Christian Perspectives on Climate Change Assignment Sample

• Subject Name : Environmental Science

Climate Change

Scientists define climate change as one of the existing, growing, and the human developed threat to the planet. However white evangelical Christians have questioned whether human activities are actually contributing towards the warming in the Earth? Around one-third of the evangelical Christians said that there are no particular pieces of evidence regarding the fact that climate change is occurring (Atkinson, 2015). As per Bible, the climate change defined as “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth”. The quote illustrates that as a human being, we have provided with the ultimate dominion to feel every bit of the environment (BBC, 2020).

We can do anything as we please. However, with certain things, human beings have also been provided with certain restrictions that are the responsibility of maintaining the global environment. According to Galatians 6:7 in the Bible, that the human beings one day will suffer the consequences for the destruction and abuse, they did in the world. As per Genesis 8:22, 9:11, God is checking all activities performed by the human beings that is he is mindful and he will also take action accordingly at the appropriate time to keep the things perfect (Henne, 2018). As per Psalm 46:2-3, he has inspired human beings with hope “Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”

The life and attitudes as being demonstrated by Jesus Christ towards climate change show that within him both humanity and divinity, heaven, as well as the earth, had brought together. “At Christmas, “heaven and nature sing” as a bright star in the heavens is linked on earth with a lowly manger. On Good Fri-day, God is revealed in the One who suffers and dies with all of creation, and at Easter, heaven and earth exult with the living God. At Pentecost, the wind of the Spirit blew from heaven, empowering those in the early church to communicate across their earth-bound differences” From the beginning of life, Jesus was connected with nature where he listens to the pain of the poor, their sufferings (MSV, 2020).

Jesus had displayed himself as one of the appreciative ad contemplative attitudes which had been rooted within God’s love for all the creatures. Hence in the modern times, the crucifixion of Jesus highlights that today our mother earth and plant is being crucified by some power and as a result, the consequences are highly dangerous like that of extinction of the species, fishery collapses and at the same time the rampant deforestations which had ultimately created famine and drought leading to starvation and death. Christian environmentalism has taught the relation between God and human beings, God, and nature and also human beings with nature (Wardekker, 2009).

According to the latest news obtained by The Australia Institute is that the summer in most of the countries since the past 20 years was a month longer than that of the mid-20th century where the winters had become shorter. Australia had experienced a devastating season of a bushfire which have killed around 33 people and at the same time around one billion native animals. The world is getting hotter and also one degree warmer as per the World Meteorological Organization. It has been analyzed that the average temperature for the first 10 months of 2018 was around 0.98 degrees centigrade which was above 1850-1900 levels as per the five independently maintained global data sets (BBC, 2020). Climate change is defined as one of the inescapably moral and also ethical issues. The decisions that have strongly being made are actually being carried out through value judgments.

Again the value judgments are determined and developed through the socio-political processes after considering developments, sustainability, equity along with risks and uncertainties. Besides the Christian view on climate change, my self-interpretation highlights that the ecological problem is defined as a problem of the public ethos and which is also very hard to solve and hence different organized society is getting challenged daily. It can be stated that the existing culture is simply inadequate in dealing with the environmental question (Rose, 2014). In this context, Christian theology had provided sharp perception regarding the place and along with that the role of human beings. Theologians have stated that human beings who have been created in the image of God should understand nature so that it can participate in its life as can be a steward of God’s creation.

As per the Christian perspective, the presence of great intra-religious diversity and the existence of possibility for divergent scriptural interpretation highlights religious support for the ethical actions on the climate change which is not necessarily a tent of faith bout is also one of the deliberate choice being influenced through individuals of group’s understanding regarding scriptural mandates. From Jesus’s teaching in the Gospel of Luke, it was clear that humans are part of nature and also the part of the entire evolved creation and hence dependent on God for life and also for wellbeing (Atkinson, 2015). Human beings are the image of God and from the teaching of Jesus, it can be said that since human beings are the cause of the damage to the natural environment, it is humans who only can solve this problem. The human beings should be responsible in holding together the transcendent majesty of God, power as well as compassion which will ultimately help them and also enable them in rediscovering the human role as the God’s image-bearers and also should bear the consciousness and the responsibilities under God to take care for nature (Wardekker, 2009).

The life and attitude as being demonstrated by Jesus highlight that the model of God as a body of the world invites contemplation regarding how individuals care for the divine body or spirit. Climate change is defined as a phenomenon that necessitates the action on earth through the reduction of greenhouse emissions and also by reduction of the deforestation and adaptation to the effects of climate change which necessitates a focus towards the world. Mc Fague is one of the theologians who had highlighted that the Declaration of Christian Care of Creation was basically the product of Evangelical Environmental Network to educate and also provide adequate resources for the Christians who wish to take action to care for the environment. This way the philosophical underpinnings of evangelical care of the environment gets examined (BBC, 2020). On contrary to the constructivist approach towards theology, the Evangelical Environment Network views the scripture as one of the primary revelations of divine-like treats sacred texts as the foundation of what members understand regarding authoritative interpretation other than construction. In many situations, the Christianity view holds the fact that human beings need to educate themselves first before handling environmental issues or climate change issues (Henne, 2018).

Human beings need to understand that exactly what the creation is actually revealing regarding God’s divine power and also the principles. The Declaration calls for Christians to live in a sustainable as well as restrained lifestyle. It has been argued by scientists that every creature within the earth is having an inbuilt genetic code that governs his living, movements swell as reproduces. To make decisions regarding climate change, human beings are responsible to bear necessary cognitive skills of discernment through which the code or the ways can get examined easily. From all the details, it can be stated that the physical universe is defined as one of the complex systems of components which is having distinctive laws, ways, places, and the dimensions which help in characterizing the rest of the cosmos (Wardekker, 2009).

To conclude, global climate change and also environmental degradation have generated new debates within the Christian community. The example on Christians can demonstrate the idea that theology cannot be considered as a static activity that can take place by not considering the material concerns. The theology has been framed through an intense connection between the region practitioners and the materialistic condition of the world surrounding them. The Christians need to have distanced themselves from the lifestyle predominant within the countries which is single-mindedly focused only on the consumption, especially on the disproportional energy consumption (BBC, 2020). In this context, the more comprehensive vision of the human life needs to be objectified by rediscovering the tranquillity which will help our soul in catching up celebration in the form of an encounter through beautiful things which will help us in maintaining daily horizons ultimately with God in various forms (Rose, 2014).

Reference List for Climate Change

Atkinson, D. (2015). Climate Change and the Gospel. Retrieved from Why we in the churches need to treatclimate change more urgently: http://operationnoah.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Climate-and-Gospel-David-Atkinson-30-01-2015.pdf

BBC. (2020). Climate change: Australian summers 'twice as long as winters'. Retrieved from Australia's summers have become twice as long as its winters amid increasing temperatures driven by climate change, according to new weather data analysis: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-51697803

Comece. (2011). A cHristian View on Climate Change. Retrieved from The Implications of Climate Change for Lifestyles aand for EU policies: http://www.comece.eu/dl/LkMrJKJOMnnJqx4KJK/20081013PUBCLI_EN.pdf

Henne, P. D. (2018). An empirical perspective for understanding climate change impacts in Switzerland. Regional environmental change, 18(1), 205-221. doi:10.1007/s10113-017-1182-9

MSV. (2020). Portraits of Resilience. Retrieved from Climate Change from a Christian's Perspective: http://www.manystrongvoices.org/portraits/stories.aspx?id=4428&t=141

Roles of religion and ethics in addressing climate change. (2019). ETHICS IN SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICSESEP, 7(3), 31– 49. doi:10.3354/esep00080

Rose, D. C. (2014). Five ways to enhance the impact of climate science. Nature Climate Change, 4(7), 522. doi:https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2270

Wardekker, J. A. (2009). Ethics and public perception of climate change: Exploring the Christian voices in the US public debate. Global Environmental Change, 19(4), 512-521. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2009.07.008

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