I don’t have issue with those verses but your exegesis of those verses. Thus, I am asking you to explain the context in which those verses were written. “Replenish” does not has connotation as per your suggestion “caring for the planet”. My translation and many more translations use the word “subdue it” but a few other translations use “replenish”. The Hebrew word is וּרְד֞וּ “subdue it” and tie to the word וְכִבְשֻׁ֑הָ “have dominion”. No suggestion of “caring for the planet” but rather implies “have authority over them to do as you like” concept. Before you jump in and accuse me of “destroying the planet”, (which I am not), I am just pointing you to the context in which these verses were given. My only suggestion is whether you are reading too much into these verses to derive or come to that kind of understanding. Thus, I am asking you for the context in which these verses were written.
Well, I think I have spent too much time on this. Happy that I had this conversation. Need to move on to be better use of my time and resources and no punt intended. God bless.
I take that as a complement to be considered a saint. That is my desire to go deep in Jesus if you call that a saint. But I can assure you that I am a sinner saved by grace and a flawed person that God deems fit to use me in proclaiming His Good News. Hallelujah!
@Dale “curious if you are a young earth creationist or not”. Not important in the scheme of things. We will all be surprised when Jesus returns. One can discuss and argue on this topic but does it brings you closer to Jesus at the end of the day. If it does, PTL. If not, discard it as it is only distraction.
It is important in the overall scheme of things, primarily with respect to the first petition in the Lord’s Prayer, if you know what that is, but also because we know that YECism and its disregard for science drives young people away. If you are encouraging another generation of YECism then your evangelism will lead to destruction.
The Greenhouse effect is just made up? The absorption spectrum of carbon dioxide is just made up? The massive increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide due to the burning of fossil fuels is just made up?
Yes, there are many fine missions organizations (some of which I personally support) that heal the sick and feed the hungry while proclaiming that the Kingdom of God has been initiated here on earth by Jesus Christ. And it’s clear that many are sick and hungry, especially in the developing world, in part because of how we have mistreated the environment.
All faiths have a concept loving our fellow human beings. I don’t get how abusing the creation by actions in the present can fit with loving future generations, including among Christ-followers.
Many Bible scholars including N. T. Wright have pointed out that the prevailing images in Revelation are not of complete destruction of the earth/Old Creation but of recreation; of refining the old and bringing out of it something pure and beautiful as Heaven unites with Earth in the New Creation. So this idea that we don’t need to worry, because it’s all going to burn is not biblical, nor is it taking the whole counsel of Scripture seriously.
@Hillary Rankin Marketing Specialist "in this space we also recognize the realities of systemic racism and will not be tolerating talk of “equity and racism as a cultural idealogy that has brainwashed people.”
Wow, I though science is about open dialogue. Looks like that is not the case. Nice to be censored. Good grief. What is the world becoming, even the so called Christian based forum.
It’s called “being corrected”. People here, who themselves have listened to correction and attended to reality and evidence-based perspectives try to be all about truth, calling out and challenging known falsehoods. If you want to see real censorship in action, then just head on back over to those many spaces where ideology takes precedence over truth.
[or something closer to censorship in any case … we probably should not pretend we’ve experienced real censorship in this country nearly so much as in others have where not just voices, but people themselves get silenced, sometimes permanently. What we complain about …that I didn’t get to platform my opinion everywhere I wanted to - that isn’t censorship. At all.]
Richard Feynman once stated “Religion is about faith and belief, science is about doubt”. Hence, perhaps a bit of doubt should be expressed about the veracity and straightforwardness of this report. For an analysis, go to https://clintel.org and download their 181-page analysis of this report. Clintel is a foundation based in the Netherlands and has written a “World Climate Declaration” signed by 1551 people. https://clintel.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/WCD-version-02182311035.pdf. The point here is doubt. I passed my Ph. D. orals 61 years ago and would imagine that I have said, in one form or another, “I don’t believe that!!!” about once a week since that time. Indeed, I refereed a paper for Physical Review last week in which I “very politely” said “I don’t believe the interpretation of these data stated in the manuscript.” Instead of lapping up the interpretations in the IPCC6 report, Christians and others should be “doubting” it and asking questions. That is what the Clintel analysis does.
Plenty of giggles in your “analysis,” but especially this one:
CO2 is not a pollutant. It is essential to all life on Earth. Photosynthesis is a blessing. More CO2 is beneficial for nature, greening the Earth: additional CO2 in the air has promoted growth in global plant biomass. It is also good for agriculture, increasing the yields of crops worldwide.
is not a pollutant. It is essential to all life on Earth. Photosynthesis is a blessing. More CO2 is beneficial for nature, greening the Earth: additional CO2 in the air has promoted growth in global plant biomass. It is also good for agriculture, increasing the yields of crops worldwide.
But don’t worry; there are plenty of climate contrarians on this site.
Actually, CO2 is God’s way of supporting life. If you read around the science world, every now and then there will be an article about “where did the water come from on Earth?” However it arrived, it was so important to God that it was produced on the second day of creation. Water is the ultimate greenhouse gas that makes life on Earth possible. It took some doing to get the land and water ratio in the correct proportions so that there would always be enough water in the air to moderate temperatures. Then on the third day, along came plants to support animal life. Notice, a whole day intervened before animals were brought forth on the fifth day. That day was used to lay down all of those fossil fuels, The plants had were/are the mechanism whereby carbon is recycled to transmit the Sun’s energy for the activity of living things. Photosynthesis came LONG before animals. Plants do not need animals to function. But, animals do need plants and their photosynthesis. When the Permian volcanic eruptions 250 My ago clouded the earth over and quenched plant life, 3/4 of the species of everything became extinct. So, where did the carbon come from? Carbon is the main product of the helium-burning phase in stars, so there is plenty around. Ditto silicon. Oxygen follows in big stars, so there is plenty of it around, too. Still, when those rocks were pulled together by gravity, where was the carbon. Rocks are mostly Si and O. Carbonates? Which in water can form an equilibrium with CO2 that can escape into the atmosphere to sustain plant life. Indeed, today, most of the carbon near the surface of the earth is in coal and oil. There is just enough in the atmosphere to keep the photosynthesis cycle running, and far less than a the past 250 My. Sure, too much can kill, but 400 ppm is FAR below any lethal level.
Blessings.