Thursday April 23, 2009
Global Warming and Protestant Pastors
"Though many people insist global warming is real and man-made, Protestant pastors aren't entirely convinced, according to a new study from LifeWay Research."
China vs. US: A Visual Comparison
Mint.com has put together an interesting infographic comparing various aspects of both the United States and China.
No Truth Without Love, No Love Without Truth
Dr Mohler: "Liberal churches have redefined compassion to mean that the church changes its message to meet modern demands. They argue that to tell a homosexual he is a sinner is uncompassionate and intolerant. This is like arguing that a physician is intolerant because he tells a patient she has cancer. But, in the culture of political correctness, this argument holds a powerful attraction."
The "Honey Do" List
Here's an article for husbands who can never reach the end of the "Honey Do" list. "Just as you can never complete the "Honey-Do" list, neither can you ignore it (to do so will alternately whip your wife into an uncontrolled fury or send her crashing to the floor in a fit of tears depending on what day of the week it is)." (HT:Amy)
"Though many people insist global warming is real and man-made, Protestant pastors aren't entirely convinced, according to a new study from LifeWay Research."
China vs. US: A Visual Comparison
Mint.com has put together an interesting infographic comparing various aspects of both the United States and China.
No Truth Without Love, No Love Without Truth
Dr Mohler: "Liberal churches have redefined compassion to mean that the church changes its message to meet modern demands. They argue that to tell a homosexual he is a sinner is uncompassionate and intolerant. This is like arguing that a physician is intolerant because he tells a patient she has cancer. But, in the culture of political correctness, this argument holds a powerful attraction."
The "Honey Do" List
Here's an article for husbands who can never reach the end of the "Honey Do" list. "Just as you can never complete the "Honey-Do" list, neither can you ignore it (to do so will alternately whip your wife into an uncontrolled fury or send her crashing to the floor in a fit of tears depending on what day of the week it is)." (HT:Amy)
Comments (8) »
1. Andy
April 23, 2009
8:57 AM
It seems to me that the idea of man-made catastrophic global warming (i.e. where the planet becomes inhospitable to life) is an alternate eschatology to what we know as Christians.
It’s got all certain religious hallmarks: human “sin” (CO2 emissions), indulgences (carbon credits), prophecies (predictions about future climate, impending doom), etc. It’s almost as if the secular Western heart - conscious of its own sin but dismissing Christianity - is grasping for some other value system.
Does the climate change? No doubt. Temperatures rise and fall from day to day, week to week, season to season… I am not alarmed to learn that they fluctuate from decade to decade and century to century.
As Christians, we are to be good stewards of the creation God blesses us with, to care for it and cultivate it, but let’s take great care not to deify that creation, and turn it into an idol.
“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”
- Gen. 8:22
2. J.P.H.
April 23, 2009
9:44 AM
I don’t think it requires idolatry to believe that anthropogenic influences are changing the earth’s climate and that those changes might have negative consequences.
3. Peter
April 23, 2009
12:05 PM
“Here’s an article for husbands who can never reach the end of the “Honey Do” list.”
You mean there are some who do reach the end of it???
More evidence, if any were needed, of the superiority of the single life…
4. Nicole
April 23, 2009
6:10 PM
Ah! I was so looking forward to reading the “Honey Do” article and I was pretty disappointed. I was hoping for some direction. As a brand new wife, I have felt the need to create, and tyranically enforce a “to-do” list that sucks the life out of my poor hubby. But on the other hand, stuff does need done. I was pretty sad that the article was so crass and unhelpful (not to mention a bit demeaning to the wife).
I am wondering if there was a bit of joking in there? I suppose, just wondering…
:)
5. beatrice81
April 24, 2009
1:47 AM
“Though many people insist global warming is real and man-made, Protestant pastors aren’t entirely convinced, according to a new study from LifeWay Research.”
Because Protestant pastors are known to be experts in the geothermal sciences, right? The day we start looking to religious folks for scientific facts is the day we confuse the fact-based with the faith-based.
6. J.P.H.
April 24, 2009
3:18 PM
I agree that an arbitrary protestant pastor’s opinion about global warming shouldn’t be considered any more valuable than the opinion of an arbitrary non-protestant-pastor who happens not to be a climatologist.
That said, every non-climatologist has to have some method of determining his opinion about global warming. One approach, which many argue is the best, is to simply accept the consensus if one exists. If the majority of climatologists believe X, and I’m not a climatologist, then its presumptive for me disagree with X.
On the other hand, given that there do exist climatologists who do disagree with the consensus view, albeit few of them, another approach for the lay person would be to examine the “opposition view” and its criticisms of the consensus view, then attempt to objectively decide which is the more convincing. Personally I think this the best approach, especially for someone who has at least some passing experience with science, mathematics, and statistics.
Unfortunately, that’s not what most folks do, likely including many protestant pastors. Since the consensus view is the “environmentalist” view, and some environmentalists have elevated that belief to a religious level, those who strongly disagree with “extreme environmentalism” tend to reject the consensus view on warming out of guilt-by-association.
However, if a given protestant pastor seems to have researched the issue objectively, examined the consensus view and the opposition view, and come down on the side of the opposition view, and I generally respected that pastor as an objective and intelligent person, then I would give the same weight to his opinion as I would to the view any other objective and intelligent person who had spent significant time researching the issue. In other words, I wouldn’t give extra weight to his opinion because he’s a pastor, but at the same time I wouldn’t give less weight to his opinion because he’s a pastor.
7. Eug
April 26, 2009
5:56 PM
The…
8. Eug
April 26, 2009
5:57 PM
The, d
Post Your Comment Here »