Chuck Bentley
Posted on 02/15/2019 1:38:45 PM PST by SeekAndFind
To learn Biblical answers to your financial questions, you can #AskChuck @AskCrown your questions by clicking here. Questions used may be lightly edited for length or clarity.
Chuck Bentley
Dear Chuck,
Doesn’t the Bible say we should protect the environment? Are we going to have to give in to centralized government controls to preserve our natural resources? This “Green New Deal” has me nervous.
Ms. Green
Dear Ms. Green,
There is a lot in your question so let’s take the issues in order.
Yes, the Bible says we are to be stewards of our natural resources. It also addresses climate and economics and what is good and what is evil. We should always try and evaluate public policy through God’s Word to avoid being misled by proposals that are contrary to it.
Genesis 2:15 says, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” Adam was given a stewardship responsibility in the garden before the Fall of Creation. Man was placed here to work and manage the beautiful world God created.
But it doesn’t stop there. Throughout God’s Word we learn that we are to faithfully manage more than just natural resources but our time, talents, finances, our children, and the gospel as well. Stewardship is the Lord’s way of restoring all that is broken in the world. More on this below.
Second question, “do we have to become socialists to preserve our natural resources’? Answer: No. In fact, it is faulty logic to believe that the public sector will be better stewards of anything than those in the private sector. However, I do agree with you that what is being touted as the solution to potential environmental catastrophe, the Green New Deal (GND), is cause for concern and a great leap forward towards a dangerous form of government if the legislation is enacted as law.
Supporting the Green New Deal Without Facts or Discernment
In December, 2018 a Yale survey reported that 81% of American voters support the Green New Deal yet 82% knew nothing about it. An explainer with the polled question described the promised environmental benefits without including the social impact.
Now that the impact has been more clearly defined, we know a few things.
The GND is predicated on the alarming assumption that we are on a collision course for a massive environmental and societal disaster in the near term - ten years - by 2029.
“Our nation - and our world - face a “perfect storm” of economic and environmental crises that threaten not only the global economy, but life on Earth as we know it.” Jill Stein, Presidential Candidate in 2016 explaining the need for the GND.
Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., have toned the rhetoric down a notch calling climate change “a direct threat to the national security of the United States”. Their proposed resolution calls for the United States to “achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions through a fair and just transition for all communities and workers.” Other elements include phasing out air travel and “aid for those unwilling to work.” Elements of the proposal have already drawn support from some congressional Democrats, including several seeking their party’s presidential nomination.
Our Greatest Threat?
This is an issue, if as popular as reported by the Yale survey, that will require great discernment. Setting aside politics and proposed solutions, we must ask if there is sufficient evidence that climate change is the greatest “direct threat to the national security of the United States” that warrants immediate and sweeping public sector intervention and control. One possible Presidential candidate in 2020, Howard Schultz, disagrees. "I think the greatest threat domestically to the country is this $21 trillion debt hanging over the cloud of America and future generations.”
If Schultz is correct, the proposed solutions in the GND would make our fiscal crisis worse by accelerating the already massive debt levels of the federal government and the burdens of individual and corporate tax payers. The economic impact would be dangerous.
Christian Response
The Bible specifically warns about debt in Proverbs 22:7, “....the borrower is a slave to the lender.” Financial collapse seems a far more likely near-term threat to our way of life than climate change. Many young Americans are deeply concerned about our environment and rightly so; however, solutions must be grounded in sound economic principles. Out of control spending (caused by lack of good stewardship of our national wealth) is a threat that plagues our national security and there is no indication that either political party is willing to put on the spending brakes.
The Bible contains specific verses about God’s control of the climate and the consequences for man’s disobedience. We can safely conclude three things:
I do not know how the Green New Deal can avert problems with weather extremes. But I know what is needed: true repentance for our sins before the holy God who controls the weather.
God’s Original Deal
Biblical stewardship means we must make decisions that will ultimately glorify God and positively impact the lives of others across the planet. Greed and exploitation are completely inexcusable. Love for God, gratitude for all He has given, and concern for people made in His image should drive our efforts.
This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. It is required of stewards that they be found faithful. (1 Corinthians 4:1-2 ESV)
Dr. John C. Bergstrom, in his paper, Principles of a Christian Environmental Ethic, states:
The Christian steward also respects and values nature because he or she knows that both people and nature will share in redemption and renewal in the new eternal heaven and earth.
Because of sin, we, and nature alike, look forward to God’s future work, as Paul wrote the Romans:
For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:22-23 ESV)
Nothing.
That means that those who are at the top of the command hierarchy within the government control both the government and the people.
God gave us a brain as well as a Bible.
Sometimes we need to use the good sense God gave us instead of looking for every answer to be spelled out clearly and specifically in the Bible.
Here’s your answer in a nutshell, per Matthew 16:23 -
“...Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.”
End of story.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods?
Wait, Jesus was a socialist all this time.....?
Come up with a proof text that the Bible forbids suicide and you have answered the question.
Thou shalt not murder.
"The Socialist - the extreme and revolutionary party of Socialists - are very fond of telling us they are reviving in modern days the best principles of the Christian era. They consider they are the political embodiment of Christianity, though, to judge by the language which some of them use and the spirit of envy, hatred, and malice with which they go about their work, you would hardly imagine they had studied the teaching of the Founder of Christianity with the attention they profess to have given to the subject. - (Hear, hear.) But there is one great difference between Socialists of the Christian era and those of which Mr Victor Grayson is the apostle. The Socialism of the Christian era was based on the idea that "all mine is yours', but the Socialism of Mr Grayson is based on the idea that 'all yours is mine’.
Ceasar does not OWN law.
Just discovered on ancient papyrus in a cave:
“Commandment 11 - thou shalt not implement the Green New Deal.”
The Bible say absolutely NOTHING about “The Green New Deal’’. God Almighty I hate when the atheistic Left starts using the Lords Book to justify their evil.
Thou shalt not murder is different than saying thou shalt not kill....
I believe that the term murder is a more accurate translation of the older, more common term of kill. God commanded the Hebrews to kill a lot of people during war.
My mind came to the verse about how one’s body is God’s temple. That verse relates to sexual immorality, but I would guess that suicide would also violate the idea that our body and our selves are sacred to God.
I pretty much agree - too many use the “body is a temple” bit to encourage eating veggies and not smoking by taking it out of context....God did encourage wholesale killing and when His orders were not fully implemented, He allowed those who didn’t kill enough to suffer because of their “mercy’.
No, He didn't allow those who didn't kill enough to suffer because of their mercy. They were punished because of their disobedience. Nothing more, nothing less. God sees the end from the beginning. IF all of those He prescribed to death were killed then it would have prevented a whole lot more killing. You don't have His knowledge and cannot apply your standards to Him.
I think trebb is on the right track - maybe didn’t say it the best way.
I recall our pastor talking about this in Bible study. One of the “free days” when he didn’t have a sermon to discuss in more detail. He calls it the “stump the pastor” - asking the hard questions. Like how come a loving God would command the Hebrews to kill every person in the land.
Long explanation that I think you all get. But in the end he sort of summarized it with something like “So instead - they bring these pagans into their homes as servants. Marry them. And then THEY start worshiping the false gods. I mean, come on!! Who didn’t see that THIS was a stupid idea!?”
I understand it was their disobedience but also posit it was because they thought it was the “merciful” way to go...they thought they had killed enough even though God had told them what to do...goes back to the “stiff-necked” crowd that received the 10 Commandments because they insisted that God give them a clear set of rules....they proved we cannot follow even a simple, writ in stone, set of rules.
Thanks - we have a history of disobeying God because we think we know better - it’s why we ended up with the 10 Commandments.....a “stiff-necked” people insisted God give them what they wanted...
When I make my comments, I try to stay Biblical and instead of doing an overly full explanation, I hope some will maybe dig into areas they seem to not be familiar with ... sometimes it gives them info that may make them ask other questions instead of blindly following their priests and pastors...the best way to learn is to pore through info to “prove a point”....sometimes it ends up with a surprise twist that leads to other questions and hopefully, more poring through.
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