- RSS FeedSubscribe
- « Previous PostThe Peasall Sisters - Family Harmony DVD
- Next Post »The Funding Behind The Evangelical Climate Initiative
Friday Frivolity
- 02/17/06
- 21
First off, let's do another giveaway. For some reason I keep getting copies of Nancy Pearcey's Total Truth in the mail so let's go ahead and clear out a couple of those. It seems appropriate that in giving away Nancy's book we'd have a contest somehow based on the Pearceys. So how's this? The first person to tell me what instrument Nancy plays AND the instrument her husband Rick plays, will win a copy of the book. That person can then choose any other person who posts on this site to receive the second copy of the book.
To this point I have not commented on the Evangelical Climate Initiative that we have all read so much about. The reason I have held my tongue is that I really know very little about the inititiave and about global warming. My understanding of global warming is that it does not exist, or that there is very little proof of its existence, and that dedicating huge amounts of resources to combatting it is a colossal waste of money. But my ignorance of the topic has precluded me from saying anything substantial. It is a lesson I've learned the hard way through blogging: it's often better to keep my mouth closed. But I think my feelings were adequately expressed by Steve Camp when he wrote, "A guy writes one very successful book, makes a lot of money and all of a sudden he's concerned about people with AIDS and world hunger. Fair enough. But now, Rick Warren is spearheading a global effort called the Evangelical Climate Initiative. There's only one problem--global warming doesn't exist." I have to believe that the church has more pressing problems to deal with than global warming. For example, widespread apostacy and unbelief come to mind.
If you have nothing better to do on a Friday afternoon, here is a neat little Flash game. Using logic and basic physics you have to get a ball to a target. It's more fun than it sounds. I suppose it's for those people who like playing Mousetrap.
For those who do not enjoy book and DVD reviews, I apologize for the large number I've been posting lately. I'll also warn you that there are more to come. I have a long (very long) list of DVDs to watch and review and quite a large number of books I have read but not yet reviewed. I hope to take care of some of this over the weekend. I have been a mite lazy in this regard and it's time I played catchup.
Janelle over at GirlTalk asked a few questions in regards to the King of the Week award.
Now, Mr. Challies, the GirlTalkers are honored to be awarded this prestigious title, and we were just wondering-does this come with anything? Given the designation "King" found in the title of your award, we thought that you might accompany this honor with, let's say, a royal feast of some kind. Just in case you were wondering, my favorite restaurants are Outback and Houston's. Although, we GirlTalkers also love to shop, and we would accept any and all donations toward a shopping spree. If these sound too low key, a cruise would work. I'm thinking the Bahamas or Hawaii. We would also be fine with Disney World if you are looking to simplify things. I leave this decision entirely up to you.
I must have neglected to say that the award does come with a beautiful prize. It comes with something far more valuable than a consumeristic indulgence or an overpriced, underflavored steak at Houston's (provided that they sell steak. It could be a Vegan restaurant for all I know). It comes with this nifty graphic:
The banner is entirely optional (much like using a gift certificate for Houston's). But it sure is pretty. And, as per your suggestion, I will treat my wife to a nice dinner at Outback. She thanks you for the suggestion.
Oh, and please don't call me Mr. Challies. It makes me nervous. Plus, whenever I hear someone say "Mr. Challies" I find myself looking for my dad. He's Mr. Challies. I'm just Tim.
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I write books and blogs for fun while doing web design and consulting for a living. I worship and serve at 
Published in 2008, this book
This is a guide that calls men,
This review of the bestselling
New to the site? You can get
Comments (21)
Tim, you could tell the girls that King for a Week comes with terrific traffic. What more could a blogger ask for????
JDformer King for a Week,
Nancy Pearcey plays the violin.
Rick Pearcey plays the guitar (and a little piano).
D'oh! Too slow.
Good deal. Alex - Gaines sent me an email at about the same time you posted. Is it okay if s/he gets the second copy of the book?
What kind of little piano? Like that which Schroeder plays in Peanuts?
Tim - I confess I've never heard anyone but Americans & Canadians say that Global Warming isn't happening. I wondered whether that could be because it would be bad for the economy to do anything about it? I've never studied it (outside of school I mean) and yes ok I'm a cynic. And that includes being as cynical as the next reformed evangelical about projects spearheaded by Warren. But either way (ounce of truth in the theory or not), as stewards of God's creation we have a responsibility to care about it a lot more than most of us do. I'm not aware of any Biblical indication that personal redemption does nullifies the creation mandate.
"I'm not aware of any Biblical indication that personal redemption does nullifies the creation mandate."
Nor am I. But I do wonder sometimes if we, as the church, don't get all hung up about a hangnail when we've got a hatchet stuck in our heads.
Of course. I was just going to suggest that before I read your comment. Gaines, the second copy is yours.
Yesssssss.
Many thanks, both of you!
(BTW, I'm a "he.")
If you two could send me your addresses, I'll send the books to you.
aaarrrrggghhh. Tim, I just spent 30 minutes playing the mousetrap ball game. But I did win the hardest level ;-).
Thanks for the diversion!
Tim, don't apologize for all the reviews.
I am thrilled to have just ordered several books that you recommended... can't wait for them to get here.
In my opinion, if we worship the Creator but do nothing to care for creation we are being hypocritical. God gave us the command to be caretakers of this world. Few Christians view dropping a can in the recycling bin an act of worship, but consider that it might be just that. Whether we like to admit it or not our climate is changing. I think when we stand before God in the end we will discover that He cared that it changed and that we did nothing about it.
To piggy-back on Lilly's comment,
The premillenial eschatology has done nothing for Christian stewardship of creation. I've heard someone say "don't polish the brass on a sinking ship" with regards to our treatment of the environment. In fact, for some, the earth must be severely destroyed before Christ returns, so that's incentive to NOT be responsible with creation. I disagree strongly with this (of course), yet it is one outworking of eschatology.
Christian environmentalism is rooted in the creation mandate, and is seen in man's being God's vice-gerent over creation. However, I'm with you on the global warming issue, I'm not convinced there is such a thing.
"In my opinion, if we worship the Creator but do nothing to care for creation we are being hypocritical"
I agree with this. But I'm not convinced that global warming is an issue. And, as others have pointed out, for just a fraction of the cost of beginning to deal with global warming we could solve world poverty!
Hangnails and hatchets... I wasn't suggesting ignoring the hatchet - part of the difficulty with blogging is when you don' t know (without reading my blog) that I'm currently a missionary doing all God enables me to do about hatchets in the head in this part of the world. But the fact is that when we see someone emphasising something secondary we tend to swing the other direction to advocating ignoring it rather than just ignoring it! It's often the case that while the first person is overemphasising the secondary thing at the expense of the proclamation of the gospel, the reaction is not in line with the gospel either as it over-reacts the other way.
I'm not articulate at this time of night so I'll drop it.
PS 'this time of night' being the early hours of the morning chez moi, I hasten to add lest you think that my brain conks out at the 8.32 PM clocked by the comment system ;-)
Here's why I'm sad to see all the reformed-types go anti-ECI:
(1) Who cares about what Rick Warren does? I waste all kinds of my money and influence with my friends.
(2) I am not firmly convinced that global warming has not been proven. (How's that for lawyerly talk?) So if GW is real (as a majority of tenured University prof's in nat'l sciences would say, right? Maybe that's a misconception...) then don't we sound bad - - a bunch of non-climatologist, non-scientists (for the most part) saying "not proven! not proven!" To the extent that anti-greenhouse measures reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, especially the kind that comes from volatile regions, then I think that's good. Is the good worth the cost? I don't know but it's not so obviously wasteful to me.
(3) It's hard enough for outsiders to distinguish between evangelicals and regular old political conservatives. But there is a distinction, right? I'm just a little uncomfortable with the relationship right now, and so I would back away from advocacy of obviously "republican" issues that aren't necessary issues of conscience. (Sorry canadia. I don't know about your politico-religious dynamics).
Matthew - you are not mistaken in your belief that the vast majority of environmental scientists are convinced of the reality of global warming. There's a great deal of debate over how much of the climate change can be ascribed to human causes, but there's no question among most environmental scientists that the earth is getting warmer, on the whole.
OK, Andrew. Name me one, just one, person with pre-mill eschatology that has had a significant impact on environmental policy here in the US or elsewhere. I personally can think of only one, James Watt. What significant policies did he implement that led to the impending environmental doom we now face?
In case you did not figure it out, I'm pre-mill and grew up hearing all about it. I have never heard the "polishing the brass" comment or anything even remotely approaching it. (If you don't like pre-mill eschatology, say so, but stop the nonsense of blaming pre-mills for all sorts of things, like a lack of concern for the environment or not doing evangelism because Jesus is coming soon because it is frankly a false accusation; I can point to plenty of reformed amills who are pretty pathetic in living out their faith as well and who also drive SUVs). But, assuming you have heard people say it, what impact have those people had on the state of the environment that is any different than the impact you have had? Seriously.
Long term trends in environmental change occur naturally. What industry led to the end of the ice age (when those stinkin' Canucks didn't stop the advance of the glaciers to Ohio and the northern US)? I'm waiting.
30 years ago scientists were concerned about global cooling.
Let's go back to everyone riding a horse and deal with all the disease from all the dung. Yea, that will help people out.
A few comments:
I blogged earlier this week on the ECC and global warming. There are smart people both for and against the theory of global warming, so I won't attempt to provide the final answer.
What I will say is that too many Christians view enviromental care as a derailing of our main purpose to preach the Gospel and make disciples. The problem, though, is that environmental care is simply a lifestyle decision and we make thousands of lifestyle choices yearly, yet no one accuses us of spending too much time learning to drive a car, eating, reading Christian books, adding a second language, or any of the myriad things we do in a year. Truth is, once we learn a few simple things about living a more environmentally-friendly lifestyle, we don't have to spend any time doing it that will detract from our main mission.
This either/or silliness that is constantly trotted out by opponents of anything in the Christian life seen as "different" is a boondoggle that makes the critics that use that line of reasoning look stupid. I mean, how is recycling an aluminum can going to stop the Gospel from going out? Tossing it in the ground, like some supposed "Christians" do, is a far greater impediment to the Gospel in the lives of the unsaved who see wasteful Christians despising the Creator's creation.
As to this issue and eschatology, the way we view the end of all things definitely colors our view on protecting the Earth and the resources God gave us. Dispensational and pre-mill eschatology greatly influence political influence in the Middle East, for instance, with issues of Israel and oil closely tied together. If the United States stopped consuming so much oil, the wealth of Arabic nations would dry up and we'd have less personal interest in the Middle East. That would change everything.
Anyway, a few things to think about, regardless of whether global warming exists or not.
DLE:
You just won't accept it, will you?
Your argument makes little sense. How is a pre-mill supporting Israel tied to the continued flow of Middle East oil? It seems that support of Israel is more likely to lead to an Arab oil boycott which will force us to be more energy efficient. So maybe pre-mill is more energy and environmentally sound than the other positions.
Put another way, if Israel disappeared like many Muslims want, do you think that will lead to us consuming less oil or more?
BTW, this pre-mill guy recycles.
Where's the smiley for banging your head against the wall when you need it?