Southern Baptist Convention Shifts On Climate Change

[Frodo]

Southern Baptists Back a Shift on Climate Change

By NEELA BANERJEE
Published: March 10, 2008

Signaling a significant departure from the Southern Baptist Convention’s official stance on global warming, 44 Southern Baptist leaders have decided to back a declaration calling for more action on climate change, saying its previous position on the issue was “too timid.”

The largest denomination in the United States after the Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, with more than 16 million members, is politically and theologically conservative.

Yet its current president, the Rev. Frank Page, signed the initiative, “A Southern Baptist Declaration on the Environment and Climate Change.” Two past presidents of the convention, the Rev. Jack Graham and the Rev. James Merritt, also signed.

“We believe our current denominational engagement with these issues has often been too timid, failing to produce a unified moral voice,” the church leaders wrote in their new declaration.

A 2007 resolution passed by the convention hewed to a more skeptical view of global warming.

In contrast, the new declaration, which will be released Monday, states, “Our cautious response to these issues in the face of mounting evidence may be seen by the world as uncaring, reckless and ill-informed.”

The document also urges ministers to preach more about the environment and for all Baptists to keep an open mind about considering environmental policy.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

A friend of mine claimed that my faith in God was weak because I accepted Global Warming as fact. 

My response: that she doesn't love her grandchildren because her stance is dooming them to a world that is not as pleasant or good as the one she inherited.

I called the friend today and shared this declaration with her -- she didn't back down and said that the faith of 3 of the past 4 SBC Presidents is also weak and that they have been abducted by "the liberals", who apparently also abducted me in the process.

I am hoping that statements like these will help change hearts and minds.

[JSojourner]

A friend of mine claimed that my faith in God was weak because I accepted Global Warming as fact. 

My response: that she doesn't love her grandchildren because her stance is dooming them to a world that is not as pleasant or good as the one she inherited.

I called the friend today and shared this declaration with her -- she didn't back down and said that the faith of 3 of the past 4 SBC Presidents is also weak and that they have been abducted by "the liberals", who apparently also abducted me in the process.

I am hoping that statements like these will help change hearts and minds.

Some Evangelicals tell me a good Christian should not care about the environment, because it's all going to burn up when Jesus returns.  (He promises a new Heaven and a New Earth.)

Okay, fine.  I accept that he will make all things new.

So...why do I bother to brush my teeth?  I'm going to get a new, perfect body when Jesus returns.  Yet I still brush my teeth.

But there's an even better reason to care for and protect the creation.  It is a trust.  It doesn't belong to us.  For the Christian, one of the Psalms says it best -- "The earth is the Lord's, and everything that is in it."  So it's not MINE.  It's HIS.  And he's trusting me to take care of it.  I wholeheartedly applaud the SBC ministers who are trying to move their denomination back to Biblical standards.  Unfortunately, they are just 44 men.  The SBC's official position still condemns the very notion of global climate change. 

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

A friend of mine claimed that my faith in God was weak because I accepted Global Warming as fact. 

My response: that she doesn't love her grandchildren because her stance is dooming them to a world that is not as pleasant or good as the one she inherited.

I called the friend today and shared this declaration with her -- she didn't back down and said that the faith of 3 of the past 4 SBC Presidents is also weak and that they have been abducted by "the liberals", who apparently also abducted me in the process.

I am hoping that statements like these will help change hearts and minds.

Some Evangelicals tell me a good Christian should not care about the environment, because it's all going to burn up when Jesus returns.  (He promises a new Heaven and a New Earth.)

Okay, fine.  I accept that he will make all things new.

So...why do I bother to brush my teeth?  I'm going to get a new, perfect body when Jesus returns.  Yet I still brush my teeth.

But there's an even better reason to care for and protect the creation.  It is a trust.  It doesn't belong to us.  For the Christian, one of the Psalms says it best -- "The earth is the Lord's, and everything that is in it."  So it's not MINE.  It's HIS.  And he's trusting me to take care of it.  I wholeheartedly applaud the SBC ministers who are trying to move their denomination back to Biblical standards.  Unfortunately, they are just 44 men.  The SBC's official position still condemns the very notion of global climate change. 

For my friend it seems to be a matter of scale - and this difference I attribute to our age difference. 
She would agree with you that you should take care of your body, your home, and the things that God puts under "your" control.  I think that even though she may have an intellectual understanding of what our planet is and it's place in the solar system - I don't think she really comprehends it.  The Earth is still metaphorical to her - she refers to the atmosphere as "the heavens".   I have tried to get her to think of the Earth as an object like any other - something with a definate size and shape.  If you take a glass ball and pump smoke into it, eventually it will fill up and the air within the ball will be polluted.  In her frame of reference, essentially the atmosphere ("heavens") has no end, and therefore anything that we put into the atmosphere will magically disappate because... well.. she seems to think God is in charge of dealing with the garbage we put up there.

Someone who is in their 60's grew up before the moon landing and when spaceflight was still a dream.  To her the world is big, the solar system is unimaginable, and the universe is unkown.  To those of us who grew up in the era of the space station and the robotic exploration of Mars, the world is small, the solar system is big, and the universe is unimaginable. 

I understand that the world is small, and therefore can be destroyed, maintained, or saved like any other object.  I understand that the Earth - like our bodies or our land - was a creation of God that we are to be good stewards of.  For her, claiming that we are sullying the planet is the same as someone coming up to me and claiming that human beings are destroying the solar system -- the concept is unbelievable to someone who fails to comprehend the true scale of God's creation.

[JSojourner]

A friend of mine claimed that my faith in God was weak because I accepted Global Warming as fact. 

My response: that she doesn't love her grandchildren because her stance is dooming them to a world that is not as pleasant or good as the one she inherited.

I called the friend today and shared this declaration with her -- she didn't back down and said that the faith of 3 of the past 4 SBC Presidents is also weak and that they have been abducted by "the liberals", who apparently also abducted me in the process.

I am hoping that statements like these will help change hearts and minds.

Some Evangelicals tell me a good Christian should not care about the environment, because it's all going to burn up when Jesus returns.  (He promises a new Heaven and a New Earth.)

Okay, fine.  I accept that he will make all things new.

So...why do I bother to brush my teeth?  I'm going to get a new, perfect body when Jesus returns.  Yet I still brush my teeth.

But there's an even better reason to care for and protect the creation.  It is a trust.  It doesn't belong to us.  For the Christian, one of the Psalms says it best -- "The earth is the Lord's, and everything that is in it."  So it's not MINE.  It's HIS.  And he's trusting me to take care of it.  I wholeheartedly applaud the SBC ministers who are trying to move their denomination back to Biblical standards.  Unfortunately, they are just 44 men.  The SBC's official position still condemns the very notion of global climate change. 

For my friend it seems to be a matter of scale - and this difference I attribute to our age difference. 
She would agree with you that you should take care of your body, your home, and the things that God puts under "your" control.  I think that even though she may have an intellectual understanding of what our planet is and it's place in the solar system - I don't think she really comprehends it.  The Earth is still metaphorical to her - she refers to the atmosphere as "the heavens".   I have tried to get her to think of the Earth as an object like any other - something with a definate size and shape.  If you take a glass ball and pump smoke into it, eventually it will fill up and the air within the ball will be polluted.  In her frame of reference, essentially the atmosphere ("heavens") has no end, and therefore anything that we put into the atmosphere will magically disappate because... well.. she seems to think God is in charge of dealing with the garbage we put up there.

Someone who is in their 60's grew up before the moon landing and when spaceflight was still a dream.  To her the world is big, the solar system is unimaginable, and the universe is unkown.  To those of us who grew up in the era of the space station and the robotic exploration of Mars, the world is small, the solar system is big, and the universe is unimaginable. 

I understand that the world is small, and therefore can be destroyed, maintained, or saved like any other object.  I understand that the Earth - like our bodies or our land - was a creation of God that we are to be good stewards of.  For her, claiming that we are sullying the planet is the same as someone coming up to me and claiming that human beings are destroying the solar system -- the concept is unbelievable to someone who fails to comprehend the true scale of God's creation.

But that's just it.  God did put creation under our control.  Just like our bodies.  The theological question is, what does "dominion" mean?  God gave humankind dominion over creation.  Now, for hundreds of years...thousands maybe...humanity has interpreted this to mean dominance.  We can do with it as we please.  The words sound the same.  In English.  But in ancient Hebrew -- "dominion" means husbandry.  We are to be, by God's standard, husbands to creation.

So then the question becomes, how is a husband supposed to treat his wife?  Words like protect, nurture, care for, preserve and provide for come to mind.

[BushKenya]

Wow, JSojourner.  I actually agree with you 100% on what you said.

[JSojourner]

Wow, JSojourner.  I actually agree with you 100% on what you said.

Don't make a habit of it.  They'll throw a net over you!  ;-)