Our Summer Survival Guide is over, but here’s a few links to chase down the range of summer-y issues we covered.
On the topic of busyness and relaxing:
> a teaser video by the author of the book The busy Christian’s guide to busyness, to whet your appetite. It’s only 128 seconds of your life, in case you’re feeling busy …
On the topic of global warming, peak oil and how the gospel of Jesus helps us be a society. (Even if you’re a skeptic on climate change, there’s still the peak oil question … but hey, maybe the local church will become more prominent when no-one can afford to drive anymore!)
> Peak oil and the psychology of human response – here
> The Social Issues executive’s briefings on peak oil, climate change #2, #3
> The Centre for Public Christianity (CPX) has articles on the Copenhagen conference
> An interesting argument in this video on why Cap-and-trade solutions to carbon pollution (like Rudd’s proposed ETS, in my understanding) aren’t the way forward, even as a compromise solution. Read more on Byron Smith’s blog here.
And finally, the reasons why I decided to preach on global warming. Let’s face it, it’s too easy for Christians just to jump on the bandwagon of the latest fad issue or social concern, especially when our world will happily hear us moralise about the environment but no longer wants to hear about the morality of greed, sex, marriage or family (BTW, have you noticed how moral language is used in the climate debates, there are eco-sins & eco-virtues, believers & skeptics, crusaders & eco-terrorists … even though moral language is unwelcome from most public discourse). Instead of following the world on the latest issue, it should be our prayer that Christians so understand God’s word and God’s world that we are ahead of the curve, calling the world to reform and righteousness, in the same vein that once led to the abolition of slavery, abolition of child labour, establishment of orphanages, & more.
Addressing climate change mustn’t be a kneejerk reaction to jump on board the bandwagon of the latest fad. But I was persuaded that it was important to preach on climate change and peak oil, especially in light of the overwhelming evidence, but also because it’s important that Christians DON’T:
(i) say nothing, or we are absent from one of the key debates of our time when even a movie like Avatar is ‘preaching’ about the problem and offering a pantheistic ‘gospel’ to save us;
(ii) live in denial of the problems occurring in our world (Himalayan glaciers melting that are the water source for maybe 1/3 of the world’s population, oh, and the oil running out) and effectively become climate-skeptics,
(iii) do nothing, because it’s easy to get hot under the collar, then go back to our fuel-hungry over-consuming stay-ahead-of-the-Joneses throwaway lives. “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” – Jesus (Luke 12:15)
Dave
