Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 243 ｜ Climate Idolatry & the Pope

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Monday. I hope everyone had a great, relaxing weekend.

00:00:07.400 Today we are going to talk about climate change from a Christian perspective.

00:00:11.500 In light of Earth Day, which was April 22nd, there were some things that were said that I

00:00:18.740 think Christians need to be able to think critically about and assess from the point

00:00:23.060 of view of Scripture. And the Pope said some things about Earth Day that I do not agree with

00:00:29.620 theologically, so we're going to break all of that down. I do want to talk to you guys about the

00:00:34.020 Out of Shadows documentary, and I might be able to today, and I'm sorry I keep putting it off. I

00:00:39.560 promise that I am not doing that on purpose. And what I mean by talk about it is just you guys have

00:00:46.240 asked me what I think about it, and so I want to give you my thoughts because I do have them, but

00:00:50.960 I don't need to take an entire episode to do it, so it keeps on getting tacked on to the end,

00:00:55.500 and then I don't have time once I talk about the main subject that I'm talking about to actually

00:01:00.940 get to that. So I'll talk about that. I'll also talk about the Chosen series, which so many of

00:01:05.380 you guys have asked me about. I haven't watched it. I will watch it, and maybe I'll do an entire

00:01:10.120 episode just telling you guys what I think about the Out of Shadows documentary that's on YouTube

00:01:14.780 and also the Chosen series if I get around to watching that anytime soon. So Earth Day was April 22nd.

00:01:20.960 Just a little background on the origins of Earth Day kind of gives us some context for the

00:01:27.420 environmentalist movement in general. There is some controversy surrounding how Earth Day started

00:01:34.180 or who actually started Earth Day. So if you just Google who founded Earth Day, the first name that

00:01:39.140 comes up is Gaylord Nelson. He was a senator and environmental activist who received the Presidential

00:01:45.180 Medal of Freedom in 1995 from Bill Clinton. He died in 2005, but he really

00:01:50.780 went down in history as the guy who started Earth Day and was a pioneer for the environmental

00:01:55.680 movement as we know it now. Rolling Stone and the New York Times report that it's actually not

00:02:02.440 Gaylord Nelson. It's actually a man by the name of Dennis Hayes, an environmental activist. A lot of

00:02:07.520 outlets interviewed him this year about climate change and all that good stuff. But in 2011, and here's

00:02:13.760 where even more of the controversy comes in with Earth Day, NBC wrote a piece saying that it was

00:02:18.440 Ira Einhorn. Maybe you already know that name. He is infamous. And really, that's who is reported to

00:02:25.380 have started Earth Day when it was written about in the 1970s. He was a hippie. He was an environmental

00:02:31.100 activist. But I repeat myself. Now, the interesting thing about Ira is that seven years after the first

00:02:37.940 Earth Day, he murdered his girlfriend and composted her body. And the authorities found the body in his

00:02:43.900 trunk. But he actually fled, strangely enough, and became kind of a nomad across Europe and then was

00:02:50.700 extradited, I think, a couple decades later to the U.S. and then put in prison. He actually just died

00:02:56.480 this month. ABC in 2006 also credited him with founding Earth Day. Salon.com, another left-wing

00:03:04.300 outlet, calls him the organizer of Earth Day, or they did back in the day, about 20 years ago. A 2001

00:03:11.120 article in the Washington Post said that he helped organize Earth Day. And yet, when you Google him

00:03:16.920 today or you Google who started Earth Day, you're not going to find this name. I couldn't find any

00:03:23.100 recent articles by any of these outlets stating that he helped found Earth Day. The most recent is the

00:03:29.140 2011 NBC article. Most articles about Earth Day don't even list him as any part of the day. And articles

00:03:36.120 about him don't even say that he was an environmentalist sometimes. A Time article actually says that it's all

00:03:42.520 a total myth that Ira had nothing to do with Earth Day at all. And maybe that's true. I don't know. I can't say 0.75

00:03:48.960 that I've been a big part of the environmentalist movement or that I am very familiar with the history of it.

00:03:55.120 It's just from what I've researched recently. It's also possible, though, that the media changed their tune once they

00:04:01.980 realized as liberal activist organizations. They need to fall in line with the totality of the left-wing

00:04:09.120 narrative. And how would it look if one of the core pieces of leftism, which is environmentalism,

00:04:14.840 was tied to a convicted murderer who ironically, adamantly, and publicly was anti-violence and

00:04:22.360 anti-war and all of that? And also, as an aside, why is that always the case with leftist activists?

00:04:28.180 Not always, but a lot of times, that they oppose so proudly and so boldly the things that they do

00:04:34.680 themselves or support the things that they don't do themselves. We talked about that on Friday,

00:04:38.700 promoting tolerance and peace while being very aggressive and very hateful of themselves.

00:04:43.160 Obviously, I'm not generalizing everyone on the left, but it seems that with so many

00:04:47.400 prominent liberal activists, the skeletons in their closet belie their purported values. And that was

00:04:53.620 certainly true of our friend Ira. Anyway, whoever started Earth Day, it is, whether it was Ira or

00:05:01.300 whether it was Gaylord or whether it was Dennis, whoever the media want us to believe started it,

00:05:05.860 it doesn't really matter. Whoever started Earth Day, it's supposed to be a day where people raise

00:05:10.480 awareness about the forces that are harming the earth to express gratitude for nature and to inspire

00:05:16.740 people to be environmentally conscious and to battle climate change. And as you guys probably know,

00:05:23.320 the climate has gone through seasons of climate change for millennia, literally forever. As far as

00:05:29.040 we know what the earth has done, we know that the earth has gone through cooling and has gone through

00:05:35.900 heating. It's gone through different stages of climate change that has had nothing to do with human

00:05:40.420 activity. Climate alarmists have been telling us for decades that the earth is a ticking time bomb

00:05:45.140 and that if we don't act now, the earth will be uninhabitable. In just a few years, you heard

00:05:49.740 AOC and Beto O'Rourke and a bunch of people on the left saying this is an existential crisis

00:05:54.780 and the world as we know it is going to come to an end in 12 years or less, unless we do all of

00:05:59.940 these radical things. The end date for the earth just keeps getting pushed back. This has been

00:06:06.500 happening for decades now. The goalposts keep moving. It used to be global warming. Now it's climate

00:06:12.820 change that includes global warming. And when people argue that, well, things don't seem to be

00:06:18.980 warming up progressively every year, climate activists say, well, climate isn't weather.

00:06:25.020 That's typically what they say. But at the same time, when there are especially hot days or hot

00:06:30.500 summers, hot seasons, or especially cold winters, or when there's a catastrophic weather event, you'll

00:06:36.060 see climate activists on Twitter saying, see, these are the effects of climate change. And so they

00:06:40.680 simultaneously say it has nothing to do with weather. And that also it has everything to do with weather

00:06:45.560 and weather events. The science on climate change, the bottom line is not settled. That's just a fact.

00:06:50.880 As we talked about on last Wednesday's podcast, science is not supreme. Because while it's really

00:06:57.360 important, and while we should study it and should be thankful for it, it's vulnerable, not just to human

00:07:03.500 error, but also to human bias. It's very often driven by ideology and politics.

00:07:10.540 It shouldn't be, but it is. And this becomes obvious when you see climate activists arguing

00:07:15.280 that climate policy shouldn't just focus on climate-focused solutions, but on things like

00:07:21.140 racial equity and economic inequality. If you remember AOC's Green New Deal and all the hubbub 0.93

00:07:28.240 that that caused, it was this all-encompassing, her plan was this all-encompassing takeover of the

00:07:34.500 government and society in general. I'll never forget when she released that initial FAQ that said

00:07:40.580 that her plan, the Green New Deal, aims to provide economic security for those who are unwilling to

00:07:46.980 work. Not unable to work, but unwilling to work. So for many, if not most climate activists, they drum

00:07:53.440 up climate fear to push for a socialist restructuring of society. They know if they can fill people with

00:08:00.460 enough existential dread, they can convince them to hand over freedom in exchange for the security

00:08:06.000 and protection the federal government promises. We're actually on that. We're watching that same

00:08:11.720 exchange in a way right now. And, uh, we are, we're seeing this happen with coronavirus and climate

00:08:18.640 activists attempt to do the same thing with climate change. Now that said, we can agree that climate fear

00:08:25.240 mongering is real climate change, at least the rhetoric surrounding climate change right now

00:08:30.560 is a little bit hyperbolic and that people use climate activism as a ploy to give the government

00:08:35.900 more power and restructure the entire economy and society. And we can still acknowledge while

00:08:41.600 acknowledging those things, we can still acknowledge that we should be responsible as stewards of the

00:08:48.020 earth that God has created and that God has given us. Uh, pollution is real. Waste is real.

00:08:54.040 Their toxins, their behavior is not good for the environment, not good for animals, therefore not

00:08:59.840 good for humans. My friend, uh, Benji Backer actually has an organization called the American

00:09:05.900 Conservation Coalition. And I really appreciate what they do in their perspective because they believe

00:09:11.020 in limited government environmentalism. So you should check them out. If this is something that

00:09:14.960 you're interested in, they want to harness the power of limited government and, uh, free enterprise to

00:09:21.600 make the earth a better place. And I think that's good. I think that's a good, uh, example of good

00:09:27.400 stewardship of our resources. They actually just came out with an alternative plan to the green new

00:09:31.680 deal. That's a lot more feasible and just makes a lot more sense. So all that said, all of that said,

00:09:37.140 we as Christians need to be able to find the truth in all things. And that includes this. So when we see

00:09:43.060 the world freaking out about anything, our first reaction should never be to join in the panic.

00:09:48.340 We should always take a step back, assess the situation, seek the truth, seek the facts,

00:09:53.760 and look to the word of God to inform our thoughts. This is true about coronavirus. This is true about

00:09:59.380 climate change. This is true about any issue on the left or the right that everyone seems to be

00:10:04.620 fretting over. Sometimes, uh, there are things to be concerned over, of course, but panic is never

00:10:11.280 justified for the Christian because unlike the secular world, we know that God is in control. We know that 0.63

00:10:17.040 God is sovereign. So God, the creator of the universe who tells us what will happen at the end

00:10:22.660 of the age, we can trust him. We can have faith that what he says is true. Now, depending on your

00:10:29.020 eschatological views, there are different perspectives that you have on what the Bible says, uh, will happen

00:10:34.820 with the tribulation and Jesus's return and the thousand year reign and all of that. But regardless of

00:10:41.080 our views on the quote end of the world, we, as Christ followers agree that according to scripture,

00:10:46.500 our authority and our source of wisdom and vision, climate change is not how the world is going to

00:10:52.480 come to an end. Okay. So it might be true that there are things that we need to fix, whether it comes to

00:10:59.100 our behavior, whether it comes to, uh, renewable energy or infrastructure, all of that stuff that

00:11:05.940 might be true, but it is not true that the world is going to end from climate change. It is not the

00:11:11.640 existential crisis that climate fear mongers want you to believe that it is of all the prophecies

00:11:17.900 that we see about the end times in scripture. We read about famine. We read about calamity. We read

00:11:23.060 about natural disasters and wars and persecution and martyrdom and all of that. And maybe, maybe there

00:11:29.200 could be an argument that famine and natural disaster are products of climate change. But if that's the

00:11:35.240 case, then there ain't nothing that you nor I are going to be able to do to stop that. But more

00:11:41.020 importantly, the argument that these precursors to Jesus's return are products of climate change

00:11:47.240 is undermined by God's promise in Genesis eight, 21 through 22. I, he says this, I will never again

00:11:54.880 curse the ground because of man. He is making this promise to Noah after the flood. I will never again

00:11:59.840 curse the ground because of man for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I

00:12:04.920 ever strike down every living creature as I have done while the earth remains seed time and harvest

00:12:10.520 cold and heat summer and winter day and night shall not cease. So let me repeat that, that last line

00:12:18.160 while the earth remains seed time and harvest cold and heat summer and winter day and night

00:12:24.100 shall not cease. So seasons will remain. So as Christians, we believe that God keeps his promises.

00:12:35.500 We believe he means what he says. He is in control of the entire universe and we know how the end will

00:12:42.200 come about. And it's not through climate change. The sovereignty of power and power of God protects us

00:12:49.020 from climate panic. It protects us from all panic, but in relation to this topic, it protects us from

00:12:55.360 climate change panic. Now we also read in Genesis that God made the world and he saw that it was good

00:13:01.980 as he was creating it. God made the world with intentionality and care and creativity and purpose

00:13:07.420 and thoughtfulness. He created Adam and he placed Adam in the garden to quote, work it and to keep it.

00:13:13.700 God created the earth to glorify himself and to nourish and help us. And he didn't just make

00:13:19.360 things pragmatically for human sustenance and shelter and use. He made beautiful things. He made

00:13:26.040 creatures in the depths of the ocean that the human eye may never see. He made ecosystems. He made

00:13:31.280 colors and smells and textures and views. He didn't just make the world usable. He made the world beautiful.

00:13:37.620 This is what Christians call gifts of common grace, meaning gifts that even non-Christians get to 0.77

00:13:43.660 enjoy. He didn't have to do that, but he did for his glory and our good. And so knowing that it is

00:13:51.060 through gratitude and joy that the Christian should love, should appreciate and steward nature. There are

00:13:57.600 many ways that we do this and Christians in good faith can disagree on the proper methods of caring

00:14:03.360 for the earth. But I would say that, you know, just from my perspective, it's good to reduce waste.

00:14:08.580 It's good to plant trees to take in CO2. It's good to prevent pollution in our water and air as much

00:14:14.800 as we can anyway. It's good to care for animals. It's good to conserve the natural world. It's good

00:14:19.960 to use free market innovation to modernize our infrastructure and agriculture and harness renewable

00:14:26.820 energy and things like that. I don't think these things have to be the focus of our lives as Christians,

00:14:32.980 but we can take steps in our own lives, in our own circles to live within our means, to limit excess,

00:14:40.820 to care for the plot of the earth, the plot of, or the spot on eternity on which God has given us

00:14:47.820 to make sure that we are stewarding creation and stewarding our lives in gratitude in a way that

00:14:53.520 glorifies God. But what we cannot do if we want to abide by scripture and live in faith in Christ,

00:14:59.880 which of course all of us who follow Christ do, is panic and buy into the narrative that this is the

00:15:06.500 existential crisis of our age. God's word says that it's not an existential crisis because he's in

00:15:12.620 control of existence and he promises the seasons and harvest and cold and heat will continue through

00:15:17.800 the end of the age. We therefore cannot allow climate fear-mongering to lead us into a position

00:15:24.260 of believing the federal government needs to control our lives and private industry in order

00:15:30.040 to save us. The federal government does very few things well, very few things effectively and

00:15:36.160 efficiently. I don't understand why this is hard for people to get. We also lastly cannot buy into what

00:15:43.700 looks like quasi earth worship. We've talked about this on the podcast on the dangers of the new age.

00:15:49.760 If you haven't listened to my episode titled dangers of the new age and interview with Doreen virtue,

00:15:54.640 you have to, it is by far my most listened to episode. She is a very interesting person. It was

00:16:00.720 just an awesome interview. So go listen to that. But one of the characteristics of the new age is the

00:16:06.080 idea that everything is God, or at least there, there are parts of the new age that believe that

00:16:12.720 everything has components of the divine. So crystals, oils, rocks, sand, trees, wind, whatever

00:16:19.860 in nature has special divine power and or presence, including you, including me, including all people.

00:16:26.360 And we're not talking about the biblical truth that humans are made in God's image. I'm talking about

00:16:33.560 the belief that inside you, this new age belief that inside you is some untainted goddess, that if it

00:16:39.920 weren't for societal expectations, if it weren't for your insecurities, if it weren't for the

00:16:43.880 patriarchy or capitalism, whatever, it would be unleashed or manifested. That is an idea in the

00:16:49.160 world of self-love and self-help. Sometimes it's explicit. Sometimes it's implicit. That is a new age

00:16:55.380 concept that can generally be generally be described as pantheism. So the belief that God is, is, or is in

00:17:03.480 everything and anything. So you see this in a lot of ways, including when it comes to climate change

00:17:09.160 ideology, how leftism, the new age and the culture of self-love or Trinity narcissism, they're all

00:17:15.280 intertwined. They're all interconnected. So without knowing it, many environmentalists have become

00:17:20.600 pantheists. You notice that behind their constant insistence on the quote science behind climate change

00:17:27.300 is spiritualism. So if you follow Giselle, Tom, Tom Brady's wife, and obviously a model in her own

00:17:33.320 right, Leonardo DiCaprio, any of these environmental activists, and look at their rhetoric

00:17:38.680 about mother nature or mother earth. They talk about showing gratitude to the earth, showing

00:17:44.320 reverence for the earth, humbling ourselves before nature and thanking it for what it provides for us.

00:17:50.640 So they personify, and I would say even glorify, deify the earth. They elevate animals. A lot of

00:17:58.780 these activists do to the place of humans. They demand not just responsible stewardship of natural

00:18:04.300 resources, which I agree with, but what sounds like all out worship of the earth. And that's

00:18:10.180 what's interesting is that many climate scientists and climate activists identify as atheists. I'm sure

00:18:16.880 not all of them, but a lot of them do. They hold to this Darwinistic materialistic worldview, meaning

00:18:23.100 they only believe in what they see or what can be proven objectively by science. So not realizing that

00:18:29.440 for many of them, much of their so-called science is driven by things that are not objective,

00:18:34.720 things that are subjective. So personal opinion, political ideology, and I would say most ironically,

00:18:41.380 religious belief. Their religious belief is one that ascribes personhood and even divinity to the

00:18:48.200 inanimate earth. So the Pope released a statement, which I thought kind of echoed this secular religion.

00:18:54.900 It echoed this kind of pantheistic worldview. Part of his statement said this, and you can look it up

00:19:00.820 to read it in full. So you don't think that I'm just taking words out of his mouth or taking him out

00:19:05.300 of context. He said this, we have failed to care for the earth, our garden, our garden home. We have

00:19:11.340 failed to care for our brothers and sisters. We have sinned against the earth, against our neighbors,

00:19:15.660 and ultimately against the creator, the benevolent father who provides for everyone and desires us to

00:19:21.280 live in communion and flourish together. It is imperative that people restore a harmonious

00:19:25.780 relationship with the earth and with the rest of humanity. He said, the Pope said so many natural

00:19:32.460 tragedies are quote, the earth's response to our mistreatment. If I ask the Lord now what he thinks,

00:19:39.000 I don't think he will tell me something very good. We are the ones who have ruined the work of the

00:19:43.740 Lord, the Pope said. In today's celebration of Earth Day, we are called to renew our sense of sacred

00:19:49.340 respect for the earth, for it is not just our home, but also God's home. This should make us

00:19:54.120 all the more aware that we stand on holy ground, Pope Francis said. So the Pope from this statement,

00:20:01.180 to me, it sounds like he has been blue-pilled on really several things, but particularly on the

00:20:06.080 environment. Now listen, this is not an attack on Catholicism. I know many of you conservative

00:20:11.900 Catholics also have a problem with Pope Francis. Maybe a lot of you out there really love him.

00:20:15.900 Also keep in mind, I critique the bad theology of Protestants all the time. I know I'm going to get 1.00

00:20:22.320 at least one message or one or a few saying that I'm a Catholic hater, but it's okay. I think a podcast

00:20:29.100 that talks about theology and current events, I think that the Pope is probably fair game for that

00:20:34.180 intersection. Obviously, I have myriad issues with the Pope's theology, but we will zero in on this

00:20:40.720 particular statement about Earth Day. First of all, it's extremely general and accusatory without much

00:20:47.360 substance. It's what I would call a virtue signal. I don't know what he means when he says that we've

00:20:53.620 failed the earth. Maybe that's true in some ways, certainly. I'm willing to maybe concede on that,

00:20:58.980 but I'm not sure exactly what he means. He says that we have sinned against the earth. He asks us to

00:21:04.720 have a harmonious relationship with the earth. The earth is responding to our mistreatment through

00:21:09.480 natural disasters, he says. But these statements are not biblical. You cannot sin against the earth

00:21:15.760 according to God's word. You can sin against God. You can sin against your fellow man. You can sin

00:21:20.760 against God and man by, say, purposely polluting someone's only water source, but you cannot sin against

00:21:27.440 the earth. The earth is a wonderful gift, but it is inanimate. It cannot forgive. It does not have

00:21:33.240 emotions. Again, this is a pantheistic worldview. This is new age. This is mysticism. This is ancient

00:21:41.040 Native American paganism. And I don't think the Pope intends to purport this worldview, but his rhetoric

00:21:46.980 echoes it. I also take issue with the Pope saying that if he asks the Lord something, he will tell him

00:21:53.240 the Pope something in particular that isn't already told to all of us, all Christians in scripture. God

00:21:58.920 doesn't give the Pope any kind of special revelation, guys. I know that that might be scandalous to say.

00:22:04.240 That's just not biblical. The Holy Spirit is in all believers. The word of God is made available to

00:22:09.380 all believers. I take issue, obviously, when pastors, Protestant pastors, say the same kind of stuff, that

00:22:15.820 God gave them a special word that cannot particularly be found in God's word. Also, he says, we have ruined

00:22:22.220 the work of the word. That's not possible. God is sovereign. Again, can we sin? Yes. Can we mess up?

00:22:28.600 Can we do things that don't please God? Can we do things with our natural resources that don't please

00:22:33.560 God? Sure. But no work of the Lord can be ruined or thwarted by man. One of my favorite verses, Job 42.2,

00:22:41.120 God can do all things and no plan of his can be thwarted. He says the earth is, the Pope says the earth is

00:22:47.580 God's home. It is. That's not what the Bible says. The Bible says that God is seated on his throne in

00:22:53.340 heaven. Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. What is the house that you would build

00:22:58.600 for me? And what is the place of my rest? Isaiah 66.1. I mean, this directly contradicts what the Pope

00:23:04.420 said. Psalm 11.4, the Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes see, his eyelids

00:23:12.100 test the children of man. Now, two things, two ways that we could possibly, if we really wanted to

00:23:18.580 give the benefit of the doubt here, possibly interpret what the Pope said to be theologically

00:23:22.960 correct. Number one, we know that God is omnipresent. So Jeremiah 23.24 says that God

00:23:28.400 fills heaven and earth and nothing is hidden from him. Number two, the second way we could do that is

00:23:33.620 God's spirit. We know from the Bible is in us and his presence is with us. Romans 8.9 says,

00:23:39.020 you, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If in fact, the spirit of God dwells in

00:23:43.920 you, anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him. Isaiah 57.15 says,

00:23:50.080 I dwell in the high and holy place and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit to revive

00:23:55.860 the spirit of the lonely and to revive the heart of the contrite. But the Bible does not say that the

00:24:02.560 earth is the Lord's home. So yes, he's omnipresent, but the Bible clearly says that God's

00:24:08.860 home is in heaven. He is on his throne in heaven. Uh, that is what scripture tells us. This sounds

00:24:14.860 like the Pope is saying that we are ruining, not just God's work, but the home that he built for

00:24:20.620 himself. We are tearing it down. It sounds like poor God, we need to put God's house back together

00:24:27.340 that we're tearing down. He calls the earth, God's home. And he's saying we are ruining God's home.

00:24:32.360 But again, Isaiah 66.1 heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. Uh, what is the house that

00:24:39.700 you would build for me? And what is the place of my rest? Acts 17, 24 through 25, the God who made the

00:24:46.960 world and everything in it being Lord of heaven and earth does not live in temples made by man,

00:24:52.000 nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything since he himself gives to all mankind

00:24:58.080 life and breath and everything. So nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything

00:25:04.400 since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And lastly, I would also

00:25:10.600 contend with the Pope's assertion, uh, that all earth is holy ground. So he says that we need to

00:25:16.320 realize that we are on holy ground. I just don't see the biblical basis for a statement like that,

00:25:21.560 that all the earth is holy ground. When I hear the term holy ground, I immediately think of Moses

00:25:26.820 in the burning bush. I think of, uh, Exodus three, five, when the Lord speaks to Moses from the

00:25:31.380 burning bush, the verse says, then he said, do not come near, take your sandals off your feet for the

00:25:35.900 place on which you are standing is holy ground. That would mean that the ground that Moses was

00:25:40.860 walking on earlier before that with his sandals on was not holy ground. Again, the Pope is using

00:25:46.740 unbiblical language here. Maybe you think I'm nitpicking, but I think that we could hold the Pope to a

00:25:51.300 high standard. He is asserting what I would call not pantheism, probably more accurately, it would be

00:25:57.960 panentheism, which is the idea that God is everything in the universe, but also that God is supreme over

00:26:05.320 the universe. Whatever it is, it is pagan. It is outside of proper biblical theology. Um, I don't think

00:26:12.280 that everything the Pope believes can be described in this way, but this particular rhetoric is. So the

00:26:18.920 Pope, at least through this statement is bolstering the secular religion of environmentalism and

00:26:24.700 environmentalism has become a religion, particularly for secularists who typically claim atheism. Uh,

00:26:31.600 the religion of environmentalism drives what can sometimes only be described accurately as hysteria

00:26:38.160 when it comes to what's happening in the environment and what's happening on the earth. I think poor

00:26:45.060 Greta Thunberg can accurately be described as hysterical. And I don't mean any disrespect by

00:26:50.680 that. She's young. I think that she is passionate. I think her passion is probably genuine, but I think

00:26:55.580 she's being exploited. So it's really her parents and the media who should be to blame for that.

00:27:00.340 Al Gore, hysterical. And this hysteria pushes people, not just to hatred, absolute hatred and silencing,

00:27:08.940 uh, of those who disagree with them, whom they consider blasphemers. If you

00:27:12.840 go along with the idea that environmentalism is a religion, but also a desire for control,

00:27:18.400 a drive for socialistic policies that control people's behavior to try to allegedly mitigate

00:27:24.820 the risks of climate change. It's telling that these activists though, hardly ever point fingers

00:27:30.020 at China, the biggest polluter on the planet who already control their citizens' lives. It's always 0.99

00:27:35.320 somehow the United States' fault, despite us, uh, not even being close to the biggest perpetrator of

00:27:41.080 environmental, uh, irresponsibility. So climate activism is a religion among many other religions

00:27:47.520 that secular secularists hold to. They either worship the cause itself or they worship the earth

00:27:53.200 or they worship the government. Uh, remember everyone worships something. There's no such thing truly as an

00:27:59.520 atheist. Everyone worships something, whether it's themselves, whether it's money, whether it is success,

00:28:06.460 whatever, everyone makes some kind of idol and the environment, unfortunately for some is just

00:28:13.740 another one of those idols that Christians need to be really careful to avoid. Now, there's a lot more 1.00

00:28:20.620 that we could talk about from a policy standpoint and from a scientific standpoint, but since this is

00:28:25.460 theology Monday, I wanted to make sure that we looked at this from the, uh, from a biblical perspective.

00:28:30.280 And I hope that it was helpful to you guys. I will see you guys back here on Wednesday.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - April 27, 2020

Ep 243 ｜ Climate Idolatry & the Pope

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