Ep 243 ｜ Climate Idolatry & the Pope
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Summary
In light of Earth Day on April 22nd, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about environmentalism and climate change from a Christian perspective. In this episode, I discuss the controversial case of environmental murderer Ira Einhorn, who was convicted of murdering his girlfriend and composting her body.
Transcript
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Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Monday. I hope everyone had a great, relaxing weekend.
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Today we are going to talk about climate change from a Christian perspective.
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In light of Earth Day, which was April 22nd, there were some things that were said that I
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think Christians need to be able to think critically about and assess from the point
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of view of Scripture. And the Pope said some things about Earth Day that I do not agree with
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theologically, so we're going to break all of that down. I do want to talk to you guys about the
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Out of Shadows documentary, and I might be able to today, and I'm sorry I keep putting it off. I
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promise that I am not doing that on purpose. And what I mean by talk about it is just you guys have
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asked me what I think about it, and so I want to give you my thoughts because I do have them, but
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I don't need to take an entire episode to do it, so it keeps on getting tacked on to the end,
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and then I don't have time once I talk about the main subject that I'm talking about to actually
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get to that. So I'll talk about that. I'll also talk about the Chosen series, which so many of
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you guys have asked me about. I haven't watched it. I will watch it, and maybe I'll do an entire
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episode just telling you guys what I think about the Out of Shadows documentary that's on YouTube
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and also the Chosen series if I get around to watching that anytime soon. So Earth Day was April 22nd.
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Just a little background on the origins of Earth Day kind of gives us some context for the
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environmentalist movement in general. There is some controversy surrounding how Earth Day started
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or who actually started Earth Day. So if you just Google who founded Earth Day, the first name that
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comes up is Gaylord Nelson. He was a senator and environmental activist who received the Presidential
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Medal of Freedom in 1995 from Bill Clinton. He died in 2005, but he really
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went down in history as the guy who started Earth Day and was a pioneer for the environmental
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movement as we know it now. Rolling Stone and the New York Times report that it's actually not
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Gaylord Nelson. It's actually a man by the name of Dennis Hayes, an environmental activist. A lot of
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outlets interviewed him this year about climate change and all that good stuff. But in 2011, and here's
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where even more of the controversy comes in with Earth Day, NBC wrote a piece saying that it was
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Ira Einhorn. Maybe you already know that name. He is infamous. And really, that's who is reported to
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have started Earth Day when it was written about in the 1970s. He was a hippie. He was an environmental
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activist. But I repeat myself. Now, the interesting thing about Ira is that seven years after the first
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Earth Day, he murdered his girlfriend and composted her body. And the authorities found the body in his
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trunk. But he actually fled, strangely enough, and became kind of a nomad across Europe and then was
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extradited, I think, a couple decades later to the U.S. and then put in prison. He actually just died
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this month. ABC in 2006 also credited him with founding Earth Day. Salon.com, another left-wing
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outlet, calls him the organizer of Earth Day, or they did back in the day, about 20 years ago. A 2001
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article in the Washington Post said that he helped organize Earth Day. And yet, when you Google him
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today or you Google who started Earth Day, you're not going to find this name. I couldn't find any
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recent articles by any of these outlets stating that he helped found Earth Day. The most recent is the
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2011 NBC article. Most articles about Earth Day don't even list him as any part of the day. And articles
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about him don't even say that he was an environmentalist sometimes. A Time article actually says that it's all
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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
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that I've been a big part of the environmentalist movement or that I am very familiar with the history of it.
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It's just from what I've researched recently. It's also possible, though, that the media changed their tune once they
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realized as liberal activist organizations. They need to fall in line with the totality of the left-wing
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narrative. And how would it look if one of the core pieces of leftism, which is environmentalism,
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was tied to a convicted murderer who ironically, adamantly, and publicly was anti-violence and
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anti-war and all of that? And also, as an aside, why is that always the case with leftist activists?
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Not always, but a lot of times, that they oppose so proudly and so boldly the things that they do
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themselves or support the things that they don't do themselves. We talked about that on Friday,
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promoting tolerance and peace while being very aggressive and very hateful of themselves.
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Obviously, I'm not generalizing everyone on the left, but it seems that with so many
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prominent liberal activists, the skeletons in their closet belie their purported values. And that was
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certainly true of our friend Ira. Anyway, whoever started Earth Day, it is, whether it was Ira or
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whether it was Gaylord or whether it was Dennis, whoever the media want us to believe started it,
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it doesn't really matter. Whoever started Earth Day, it's supposed to be a day where people raise
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awareness about the forces that are harming the earth to express gratitude for nature and to inspire
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people to be environmentally conscious and to battle climate change. And as you guys probably know,
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the climate has gone through seasons of climate change for millennia, literally forever. As far as
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we know what the earth has done, we know that the earth has gone through cooling and has gone through
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heating. It's gone through different stages of climate change that has had nothing to do with human
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activity. Climate alarmists have been telling us for decades that the earth is a ticking time bomb
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and that if we don't act now, the earth will be uninhabitable. In just a few years, you heard
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AOC and Beto O'Rourke and a bunch of people on the left saying this is an existential crisis
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and the world as we know it is going to come to an end in 12 years or less, unless we do all of
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these radical things. The end date for the earth just keeps getting pushed back. This has been
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happening for decades now. The goalposts keep moving. It used to be global warming. Now it's climate
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change that includes global warming. And when people argue that, well, things don't seem to be
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warming up progressively every year, climate activists say, well, climate isn't weather.
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That's typically what they say. But at the same time, when there are especially hot days or hot
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summers, hot seasons, or especially cold winters, or when there's a catastrophic weather event, you'll
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see climate activists on Twitter saying, see, these are the effects of climate change. And so they
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simultaneously say it has nothing to do with weather. And that also it has everything to do with weather
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and weather events. The science on climate change, the bottom line is not settled. That's just a fact.
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As we talked about on last Wednesday's podcast, science is not supreme. Because while it's really
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important, and while we should study it and should be thankful for it, it's vulnerable, not just to human
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error, but also to human bias. It's very often driven by ideology and politics.
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It shouldn't be, but it is. And this becomes obvious when you see climate activists arguing
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that climate policy shouldn't just focus on climate-focused solutions, but on things like
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racial equity and economic inequality. If you remember AOC's Green New Deal and all the hubbub
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that that caused, it was this all-encompassing, her plan was this all-encompassing takeover of the
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government and society in general. I'll never forget when she released that initial FAQ that said
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that her plan, the Green New Deal, aims to provide economic security for those who are unwilling to
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work. Not unable to work, but unwilling to work. So for many, if not most climate activists, they drum
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up climate fear to push for a socialist restructuring of society. They know if they can fill people with
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enough existential dread, they can convince them to hand over freedom in exchange for the security
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and protection the federal government promises. We're actually on that. We're watching that same
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exchange in a way right now. And, uh, we are, we're seeing this happen with coronavirus and climate
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activists attempt to do the same thing with climate change. Now that said, we can agree that climate fear
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mongering is real climate change, at least the rhetoric surrounding climate change right now
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is a little bit hyperbolic and that people use climate activism as a ploy to give the government
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more power and restructure the entire economy and society. And we can still acknowledge while
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acknowledging those things, we can still acknowledge that we should be responsible as stewards of the
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earth that God has created and that God has given us. Uh, pollution is real. Waste is real.
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Their toxins, their behavior is not good for the environment, not good for animals, therefore not
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good for humans. My friend, uh, Benji Backer actually has an organization called the American
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Conservation Coalition. And I really appreciate what they do in their perspective because they believe
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in limited government environmentalism. So you should check them out. If this is something that
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you're interested in, they want to harness the power of limited government and, uh, free enterprise to
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make the earth a better place. And I think that's good. I think that's a good, uh, example of good
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stewardship of our resources. They actually just came out with an alternative plan to the green new
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deal. That's a lot more feasible and just makes a lot more sense. So all that said, all of that said,
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we as Christians need to be able to find the truth in all things. And that includes this. So when we see
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the world freaking out about anything, our first reaction should never be to join in the panic.
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We should always take a step back, assess the situation, seek the truth, seek the facts,
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and look to the word of God to inform our thoughts. This is true about coronavirus. This is true about
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climate change. This is true about any issue on the left or the right that everyone seems to be
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fretting over. Sometimes, uh, there are things to be concerned over, of course, but panic is never
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justified for the Christian because unlike the secular world, we know that God is in control. We know that
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God is sovereign. So God, the creator of the universe who tells us what will happen at the end
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of the age, we can trust him. We can have faith that what he says is true. Now, depending on your
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eschatological views, there are different perspectives that you have on what the Bible says, uh, will happen
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with the tribulation and Jesus's return and the thousand year reign and all of that. But regardless of
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our views on the quote end of the world, we, as Christ followers agree that according to scripture,
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our authority and our source of wisdom and vision, climate change is not how the world is going to
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come to an end. Okay. So it might be true that there are things that we need to fix, whether it comes to
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our behavior, whether it comes to, uh, renewable energy or infrastructure, all of that stuff that
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might be true, but it is not true that the world is going to end from climate change. It is not the
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existential crisis that climate fear mongers want you to believe that it is of all the prophecies
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that we see about the end times in scripture. We read about famine. We read about calamity. We read
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about natural disasters and wars and persecution and martyrdom and all of that. And maybe, maybe there
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could be an argument that famine and natural disaster are products of climate change. But if that's the
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case, then there ain't nothing that you nor I are going to be able to do to stop that. But more
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importantly, the argument that these precursors to Jesus's return are products of climate change
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is undermined by God's promise in Genesis eight, 21 through 22. I, he says this, I will never again
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curse the ground because of man. He is making this promise to Noah after the flood. I will never again
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curse the ground because of man for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I
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ever strike down every living creature as I have done while the earth remains seed time and harvest
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cold and heat summer and winter day and night shall not cease. So let me repeat that, that last line
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while the earth remains seed time and harvest cold and heat summer and winter day and night
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shall not cease. So seasons will remain. So as Christians, we believe that God keeps his promises.
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We believe he means what he says. He is in control of the entire universe and we know how the end will
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come about. And it's not through climate change. The sovereignty of power and power of God protects us
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from climate panic. It protects us from all panic, but in relation to this topic, it protects us from
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climate change panic. Now we also read in Genesis that God made the world and he saw that it was good
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as he was creating it. God made the world with intentionality and care and creativity and purpose
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and thoughtfulness. He created Adam and he placed Adam in the garden to quote, work it and to keep it.
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God created the earth to glorify himself and to nourish and help us. And he didn't just make
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things pragmatically for human sustenance and shelter and use. He made beautiful things. He made
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creatures in the depths of the ocean that the human eye may never see. He made ecosystems. He made
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colors and smells and textures and views. He didn't just make the world usable. He made the world beautiful.
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This is what Christians call gifts of common grace, meaning gifts that even non-Christians get to
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enjoy. He didn't have to do that, but he did for his glory and our good. And so knowing that it is
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through gratitude and joy that the Christian should love, should appreciate and steward nature. There are
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many ways that we do this and Christians in good faith can disagree on the proper methods of caring
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for the earth. But I would say that, you know, just from my perspective, it's good to reduce waste.
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It's good to plant trees to take in CO2. It's good to prevent pollution in our water and air as much
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as we can anyway. It's good to care for animals. It's good to conserve the natural world. It's good
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to use free market innovation to modernize our infrastructure and agriculture and harness renewable
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energy and things like that. I don't think these things have to be the focus of our lives as Christians,
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but we can take steps in our own lives, in our own circles to live within our means, to limit excess,
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to care for the plot of the earth, the plot of, or the spot on eternity on which God has given us
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to make sure that we are stewarding creation and stewarding our lives in gratitude in a way that
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glorifies God. But what we cannot do if we want to abide by scripture and live in faith in Christ,
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which of course all of us who follow Christ do, is panic and buy into the narrative that this is the
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existential crisis of our age. God's word says that it's not an existential crisis because he's in
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control of existence and he promises the seasons and harvest and cold and heat will continue through
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the end of the age. We therefore cannot allow climate fear-mongering to lead us into a position
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of believing the federal government needs to control our lives and private industry in order
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to save us. The federal government does very few things well, very few things effectively and
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efficiently. I don't understand why this is hard for people to get. We also lastly cannot buy into what
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looks like quasi earth worship. We've talked about this on the podcast on the dangers of the new age.
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If you haven't listened to my episode titled dangers of the new age and interview with Doreen virtue,
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you have to, it is by far my most listened to episode. She is a very interesting person. It was
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just an awesome interview. So go listen to that. But one of the characteristics of the new age is the
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idea that everything is God, or at least there, there are parts of the new age that believe that
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everything has components of the divine. So crystals, oils, rocks, sand, trees, wind, whatever
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in nature has special divine power and or presence, including you, including me, including all people.
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And we're not talking about the biblical truth that humans are made in God's image. I'm talking about
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the belief that inside you, this new age belief that inside you is some untainted goddess, that if it
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weren't for societal expectations, if it weren't for your insecurities, if it weren't for the
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patriarchy or capitalism, whatever, it would be unleashed or manifested. That is an idea in the
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world of self-love and self-help. Sometimes it's explicit. Sometimes it's implicit. That is a new age
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concept that can generally be generally be described as pantheism. So the belief that God is, is, or is in
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everything and anything. So you see this in a lot of ways, including when it comes to climate change
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ideology, how leftism, the new age and the culture of self-love or Trinity narcissism, they're all
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intertwined. They're all interconnected. So without knowing it, many environmentalists have become
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pantheists. You notice that behind their constant insistence on the quote science behind climate change
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is spiritualism. So if you follow Giselle, Tom, Tom Brady's wife, and obviously a model in her own
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right, Leonardo DiCaprio, any of these environmental activists, and look at their rhetoric
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about mother nature or mother earth. They talk about showing gratitude to the earth, showing
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reverence for the earth, humbling ourselves before nature and thanking it for what it provides for us.
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So they personify, and I would say even glorify, deify the earth. They elevate animals. A lot of
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these activists do to the place of humans. They demand not just responsible stewardship of natural
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resources, which I agree with, but what sounds like all out worship of the earth. And that's
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what's interesting is that many climate scientists and climate activists identify as atheists. I'm sure
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not all of them, but a lot of them do. They hold to this Darwinistic materialistic worldview, meaning
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they only believe in what they see or what can be proven objectively by science. So not realizing that
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for many of them, much of their so-called science is driven by things that are not objective,
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things that are subjective. So personal opinion, political ideology, and I would say most ironically,
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religious belief. Their religious belief is one that ascribes personhood and even divinity to the
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inanimate earth. So the Pope released a statement, which I thought kind of echoed this secular religion.
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It echoed this kind of pantheistic worldview. Part of his statement said this, and you can look it up
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to read it in full. So you don't think that I'm just taking words out of his mouth or taking him out
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of context. He said this, we have failed to care for the earth, our garden, our garden home. We have
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failed to care for our brothers and sisters. We have sinned against the earth, against our neighbors,
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and ultimately against the creator, the benevolent father who provides for everyone and desires us to
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live in communion and flourish together. It is imperative that people restore a harmonious
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relationship with the earth and with the rest of humanity. He said, the Pope said so many natural
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tragedies are quote, the earth's response to our mistreatment. If I ask the Lord now what he thinks,
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I don't think he will tell me something very good. We are the ones who have ruined the work of the
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Lord, the Pope said. In today's celebration of Earth Day, we are called to renew our sense of sacred
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respect for the earth, for it is not just our home, but also God's home. This should make us
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all the more aware that we stand on holy ground, Pope Francis said. So the Pope from this statement,
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to me, it sounds like he has been blue-pilled on really several things, but particularly on the
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environment. Now listen, this is not an attack on Catholicism. I know many of you conservative
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Catholics also have a problem with Pope Francis. Maybe a lot of you out there really love him.
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Also keep in mind, I critique the bad theology of Protestants all the time. I know I'm going to get
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at least one message or one or a few saying that I'm a Catholic hater, but it's okay. I think a podcast
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that talks about theology and current events, I think that the Pope is probably fair game for that
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intersection. Obviously, I have myriad issues with the Pope's theology, but we will zero in on this
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particular statement about Earth Day. First of all, it's extremely general and accusatory without much
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substance. It's what I would call a virtue signal. I don't know what he means when he says that we've
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failed the earth. Maybe that's true in some ways, certainly. I'm willing to maybe concede on that,
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but I'm not sure exactly what he means. He says that we have sinned against the earth. He asks us to
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have a harmonious relationship with the earth. The earth is responding to our mistreatment through
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natural disasters, he says. But these statements are not biblical. You cannot sin against the earth
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according to God's word. You can sin against God. You can sin against your fellow man. You can sin
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against God and man by, say, purposely polluting someone's only water source, but you cannot sin against
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the earth. The earth is a wonderful gift, but it is inanimate. It cannot forgive. It does not have
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emotions. Again, this is a pantheistic worldview. This is new age. This is mysticism. This is ancient
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Native American paganism. And I don't think the Pope intends to purport this worldview, but his rhetoric
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echoes it. I also take issue with the Pope saying that if he asks the Lord something, he will tell him
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the Pope something in particular that isn't already told to all of us, all Christians in scripture. God
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doesn't give the Pope any kind of special revelation, guys. I know that that might be scandalous to say.
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That's just not biblical. The Holy Spirit is in all believers. The word of God is made available to
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all believers. I take issue, obviously, when pastors, Protestant pastors, say the same kind of stuff, that
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God gave them a special word that cannot particularly be found in God's word. Also, he says, we have ruined
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the work of the word. That's not possible. God is sovereign. Again, can we sin? Yes. Can we mess up?
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Can we do things that don't please God? Can we do things with our natural resources that don't please
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God? Sure. But no work of the Lord can be ruined or thwarted by man. One of my favorite verses, Job 42.2,
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God can do all things and no plan of his can be thwarted. He says the earth is, the Pope says the earth is
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God's home. It is. That's not what the Bible says. The Bible says that God is seated on his throne in
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heaven. Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. What is the house that you would build
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for me? And what is the place of my rest? Isaiah 66.1. I mean, this directly contradicts what the Pope
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said. Psalm 11.4, the Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes see, his eyelids
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test the children of man. Now, two things, two ways that we could possibly, if we really wanted to
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give the benefit of the doubt here, possibly interpret what the Pope said to be theologically
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correct. Number one, we know that God is omnipresent. So Jeremiah 23.24 says that God
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fills heaven and earth and nothing is hidden from him. Number two, the second way we could do that is
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God's spirit. We know from the Bible is in us and his presence is with us. Romans 8.9 says,
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you, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If in fact, the spirit of God dwells in
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you, anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him. Isaiah 57.15 says,
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I dwell in the high and holy place and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit to revive
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the spirit of the lonely and to revive the heart of the contrite. But the Bible does not say that the
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earth is the Lord's home. So yes, he's omnipresent, but the Bible clearly says that God's
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home is in heaven. He is on his throne in heaven. Uh, that is what scripture tells us. This sounds
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like the Pope is saying that we are ruining, not just God's work, but the home that he built for
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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
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
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.