations for.
I have also noticed that the interpretations they provide generally support big business profits and domination of all that are not of the elite white, rich, and male class. This makes me a little suspicious of their motives.
I think faith should be a personal thing -- and that religion is just a way for the powerful to control the masses.
to Lightningbug: wish I'da said that, You nailed it.
DeleteI don't see that anything can be added. You have both summed it up in a way that is to the point and true. This is where the repoublican pompous arrogance comes in. People like Santorum and other like him say things like we should do nothing about global warning because its God's way of....
ReplyDeleteHow do they know that? How can anyone actually openly state that they know what God's plan is for any of us? I would like to know which book they have read, other than the bible, that can state with some amount reasonable certainty what will happen to the earth and to us. I guess I really don't need anyone interpreting it for me. I don't need these people trying to force their beliefs on me. And I certainly don't need someone like Santorum trying to lead this country.