Are We Missing Something?

Recently, I went to our church association’s website: https://www.efca.org/ to see what I could find about climate change and global warming.  My search ended without finding any mention of global warming and/or climate change in its archives.  I thought this omission was curious, so I started to search other church denomination’s websites to see if they had made any statements about global warming. 

First, I checked the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States.  Southern Baptists have a very balanced and cautious statement that is worth reading at http://www.sbc.net/resolutions/1171.  Other church denominations and organizations have given various statements and proposals concerning climate change and global warming.  Some Christian groups agree with those who are warning that climate change is serious.  Other Christian groups are urging caution, saying that the verdict is still out concerning the seriousness of the problem.

What should be our response to this controversial topic?  First, we can’t just pretend that some kind of climate change isn’t really happening.  Ignoring the issue isn’t really an option.  Second, we need to be careful to not get swept up in the hysteria.  Many people who believe in man-made global warming are forecasting the end of the world as we know it and are advocating extreme measures be taken to lessen CO₂ emissions.  Third, we need to be willing to listen to both sides of the issue. 

I’m from Panama City, Florida and still have family that live in the area.  We’ve been through many hurricanes, but nothing like what happened with hurricane Michael.  When hurricane Michael hit, my brother stayed in his house, but after it hit, he told me he never wants to go through something like that again.  Why didn’t he evacuate?  He thought he would be safe.  In reality, the hurricane was much more dangerous than he expected.  We should not simply ignore warnings about global warming. 

We owe it to our children and grandchildren to at least learn about the problem, and if global warming really is as serious as some people say, find out what we can do about it.