On Kindness and Saving The Earth

Everyone is talking about what happened at Virginia Tech. All I will say is that it is a mistake to characterize Cho as "a madman" or "crazy" as some have done. To do so keeps us from asking the right questions.

I may comment about what happened in the future but not now. People are in a state of shock and grief. It is not the time for analysis nor a time to demonize Cho, but a time to pray for those who have lost their loved ones. Ultimately, this event calls us to be real in our lives, and to be as kind to each other - including strangers - as humanly possible.

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What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy god? Micah 6:8

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NEEDED: CHRISTIANS WHO WANT TO SAVE THE EARTH

I have written before on the need for Christians to spearhead a movement of environmental activism. Sadly, that need is more urgent than previously thought.

It appears that, in regard to global warming, the release of methane into our atmosphere is the big "sleeper" threat that has not been publicized.

Scientists have documented that methane has been "pushing up" under the ocean, as the ocean has warmed, creating pockets - underground volcanoes if you will - and they bode ill for our future.

The reason for the concern is because, as the seas warm and the gas expands, those underground extrusions must eventually burst releasing methane into the atmosphere.

What does this portend?

"A warning of" what this could mean "occurred in 1986 when lake Nyos in Cameroon 'burped' an amount of gases killing 1800 people, following a much smaller scale disaster on neighbouring lake Monoun two years earlier, which killed 37 people.

While carbon dioxide has been fingered as the main culprit, there seems to have been a "fiery" component to the eruption indicating possible presence of combustible methane: "Skin discoloration found on some victims were tentatively interpreted as burns, but this diagnosis is still controversial. Witnesses on topographic highs report a loud noise originating from the lake and, in the case of lake Nyos, flashes of light visible over the lake".

Worse, Greenland's glacier is melting faster than it was thought "like a bathtub with holes drilled into its bottom." This means global warming could be happening far faster than people realize. If so, the release of methane may be inevitable because much methane is stored in permafrost and, as more permafrost melts, more methane will be released.

As John Acheson writes:

"How likely is it that humans will cause methane burps by burning fossil fuels? No one knows. But it is somewhere between possible and likely at this point, and it becomes more likely with each passing year that we fail to act.

So forget rising sea levels, melting ice caps, more intense storms, more floods, destruction of habitats and the extinction of polar bears. Forget warnings that global warming might turn some of the world's major agricultural areas into deserts and increase the range of tropical diseases, even though this is the stuff we're pretty sure will happen."

Once triggered, this cycle could result in runaway global warming the likes of which even the most pessimistic doomsayers aren't talking about.

The granddaddy of these catastrophes occurred 251 million years ago, at the end of the Permian period, when a series of methane burps came close to wiping out all life on Earth.

More than 94 percent of the marine species present in the fossil record disappeared suddenly as oxygen levels plummeted and life teetered on the verge of extinction. Over the ensuing 500,000 years, a few species struggled to gain a foothold in the hostile environment. It took 20 million to 30 million years for even rudimentary coral reefs to re-establish themselves and for forests to regrow. In some areas, it took more than 100 million years for ecosystems to reach their former healthy diversity.

As news media continue to focus all attention on the death of the 31 Virginia Tech students - even as hundreds continue to die daily in Iraq - a disaster of vast proportions is preparing to unfold. I still think we might avert it. But we have very little time.

This past winter I stopped eating meat. Besides the suffering that goes on in slaughterhouses - which far surpasses the brutality of the Canadian seal hunt - the environmental impact of raising animals for food was the "straw that broke the camel's back" in making meat utterly unappetizing to me. By going vegetarian 36 fewer animals - give or take - will die a year, but more than that, there is the decrease in the greenhouse gases that are generated by raising animals for food.

I really don't think Global Warming is going to shorten my life, although I may be wrong about that. But the idea of virtually all life on earth being wiped out - along with the best of what humans can be - is monstrous.

We give expression to God here on earth. To destroy ourselves - out of neglect, ignorance or apathy - is a slap in the face of our Creator.

Instead, we must all do everything we can to save the planet, save the animals and save each other, for in doing so, we glorify God.

You have a wonderful brain and a wonderful mind. Your heart is big and bold. Pray to God today and ask for guidance on how you can best serve the causes of preserving the earth and spreading kindness.

For inspiration, see how one man is encouraging people to generate their own electricity for household uses while, simultaneously, improving their health.

If only Cho had stopped focusing on his resentments. If only he had opened to God, opened to love and been able to forgive any slights he received. Imagine if he had turned his great power to be destructive into a great intention to do good.

Let his failure be a lesson to us all to dig deeper, try harder and turn to God to help us become more loving and more helpful, no matter how lonely or abandoned we have felt, or what has happened to us in the past.

If we open to the truth, we will find out that we are not alone.

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In him we live, and move, and have our being. Acts 17:38

Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace. Job 22:21

Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. John 16:32

Be still, and know that I am God. Psalms 46:10

Let's Grow Environmental Evangelism

There are over a billion Christians in the world. The United States, which effects the world so profoundly, is home to over 200,000,000 Christians.

So I was excited when 86 evangelical Christian leaders decided, about a year ago, to back a major initiative to fight global warming, saying "millions of people could die in this century because of climate change, most of them our poorest global neighbors."

Among signers of the statement, were the presidents of 39 evangelical colleges and leaders of aid groups and churches, like the Salvation Army. Also signing on were several pastors of megachurches, including Rick Warren, author of the best seller The Purpose-Driven Life.

So I really expected the Christian wing of the Republican party to listen to their contituency and get on board this environmental ark, so to speak.

I thought that, at last, instead of starting more culture wars or wasting energy in partisan politics, that the most influential Christians in U.S. politics would urge us to make peace and unite in regard to the most pressing issues facing humanity: environmental degradation and Global Warming.

As a result, I envisioned Christians in the United States uniting their hearts and minds to compel political leaders to not only stop corporations from polluting, but reverse the damage that has been done over the last 200 years.

I thought we might even hold out an olive branch to those not of our faith and join with them in assuming responsible stewardship of the earth.

I considered what an excellent opportunity this would be to heal the relationship between Christians and science, since science must play a part in finding our solutions.

I imagined that this life-or-death issue - that will affect us all, no matter who we are, where we live, what we believe or how much money we have - would unite us all, help us make the necessary changes in our own lives and help us transcend the issues that have exhausted our nation and ourselves.

I pictured us all working together for this great good, and how that would energize and empower our entire nation and give our lives meaning.

After all, can you imagine what will happen when Americans stop focusing on disagreements and start working together for this common good?

I thought that, surely, this is a "pro-life" issue that all Christians can get behind. In fact, we could spark a world-wide Christian environmental movement.

Can you see it?

Can you picture one billion Christians approaching the challenge of stopping Global Warming with the fervor of a revival, with faith infused by the Christ within? Our actions might even help heal the anti-Americanism we are seeing.

What miracles we could bring about under the grace of God!

Alas, if the radical right-wing political contingent that claims to represent American Christianity has its way, none of these empowering visions will manifest. These particular evangelicals, apparently, prefer for us to continue full steam ahead in befouling and destroying our only nest.

Rather than uniting Christians to save the world (and their grandchildren) they still want to fight with other Christians and non-Christians about abortion and homosexuality. In fact, they want to get the attention of Christians off Global Warming and back on their made-for-TV culture wars.

Those radical Republican "Christians" who had the chance to get something right after having squandered so much time, money and faith in dividing the nation, have decided to work against saving mankind.

They have now sent out a message to their faithful telling them to shut up about climate change.

You know, if I used the language of evangelicals, I would say that these men are doing the work of the devil.

But it is not the devil that is tempting them.

At best, they are misguided in that they cannot see the forest for the trees. They would concentrate on "family values" even though there may be no families left in a hundred years to practice those values.

At worse, they are acting on their own selfish desires to keep those who follow them under their thumbs. It is, after all, in their interest to keep the nation - and Christians - divided because they can play one against the other that way, to accomplish their own agendas of gaining and keeping personal power. None of them, after all, will be around in one hundred years to see the consequences.

If these men are motivated by selfish reasons then, surely, they are Christians in name only. Regardless, they give Christianity and Christians a bad name.

While it's tempting to feel anger or despair, I ask you to pray for the misguided souls who are trying to downplay Global Warming. Pray for James Dobson, Gary Bauer and Paul Weyrich who told the policy director of the National Association of Evangelicals, the Rev. Richard Cizik, to shut up about Global Warming.

Affirm that God awakens them to the consequences of their actions. For with every day we delay in cutting CO2 emmisions and conserving energy, we seal the fate of not millions, but billions of poor people who are living on the edge as we speak.

We also seal the fate of not just polar bears and penguins who seems so far away, but of the honey bees that pollinate our crops and make food production possible.

"Every third bite we consume in our diet is dependent on a honeybee to pollinate that food," said Zac Browning, vice president of the American Beekeeping Federation. Yet honey bees are disappearing in such record numbers - perhaps in the billions. Our food supply is endangered.

Called Colony Collapse Disorder, at least part of the problem seems to be related to changes in climate. There was an unusally warm autumn and an early winter in beekeeping states in 2006.

As Rev. Joel Hunter, pastor of a megachurch in Longwood, Fla., said: "As Christians, our faith in Jesus Christ compels us to love our neighbors and to be stewards of God's creation. The good news is that with God's help, we can stop Global Warming, for our kids, our world and for the Lord."

Thank God for this growing awareness and bless all those Christians, such as Reverend Hunter, who signed the initiative.

Pray for those opposing environmental action and affirm that God either gets them on board, for the highest good of all inhabitants of the earth, or that those men, to include James Dobson, Gary Bauer and Paul Weyrichlose, lose their influence and are replaced by more responsible stewards of the faithful.


Prayer To Grow Environmental Evangelism

Dear God,

In Jesus' name we affirm that all Christians awaken to the danger of climate change.

In Jesus name we affirm that it is easier and easier for us to conserve energy as individuals and as a society.

We thank You, dear Jesus, that it is a joy to become aware and purchase products only made by environmentally responsible companies.

We thank You, Jesus, that powerful Christian evangelists promote environmental activism among their faithful.

We thank You that, together, we are invincible in reversing the damage caused by pollution and Global Warming.

We thank You, Jesus, that all those who would continue to despoil the earth or advocate the despoiling of the earth for selfish political purposes disappear into the nothingness of political obscurity from which they came.

We thank You, Jesus, that all those who would continue to selfishly despoil the earth for profit lose their market share.

Thank You, Jesus, for empowering us so we now reclaim, restore and protect our beautiful earth.

She is Your beautiful gift to us and we protect and preserve her now in gratitude.

And so it is.
Amen.

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According to their pasture, so were they filled. Hosea 13:6