Stewardship, Faith, Belief, and Physics
Stewardship, Faith, Belief, and Physics
By Kevin A. Stoda
I have read several good writings recently on how to talk to a variety of people about moving on beyond a debate on Climate Change—and I mean any type of Climate Change type caused by Man. This is what concern to me—and should concern YOU.ALL.
Here is a link to a list of statements on stewardship of nature and natural resources as outlined in the Bible collected and printed by the Sierra Club. [1]
http://iowa.sierraclub.org/icag/2004/1104quotes.pdf
Another good read recently was a point-by-point listing of the propaganda we poor Americans are facing from factual deniers of all types—political, religious, economic—deniers of climate facts covered in textbooks and science books for years. This article [printed again below] comes from the Union of Concerned Scientists and targets all form of attacks on good science by FOX News, Republican congressmen, et. al. I believe that the way the UCS writes and refutes is a very good format for those people uninterested in stewarding the planet for religious or social reasons alone.
http://www.ucsusa.org/news/ucs-fact-checker.html
A January 24 FoxNews.com article, “Five Reasons the Planet May Not Be Its Hottest Ever,” uncritically repeated a number of discredited claims by climate contrarians questioning whether or not the planet is warming. The story, which does not include a byline identifying the author, featured only climate contrarians. Evidence-based conclusions about climate science were shut out.
The arguments at the heart of this piece are at this point very familiar to anyone following this issue. Here are the main claims made in the article and why they miss the point or are simply wrong:
1. First, FoxNews cited a project by climate contrarian Anthony Watts that rated weather stations used to determine global climate data. FoxNews failed to mention that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) analyzed Watts’ claims and found little difference between the stations Watts graded highly and the average for all the stations in the national network.
FoxNews then recycled unfounded climate denier allegations that NASA and NOAA “manipulate” climate data. In fact, those two agencies, along with the World Meteorological Organization and Japanese Meteorological Agency, independently collect and analyze global temperature data. All the agencies’ analyses largely agree. If any one agency were unscientifically “manipulating” data, the scientific community would know. Not only is the charge that NASA and NOAA are manipulating data erroneous, it’s grossly unfair to climate scientists dedicated to producing honest, accurate measurements—and it promotes conspiracy theories about their work.
2. The article uncritically cites Christopher Monckton, who falsely states that global sea ice is increasing. Monckton’s “evidence” is that while more Arctic ice melts in the summer, at the same time Antarctic ice increases in the winter. In essence, his argument is premised on people forgetting that when it is summer in the northern hemisphere, it is winter in the southern hemisphere, and vice-versa. In fact, summer ice extent in the Arctic has been decreasing dramatically over time, while Antarctic winter ice largely disappears each summer. While total ice extent in Antarctica has increased slightly, the total Arctic ice extent trend is decreasing by more than enough to produce a global sea ice decline.
Note that the two polar regions are very different. The Arctic includes a relatively small ocean surrounded by large continental shelf seas and continents. Antarctica, conversely, is a large continent surrounded by the southern ocean. Because of differences in each of these climates, sea ice around Antarctica is generally thinner and easier to break up than the sea ice that forms in the Arctic.
3. The article cites this year’s El Niño as a contributor to warmer temperatures. This is narrowly true, but FoxNews pretends it is a singular explanation and does not inform readers that natural climate cycles and human-induced global warming are occurring simultaneously. FoxNews also does not mention that 2010 began with a moderate-to-strong El Niño that evolved into La Niña that ended 2010 in a moderate-to-strong state, which tended to cool the planet overall. Despite those effects, 2010 was the hottest year on record. Overall, the past ten years have been the hottest decade on record, thanks largely to climate change.
4. FoxNews claims colder temperatures are on the way due to natural cycles, but fails to mention that overloading the atmosphere with carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases will continue to heat the planet in the coming decades and centuries. At least in the short term, colder weather is still to be expected occasionally and is not inconsistent with a warming planet overall. In fact, studies suggest that a warming Arctic may have some influence on the cold weather patterns over portions of the Northern Hemisphere, including the United States.
5. Finally, FoxNews makes the tired, false comparison between long-term climate projections and predicting the weather on a given day. FoxNews makes no mention of the nearly 200-year-old understanding of the basic physics that excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere traps heat, the decades of scientific assessments that have determined global temperatures are increasing as a result, or the fact that the world’s national academies of science concur that human activities are responsible for most of the observed warming since the 1950s.
The article was only “fair” to climate contrarians and didn’t “balance” their claims with the scientific evidence that proves their conclusions are wrong.
NOTES
[1] Bible Quotes In Support of Stewardship
God Created the Earth and All of Nature in it
Psalms 104:25,30. In wisdom you made them all, the earth is full of your
creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond
number - living things both large and small... When you send your Spirit, they
are created and you renew the earth.
John 1:3. Through him all things were made: without him nothing was made
that has been made.
Colossians 1:16-17. All things were created by him and for him. He is before
all things and in him all things hold together.
God has a Relationship with All of His Creation
Psalm 96:10-13. The Lord reigns... Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be
glad, let the seas resound and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and
everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy, they will
sing before the Lord for he comes, he comes to judge the earth.
Isaiah 43:20-21. The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because
I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my
people, my chosen.
Deut. 32:1-2. Listen, Oh heavens, and I will speak, hear, Oh earth, the words of
my mouth. Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like
showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants.
Job 37:14-18. Listen to this, Job. Stop and consider God's wonders. Do you
know how God controls the clouds and makes his lightning flash? Do you
know how the clouds hang poised, those wonders of him who is perfect in
knowledge?
Psalms 104:25, 27. Animals, both small and great.. they all wait for thee to
give them their food in due season.
Matt 6:26. Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they
reap, nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly father feeds them. And are
you not worth much more than they?
God's Power is Seen in Nature
Joshua 2:11. For the lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.
Romans 1:20. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his
eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood
from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
Psalms 104:24. How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom have you made
them all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious,
teeming with creatures beyond number - living things both large and small.
God Calls All of His Creation to Worship
Psalm 19:1. The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is
declaring the work of His hands.
Isaiah 55:12-13. The mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and
all the trees of the field will clap their hands. All this will be a memorial for the
Lord, a sign that for all time will not be cut off.
Nehemiah 9:6. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens and all their
starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You
gave life to everything and the multitudes of heaven worship you.
Psalm 8:3-8. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the
moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are
mindful of him, the son of man.
I Chron. 16:7,30-34. Tremble before him, all the earth! The world is firmly
established; it cannot be moved. Let the heavens rejoice. Let the earth he glad;
let them say among the nations, "The lord reigns!"
Rev 5:13. Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the
earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing "To him who sits on the
throne and to the Lamb, be praise and honor and glory and power for ever and
ever."
Job 9:5-10. But how can a mortal be righteous before God? Though no one
wished to dispute with him, he could not answer him one time out of a
thousand. His wisdom is profound, his power is vast. Who has resisted him and
come out unscathed? He moves mountains without their knowing it and
overturns them in his anger. He shakes the earth from its place and makes it
pillars tremble. He speaks to the sun and it does not shine.
God Teaches Humans through Nature
Job 12:7-10. But ask the animals, and they will teach you; or birds of the air
and they will tell you; or speak to the earth and it will teach you; or let the fish
of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the
lord has done this. In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all
mankind.
Romans 1:19-20. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because
God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his eternal
power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and
seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse.
Isaiah 11:9. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for
the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
God Expects Humans to be His Stewards with Nature
Genesis 1:26. Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, and let them rule
over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the
earth and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
Lev. 25:23-24. The land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants.
Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the
redemption of the land.
Ezekiel 34:2-4. Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of
themselves! Should not the shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds,
clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you did
not take care of the flock! You have not strengthened the weak or healed the
sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched
for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally.
Ezekiel 34:10. 0 shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. This is what the
sovereign Lord says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable
for my flock.
Ezekiel 34:17-18. As for you, my flock... Is it not enough for you to feed on
good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is
it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with
your feet?
Isaiah 24:4-6. The earth dries up and withers, the world languished and
withers, the exalted of the earth languish. The earth lies under its inhabitants;
for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the
everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must
bear their guilt.
Jer. 2:7. I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But
you came and defiled my land and you made my inheritance detestable.
Luke 16:2,10,13. And he called him and said to him, "What is this I hear about
you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.
He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is
unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous in much. You cannot serve both
God and mammon.
James 5:5. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton
pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
Mark 4:19. ...and the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches and
the desires for other things enter in and choke the word and it becomes
unfruitful.
Revelation 11:18. The nations were angry and your wrath has come. The time
has come for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those
who reverence your name, both small and great - and for destroying those who
destroy the earth.
God Expects Us to Obey Him in our Lifestyle
Luke 12:15,23,34. And He said to them, "Beware and be on your guard against
every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does life consist
of his possessions. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Leviticus 26:3-4,6. If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my
commands, I will send you rain in its season and the ground will yield its crops
and the trees of the field their fruit... and I will grant peace in the land.
God Expects Us to Obey His Commands
1 Peter 3:17. It is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what
is right, rather than for doing what is wrong.
Psalm 37:34. Wait for the lord and keep his way.
Exodus 23:2. Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong.
Hebrews 10:30-31. For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is mine, I will
repay." And again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is a terrifying thing to
fall into the hands of the living God.
Scriptural Defense of Endangered Species
Fact #1 God Created the Different Species of Plants and Animals
Genesis 1:11-12. God created plants.
Then God said, "let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees
on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And
it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their
kinds and trees hearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God
saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:20-21. God created fish and birds.
And God said, "let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above
the earth across the expanse of the sky." So God created the great creatures of
the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems,
according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God
saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:24-25. God created animals.
And God said, "let the land produce living creatures according to their kind:
livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each
according to its kind." And it was so. God made the wild animals according to
their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that
move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
Fact #2 God Blessed the Different Species of Plants and Animals
Genesis 1:22. God blessed [the birds and sea animals], and said, "Be fruitful
and increase in number."
Fact #3 God Protected the Different Species
Genesis 6:19-21. God said, "You are to bring into the ark two of every kind of
living creature, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every
kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves
along the ground will come to you to he kept alive. You are to take every kind
of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and them." Noah
did everything just as God commanded him.
Genesis 7:8-10. Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures
that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah. And after the
seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.
Fact # 4 God Made an Eternal Covenant with the Different Species of
Plants and Animals
Genesis 9:8-9. Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: "I now
establish my covenant with you and your descendants after you and with every
living creature that was with you - the birds, the livestock, and all the wild
animals, all those that came out of the ark with you - every living Creature on
the earth."
Genesis 9:12-13. And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making
between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all
generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will he the sign
of the covenant between me and the earth.
By Kevin A. Stoda
I have read several good writings recently on how to talk to a variety of people about moving on beyond a debate on Climate Change—and I mean any type of Climate Change type caused by Man. This is what concern to me—and should concern YOU.ALL.
Here is a link to a list of statements on stewardship of nature and natural resources as outlined in the Bible collected and printed by the Sierra Club. [1]
http://iowa.sierraclub.org/icag/2004/1104quotes.pdf
Another good read recently was a point-by-point listing of the propaganda we poor Americans are facing from factual deniers of all types—political, religious, economic—deniers of climate facts covered in textbooks and science books for years. This article [printed again below] comes from the Union of Concerned Scientists and targets all form of attacks on good science by FOX News, Republican congressmen, et. al. I believe that the way the UCS writes and refutes is a very good format for those people uninterested in stewarding the planet for religious or social reasons alone.
http://www.ucsusa.org/news/ucs-fact-checker.html
A January 24 FoxNews.com article, “Five Reasons the Planet May Not Be Its Hottest Ever,” uncritically repeated a number of discredited claims by climate contrarians questioning whether or not the planet is warming. The story, which does not include a byline identifying the author, featured only climate contrarians. Evidence-based conclusions about climate science were shut out.
The arguments at the heart of this piece are at this point very familiar to anyone following this issue. Here are the main claims made in the article and why they miss the point or are simply wrong:
1. First, FoxNews cited a project by climate contrarian Anthony Watts that rated weather stations used to determine global climate data. FoxNews failed to mention that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) analyzed Watts’ claims and found little difference between the stations Watts graded highly and the average for all the stations in the national network.
FoxNews then recycled unfounded climate denier allegations that NASA and NOAA “manipulate” climate data. In fact, those two agencies, along with the World Meteorological Organization and Japanese Meteorological Agency, independently collect and analyze global temperature data. All the agencies’ analyses largely agree. If any one agency were unscientifically “manipulating” data, the scientific community would know. Not only is the charge that NASA and NOAA are manipulating data erroneous, it’s grossly unfair to climate scientists dedicated to producing honest, accurate measurements—and it promotes conspiracy theories about their work.
2. The article uncritically cites Christopher Monckton, who falsely states that global sea ice is increasing. Monckton’s “evidence” is that while more Arctic ice melts in the summer, at the same time Antarctic ice increases in the winter. In essence, his argument is premised on people forgetting that when it is summer in the northern hemisphere, it is winter in the southern hemisphere, and vice-versa. In fact, summer ice extent in the Arctic has been decreasing dramatically over time, while Antarctic winter ice largely disappears each summer. While total ice extent in Antarctica has increased slightly, the total Arctic ice extent trend is decreasing by more than enough to produce a global sea ice decline.
Note that the two polar regions are very different. The Arctic includes a relatively small ocean surrounded by large continental shelf seas and continents. Antarctica, conversely, is a large continent surrounded by the southern ocean. Because of differences in each of these climates, sea ice around Antarctica is generally thinner and easier to break up than the sea ice that forms in the Arctic.
3. The article cites this year’s El Niño as a contributor to warmer temperatures. This is narrowly true, but FoxNews pretends it is a singular explanation and does not inform readers that natural climate cycles and human-induced global warming are occurring simultaneously. FoxNews also does not mention that 2010 began with a moderate-to-strong El Niño that evolved into La Niña that ended 2010 in a moderate-to-strong state, which tended to cool the planet overall. Despite those effects, 2010 was the hottest year on record. Overall, the past ten years have been the hottest decade on record, thanks largely to climate change.
4. FoxNews claims colder temperatures are on the way due to natural cycles, but fails to mention that overloading the atmosphere with carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases will continue to heat the planet in the coming decades and centuries. At least in the short term, colder weather is still to be expected occasionally and is not inconsistent with a warming planet overall. In fact, studies suggest that a warming Arctic may have some influence on the cold weather patterns over portions of the Northern Hemisphere, including the United States.
5. Finally, FoxNews makes the tired, false comparison between long-term climate projections and predicting the weather on a given day. FoxNews makes no mention of the nearly 200-year-old understanding of the basic physics that excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere traps heat, the decades of scientific assessments that have determined global temperatures are increasing as a result, or the fact that the world’s national academies of science concur that human activities are responsible for most of the observed warming since the 1950s.
The article was only “fair” to climate contrarians and didn’t “balance” their claims with the scientific evidence that proves their conclusions are wrong.
NOTES
[1] Bible Quotes In Support of Stewardship
God Created the Earth and All of Nature in it
Psalms 104:25,30. In wisdom you made them all, the earth is full of your
creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond
number - living things both large and small... When you send your Spirit, they
are created and you renew the earth.
John 1:3. Through him all things were made: without him nothing was made
that has been made.
Colossians 1:16-17. All things were created by him and for him. He is before
all things and in him all things hold together.
God has a Relationship with All of His Creation
Psalm 96:10-13. The Lord reigns... Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be
glad, let the seas resound and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and
everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy, they will
sing before the Lord for he comes, he comes to judge the earth.
Isaiah 43:20-21. The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because
I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my
people, my chosen.
Deut. 32:1-2. Listen, Oh heavens, and I will speak, hear, Oh earth, the words of
my mouth. Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like
showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants.
Job 37:14-18. Listen to this, Job. Stop and consider God's wonders. Do you
know how God controls the clouds and makes his lightning flash? Do you
know how the clouds hang poised, those wonders of him who is perfect in
knowledge?
Psalms 104:25, 27. Animals, both small and great.. they all wait for thee to
give them their food in due season.
Matt 6:26. Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they
reap, nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly father feeds them. And are
you not worth much more than they?
God's Power is Seen in Nature
Joshua 2:11. For the lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.
Romans 1:20. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his
eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood
from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
Psalms 104:24. How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom have you made
them all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious,
teeming with creatures beyond number - living things both large and small.
God Calls All of His Creation to Worship
Psalm 19:1. The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is
declaring the work of His hands.
Isaiah 55:12-13. The mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and
all the trees of the field will clap their hands. All this will be a memorial for the
Lord, a sign that for all time will not be cut off.
Nehemiah 9:6. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens and all their
starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You
gave life to everything and the multitudes of heaven worship you.
Psalm 8:3-8. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the
moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are
mindful of him, the son of man.
I Chron. 16:7,30-34. Tremble before him, all the earth! The world is firmly
established; it cannot be moved. Let the heavens rejoice. Let the earth he glad;
let them say among the nations, "The lord reigns!"
Rev 5:13. Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the
earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing "To him who sits on the
throne and to the Lamb, be praise and honor and glory and power for ever and
ever."
Job 9:5-10. But how can a mortal be righteous before God? Though no one
wished to dispute with him, he could not answer him one time out of a
thousand. His wisdom is profound, his power is vast. Who has resisted him and
come out unscathed? He moves mountains without their knowing it and
overturns them in his anger. He shakes the earth from its place and makes it
pillars tremble. He speaks to the sun and it does not shine.
God Teaches Humans through Nature
Job 12:7-10. But ask the animals, and they will teach you; or birds of the air
and they will tell you; or speak to the earth and it will teach you; or let the fish
of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the
lord has done this. In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all
mankind.
Romans 1:19-20. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because
God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his eternal
power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and
seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse.
Isaiah 11:9. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for
the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
God Expects Humans to be His Stewards with Nature
Genesis 1:26. Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, and let them rule
over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the
earth and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
Lev. 25:23-24. The land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants.
Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the
redemption of the land.
Ezekiel 34:2-4. Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of
themselves! Should not the shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds,
clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you did
not take care of the flock! You have not strengthened the weak or healed the
sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched
for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally.
Ezekiel 34:10. 0 shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. This is what the
sovereign Lord says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable
for my flock.
Ezekiel 34:17-18. As for you, my flock... Is it not enough for you to feed on
good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is
it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with
your feet?
Isaiah 24:4-6. The earth dries up and withers, the world languished and
withers, the exalted of the earth languish. The earth lies under its inhabitants;
for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the
everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must
bear their guilt.
Jer. 2:7. I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But
you came and defiled my land and you made my inheritance detestable.
Luke 16:2,10,13. And he called him and said to him, "What is this I hear about
you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.
He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is
unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous in much. You cannot serve both
God and mammon.
James 5:5. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton
pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
Mark 4:19. ...and the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches and
the desires for other things enter in and choke the word and it becomes
unfruitful.
Revelation 11:18. The nations were angry and your wrath has come. The time
has come for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those
who reverence your name, both small and great - and for destroying those who
destroy the earth.
God Expects Us to Obey Him in our Lifestyle
Luke 12:15,23,34. And He said to them, "Beware and be on your guard against
every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does life consist
of his possessions. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Leviticus 26:3-4,6. If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my
commands, I will send you rain in its season and the ground will yield its crops
and the trees of the field their fruit... and I will grant peace in the land.
God Expects Us to Obey His Commands
1 Peter 3:17. It is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what
is right, rather than for doing what is wrong.
Psalm 37:34. Wait for the lord and keep his way.
Exodus 23:2. Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong.
Hebrews 10:30-31. For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is mine, I will
repay." And again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is a terrifying thing to
fall into the hands of the living God.
Scriptural Defense of Endangered Species
Fact #1 God Created the Different Species of Plants and Animals
Genesis 1:11-12. God created plants.
Then God said, "let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees
on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And
it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their
kinds and trees hearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God
saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:20-21. God created fish and birds.
And God said, "let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above
the earth across the expanse of the sky." So God created the great creatures of
the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems,
according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God
saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:24-25. God created animals.
And God said, "let the land produce living creatures according to their kind:
livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each
according to its kind." And it was so. God made the wild animals according to
their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that
move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
Fact #2 God Blessed the Different Species of Plants and Animals
Genesis 1:22. God blessed [the birds and sea animals], and said, "Be fruitful
and increase in number."
Fact #3 God Protected the Different Species
Genesis 6:19-21. God said, "You are to bring into the ark two of every kind of
living creature, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every
kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves
along the ground will come to you to he kept alive. You are to take every kind
of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and them." Noah
did everything just as God commanded him.
Genesis 7:8-10. Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures
that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah. And after the
seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.
Fact # 4 God Made an Eternal Covenant with the Different Species of
Plants and Animals
Genesis 9:8-9. Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: "I now
establish my covenant with you and your descendants after you and with every
living creature that was with you - the birds, the livestock, and all the wild
animals, all those that came out of the ark with you - every living Creature on
the earth."
Genesis 9:12-13. And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making
between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all
generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will he the sign
of the covenant between me and the earth.
Labels: and Physics Climate Change facts, Stewardship Faith Belief
posted by Kevin Anthony Stoda at 2:15 PM
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