Should we worry about global warming?
If you follow the news, you know that there is talk about global warming and the negative effects it is having on the earth. Should we be worried? Does the Bible say anything about global warming? I don't know of any verse that addresses whether or not climate change is happening, but the Bible does contain a promise that contradicts all the dire predictions of global catastrophe.
Genesis 6 & 7 tell us about a great flood during which God destroyed all people and all land animals except those that were on Noah's ark. When we get to Genesis 8 we read about Noah and his sons resuming life on dry land after the flood. Read the following verses. What command did God give to Noah?
Gen. 8:13 ¶ Now it came about in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the water was dried up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried up.
Gen. 8:14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.
Gen. 8:15 Then God spoke to Noah, saying,
Gen. 8:16 “Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you.
Gen. 8:17 “Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”
Gen. 8:18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him.
Gen. 8:19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark.
God told Noah to remove himself and all the animals from the ark so they could once again start to fill the earth.
After they were off the ark, Noah built an altar. What promises did God make in response to the altar, and how do His promises reassure us in regards to the threat of global warming and climate change?
Gen. 8:20 ¶ Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Gen. 8:21 The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.
Gen. 8:22 “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease.”
Let's look closely at verse 22. This is a clear promise from Yahweh Himself. Notice the first phrase.
Gen. 8:22 “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease.”
The promise applies as long as the earth exists.
Now look at the middle part of the verse. Notice there are 4 pairs of words.
Gen. 8:22 “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease.”
These 4 sets of words capture the essence of various physical conditions that make the climate of the earth what it is. Now look at the last phrase.
Gen. 8:22 “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease.”
Yahweh clearly promised that these various physical conditions will not cease as long as the earth exists.
What does this have to do with global warming? Even if climate changes are happening and even if the earth is warming, Yahweh made it very clear that the earth will continue to support life as long as the earth exists. There will not be some sort of climate change that will make it impossible for the earth to support life. Therefore, as we hear various dire predictions about global warming and the effect it is having, remember that these dire predictions will not come true because God has promised that planting and harvesting shall not cease.
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[widgets_on_pages id="Donate"] “Scripture quotations taken from the NASB."