Climate Change – Of Man or God?

According to the world’s experts – “The evidence is clear: the main cause of climate change is burning fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal. When burnt, fossil fuels release carbon dioxide into the air, causing the planet to heat up…. The climate on Earth has been changing since it formed 4.5 billion years ago. Until recently, natural factors have been the cause of these changes…. Over the past one million years, the Earth has experienced a series of ice-ages ('glacial periods') and warmer periods ('interglacial'). Glacial and interglacial periods cycle roughly every 100,000 years, caused by changes in Earth's orbit around the sun. For the past few thousand years, Earth has been in an interglacial period with a constant temperature. However, since the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s, the global temperature has increased at a much faster rate. By burning fossil fuels and changing how we use the land, human activity has quickly become the leading cause of changes to our climate…. Humans cause climate change by releasing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the air. Today, there is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than there ever has been in at least the past 800,000 years. During the 20th and 21st century, the level of carbon dioxide rose by 40%. We produce greenhouse gases in lots of different ways:

• Burning fossil fuels – Fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal contain carbon dioxide that has been 'locked away' in the ground for thousands of years. When we take these out of the land and burn them, we release the stored carbon dioxide into the air.
• Deforestation – Forests remove and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Cutting them down means that carbon dioxide builds up quicker since there are no trees to absorb it. Not only that, trees release the carbon they stored when we burn them.
• Agriculture – Planting crops and rearing animals releases many different types of greenhouse gases into the air. For example, animals produce methane, which is 30 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. The nitrous oxide used for fertilisers is ten times worse and is nearly 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide!
• Cement – Producing cement is another contributor to climate change, causing 2% of our entire carbon dioxide emissions.” [https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/climate-change/causes-of-climate-change]

“The evidence is clear” is the clarion call of proponents of climate change. Based upon the assumptions that “the climate on Earth has been changing since it formed 4.5 billion years ago,” “over the past one million years … a series of ice ages,” and “more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than … the past 800,000 years”, man is to be blamed for the present state of earth’s climate. The “burning of fossil fuels”, “deforestation”, “agriculture”, and “cement” are activities of man that brought about extreme climate conditions on earth. Therefore, based upon the above assumptions and conclusions, if man would change their manner of life by doing less of the above, then the climate will improve and hopefully revert back to the “normal conditions” of the ancient past.

As we can see above, the conclusion of climate change that has gripped the world is based upon assumptions and more assumptions that cannot be proven. They are manufactured and based upon man’s faulty imaginations. These faulty assumptions begin with the earth being formed 4.5 billion years ago. If this assumption is wrong, the rest of the conclusions that are based upon this assumption will collapse.

But sinful man refuses to accept the fact that they are wrong. They have to insist that they are right. The thought that they might be wrong is unthinkable. It will plunge the world into a state of helplessness leading to great fear and hopelessness. But by insisting that they are right and can do something about reversing the adverse climate changes, they give themselves hope. They cannot bear the fearful reality that they cannot do anything to change the climate. Man is powerless and helpless when it comes to the wind, sun, and rain. Those are under God's sovereign domain. Even before the fall of man into sin, the domain of man’s rule was only over the creatures God created and not the climate (cf. Genesis 1:26-28).

It is man’s fault that the earth is in this present state. But the fault is not in his manner of life. It is the manner of his heart. He is a sinner. The earth is in this state of decay, hurt and calamity for man’s good. That is why God cursed the earth with thorns and thistles after Adam sinned against God. Therefore, man has to work hard to eke out a living. He needs to learn to look up and trust God and not self for his daily sustenance. The devil has been using this earth and man’s dependence on this earth for survival to deceive man into thinking that man shall live by bread alone and not every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

But by devastating this earth, man ought to see the futility of measuring himself by the abundance of what he possesses. He ought to realize that naked he came into this world, naked he will return. He needs to find a solution to the bondage of sin that has caused him to transgress against God. He needs to avoid the penalty of sin which is death and hell while he is alive because the moment he dies in his sin, he will surely be cast into hell to be punished. 

Trying to stop climate change is a distraction and a false hope engineered by the god of this world to deceive the world. This is misdirection. This earth will change and be whole again one day. But it will not happen by the will and deed of sinful man. The earth will be restored to her former glory (i.e. before the curse) after the return of Jesus Christ. God’s children will receive their glorified bodies. Romans 8:22-23: “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”

God will heal His earth. He is the Creator. He created it. He will heal it! Creation listens only to the voice of its Creator, and not man’s. Didn’t Jesus Christ demonstrate that when He calmed the storm? Mark 4:39: “And he [Jesus] arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.”

The Christian’s response to the call of the world to change the climate is to tell them the truth about their need for the Saviour to save them from their sins. What sinful man needs the most is not to change the climate but their hearts. Jesus Christ is the only One who can do that. He has sent His disciples to bring the gospel to the world, for only the gospel can change their hearts for Christ. Amen.