Stewards, Not Fearmongers!
Stewards, Not Fearmongers!
By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen
July 3, 2023
Ecclesiastes paints kind of a depressing picture of humanity and an individual’s moroseness, however, it also teaches us a lot about ourselves, the world around us, and our God. In his musings the writer states that “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9 NIV84) The Bible Knowledge commentary states that “Solomon did not intend by this to deny human creativity but to deny the complete newness of people’s accomplishments.” However, “the constant repetition of previous accomplishments - is in essence true of the activity of people and is included in the observation that all things produce only indescribable weariness and lack of satisfaction…” Solomon was in a mental funk. I can relate. In this day and age, it is easy to become depressed.
Sadly, there are those who use people’s tendency to be depressed to foster greater fear in things they absolutely have no control over whatsoever. One such thing is climate change. Instead of looking at actual scientific facts, observable evidence, and what is known to be true, many use emotional blackmail and fear mongering instead it illicit a gut-wrenching response instead. And if you do not agree with their emotional dictate, they shout you down, call you names, or dismiss you.
Let’s look rationally at the notion that we as individuals could somehow affect change in the worldwide climate. We cannot ignore the fact that the earth “has a surface area of roughly 510,066,000 square km (196,938,000 square miles); almost 71 percent of Earth’s surface is covered by saltwater oceans. The total volume of liquid water on Earth is about 1.39 billion cubic km (332.5 million cubic miles), and it has an average temperature of about 4 °C (39.2 °F), not far above the freezing point of water. The oceans contain about 97 percent of the planet’s water volume. The remainder occurs as fresh water, three-quarters of which is locked up in the form of ice at polar latitudes. Most of the remaining fresh water is groundwater held in soils and rocks; less than 1 percent of it occurs in lakes and rivers.” (Britannica.com) The planet made be small comparative to other planets, but it relatively huge compared to individual humans. Did you notice anything concerning ice at the poles and say the volume of sea water? How much do you actually think the total melting of the polar ice caps could influence the entire surface of the ocean? Minimal at best, and if let’s just say they did all of a sudden melt, people would get up and move to higher ground, which would be only a couple of feet. By the way, this is exactly what tribes from Siberia did to become America’s native population; they walked across a land bridge to get here.
According to NASA the “The troposphere starts at the Earth's surface and extends 8 to 14.5 kilometers high (5 to 9 miles). This part of the atmosphere is the most dense. Almost all weather is in this region.” This is where our breathable air occurs. This area is approximately 3,849,298,671,554.7627397183 cubic feet in size! It is enormous in volume and carbon dioxide makes up less than .04 of the total volume. And when you are talking about climate change, you are working with hundreds of thousands to millionths of minute amounts of change. If you wanted to make any significant change to atmospheric conditions you would go to nations like China, India, or the Philippines, not the United States or Europe. Those nations have billions in populations compared to the rest that have millions, and they use vast amounts of coal, wood, and petroleum products compared to the rest of the world.
Should we be good stewards of the world God created for us? Absolutely! Do we need to live in fear? Absolutely not. Remember that the earth is the Lord’s and so are we. We can use our God-given knowledge, talents, and treasure to solve our energy problems without resorting to fearmongering. Solomon concluded: “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 NIV84)
----
This article is copyrighted © 2023 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.
By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen
July 3, 2023
Ecclesiastes paints kind of a depressing picture of humanity and an individual’s moroseness, however, it also teaches us a lot about ourselves, the world around us, and our God. In his musings the writer states that “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9 NIV84) The Bible Knowledge commentary states that “Solomon did not intend by this to deny human creativity but to deny the complete newness of people’s accomplishments.” However, “the constant repetition of previous accomplishments - is in essence true of the activity of people and is included in the observation that all things produce only indescribable weariness and lack of satisfaction…” Solomon was in a mental funk. I can relate. In this day and age, it is easy to become depressed.
Sadly, there are those who use people’s tendency to be depressed to foster greater fear in things they absolutely have no control over whatsoever. One such thing is climate change. Instead of looking at actual scientific facts, observable evidence, and what is known to be true, many use emotional blackmail and fear mongering instead it illicit a gut-wrenching response instead. And if you do not agree with their emotional dictate, they shout you down, call you names, or dismiss you.
Let’s look rationally at the notion that we as individuals could somehow affect change in the worldwide climate. We cannot ignore the fact that the earth “has a surface area of roughly 510,066,000 square km (196,938,000 square miles); almost 71 percent of Earth’s surface is covered by saltwater oceans. The total volume of liquid water on Earth is about 1.39 billion cubic km (332.5 million cubic miles), and it has an average temperature of about 4 °C (39.2 °F), not far above the freezing point of water. The oceans contain about 97 percent of the planet’s water volume. The remainder occurs as fresh water, three-quarters of which is locked up in the form of ice at polar latitudes. Most of the remaining fresh water is groundwater held in soils and rocks; less than 1 percent of it occurs in lakes and rivers.” (Britannica.com) The planet made be small comparative to other planets, but it relatively huge compared to individual humans. Did you notice anything concerning ice at the poles and say the volume of sea water? How much do you actually think the total melting of the polar ice caps could influence the entire surface of the ocean? Minimal at best, and if let’s just say they did all of a sudden melt, people would get up and move to higher ground, which would be only a couple of feet. By the way, this is exactly what tribes from Siberia did to become America’s native population; they walked across a land bridge to get here.
According to NASA the “The troposphere starts at the Earth's surface and extends 8 to 14.5 kilometers high (5 to 9 miles). This part of the atmosphere is the most dense. Almost all weather is in this region.” This is where our breathable air occurs. This area is approximately 3,849,298,671,554.7627397183 cubic feet in size! It is enormous in volume and carbon dioxide makes up less than .04 of the total volume. And when you are talking about climate change, you are working with hundreds of thousands to millionths of minute amounts of change. If you wanted to make any significant change to atmospheric conditions you would go to nations like China, India, or the Philippines, not the United States or Europe. Those nations have billions in populations compared to the rest that have millions, and they use vast amounts of coal, wood, and petroleum products compared to the rest of the world.
Should we be good stewards of the world God created for us? Absolutely! Do we need to live in fear? Absolutely not. Remember that the earth is the Lord’s and so are we. We can use our God-given knowledge, talents, and treasure to solve our energy problems without resorting to fearmongering. Solomon concluded: “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 NIV84)
----
This article is copyrighted © 2023 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.
Comments