This entry is for my seminary students to respond to. I will not approve comments by anyone outside of that group. Students, remember that you must post your response before Noon on Monday the 13th. The reponse must be 150 words, so you should avoid long quotes and bibliographic information. You may include a link to something if you like. I may or may not respond to your post, but if I do then you are free to respond to my reponse with no length or other restrictions.
Here's the deal. I was reading (in between laughing out loud) the article about "Evangelicals" issuing a statement about global warming. Now personally, I think global warming is utter nonsense, built on bad science and even worse logic; and I'll probably post something about it later this weekend. But that aside, is this sort of "statement" the proper work of evangelical pastors? As pastors, to what degree, if any, should these types of social/political/environmental sort of causes consume our time and energy?
Have Fun!
Posted by Narnia3 at February 10, 2006 10:53 AM | TrackBackJason Fevig
PM 512
2/10/06
The concept of global warning is something in my opinion that “Evangelicals” have no business making official statements on. Today more than ever we have Christian groups like “Focus on the Family” or pastors like Rick Warren and T.D. Jakes using there influence in circles they don’t have authority on. As a future evangelical pastor I believe our authority and responsibility rests not in public policy or the most recent environmental hot-topic. Our authority rests on the truth of God’s word, and it’s our job to make it known.
As a pastor, it’s counter-productive to waste our time and energy trying to change how this world works. We are not living in a Theocracy. If we want the world to be more “Christ-like” then we need to discipline ourselves for righteousness sake, know God, and make Him known. To be consumed with global warming or to spend our days lobbying for stricter policies is to squander the very reason for which we have been set apart.
This kind of statement is definitely NOT the proper work of evangelical pastors. Unfortunately, more and more evangelical pastors have (erroneously) taken up pet political/social causes as a vital part of their ministries. The pastor’s job is wholly to proclaim the truths of Scripture; their primary responsibility is to feed and oversee the flock that God has given them.
As Evangelical Christian leaders become increasingly involved in political/social debates, there will be several undesirable consequences:
1. God’s Glory and transforming Grace will take a subordinate role in the eyes of the church, as legislation is exalted as the means to usher in the Kingdom.
2. Biblical Christianity will be dismissed by unbelievers as little more than a political movement pursuing a religious agenda.
3. Believers will be starved from the Spiritual Food we so desperately need, as political issues crowd their way into sermons.
Finally, (in case you’re still not convinced), the following signatures appeared on the Climate Change Initiative:
Rev. Brian McLaren
Rev. Dr. Rick Warren
Whatever these two support…we automatically have to stand against :)
A pastor should preach and teach the whole council of God like Paul in Acts 20. Since the Bible speaks to social and governmental issues, a pastor should address these issues from the context of Scripture. The statement made by the 86 evangelical pastors was irresponsible because it gave no Scriptural basis or hard scientific evidence.
As evangelical pastors, there highest priority is the gospel and the preaching and teaching of the Bible. It is not global warming. It is sad to see so many of the seeker friendly and emerging churches trading the teaching of God’s Word and His agenda for humanistic social/political agendas. Acts 6:2 makes it clear that pastors should not neglect the preaching of God’s Word for other social endeavors. Christians by their very nature must be actively influencing society for God’s glory, but pastors should never abuse the pulpit or their popularity by replacing God’s Word with their own idle words or social/political agenda.
The work of a pastor is to preach God’s Word and shepherd God’s flock. The absurd notion that a pastor ought to devote his (actually God’s) time and resources to matters such as the so-called global warming issue contradicts New Testament priorities. Paul exhorted pastors to preach the Word, refute false teachers, and exercise oversight in the church (just to name a few). Pastors should care for souls, not the climate. It is commendable that the Evangelical Climate Change Initiative seeks to be a good steward of God’s creation and minimize potential effects of the climate on poor communities. Regardless of this initiative’s merit, however, these issues distract the pastor from the immediate spiritual needs of his congregation. The only social/political issues that a pastor should be concerned with are moral issues that threaten the church or explicitly contradict God’s Word (e.g. abortion, homosexual communities, etc).
Posted by: Michael Hoch at February 12, 2006 5:03 PMJared Tabor
Psa 89:11 “The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it, you have founded them.”
I just want to start out with a positive statement of that we should have reverence for this wonderful creation that the Lord has given us. As Christians, should we not be a people who declare the Glory of the Lord throughout all of His creation?
I also see how this line of Christian activism in the secular arena can lead to a watered down gospel and how the truth can be lost in this message. That’s why as a pastor, when it comes to the environment, it is not my specialty to deal in the matters of policy making and would leave that to the Government. With that being said though, we still live in this world and must have a biblical worldview that allows us to think through social issues in a way honoring to the Lord. So let us hold fast to biblical truth but not ignore the problems that face us daily.
Posted by: Jared Tabor at February 13, 2006 1:25 AMAs His spokesmen, the issues that we should focus on with all people, not just the flock, must always be the Truth of God’s Word and the proper response to it. After all, this is our single solitary purpose in life, is it not? Global Warming and other concepts relating to the world ought not to have any real value to the pastor when compared with the Gospel. Telling the world about this or that human problem (aside from sin) wastes time more appropriately spent preaching salvation. It would be far better for all men everywhere if we held to our standard purpose and thereby avoid further future heartache. Mind you, this standard has not changed, but we have. That is, our priorities have shifted from the eternal to the temporary and when that change in focus takes place and on a wide scale then we are no different than a compassionate TV news reporter or some half wit talk show host. Preachers are here to present all men complete in Christ, and simply that.
Posted by: dluther at February 13, 2006 8:30 AMThe Bible provides no evidence that global warming is a topic that a pastor should spend any time or energy on. Eph.4:11-13 says a Pastor is to build up the body of Christ so that they might be like Christ. Titus 1:9 tells us a Pastor is to exhort in sound doctrine.
Will the church be built up because a Pastor is a moral, Republican who thinks that the Kyoto accord is as much about science as evolution is? No! Will the church know more of Christ because they like the Pastor’s view on global warming? No! Will the Pastor prevent people from coming to Christ because they are offended by his views on global warming or other such issues. Humanly speaking, yes!
Acts 20:28 reminds us that the church has been purchased with Christ’s blood. How can Pastors speak on trivial and temporary topics when Christ has entrusted them with the church that cost Him His life? We are one in Christ and Christ is who should be focused on in the role of Pastor.
This is one quote from amongst the 86 evangelical signers "millions of people could die in this century because of climate change, most of them our poorest global neighbors." The statistics tell us that almost two people die every second and about 110 every minute. Jesus tells us LOOK the harvest is ready right now. Death is certain people; the truth is eternal damnation is real and that all people have souls that will live eternally in Heaven or Hell! In acts 6, the twelve apostles thought it noteworthy to select seven spirit-filled men to help serve the Christian widows so they could devout themselves to prayer and the word. If the apostles of that day thought it more noteworthy to pray and study the word in place of serving Christian widows, how much more is the nonsense of “so called” pastors worrying about doubtful evidence concerning global warming! For those who believe we are in the New Heavens and New Earth this could be something to look into.
Posted by: Henry David Moore at February 13, 2006 10:41 AMI believe the ECI’s poorly attempted and faulty biblical basis for their call to action betrays the notion that global warming should be the focus of evangelical pastors.
One of the ECI’s convictions for action, laid out under Claim #3 of their call to action, claims that “any damage done to God’s world is an offense against God Himself (Gen. 1; Ps. 24; Col. 1:16).” I suppose, then, that when God not merely damaged but destroyed the world with the mother of all floods in Gen.7:17-23, He must’ve been pretty mad at Himself. The second conviction in Claim #3 asserts that overlooking global warming issues is a failure “to love our neighbors”, based on the groundless assumption that global warming is the primary cause of starvation and disease in the world.
The problem here is that the ECI is demanding far too much time and energy to be devoted to, at best, trivial matters that overshadow the foremost objective of evangelical pastors to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Mt.28:18-20).