If anyone has read the first line in the Bible, you will know that it begins with a presupposition, In the beginning God (Gen. 1:1).

Everything else has a cause, but not this Creator God.  He is the un-caused cause of everything that was, and is, and is to come, with His Creator- Greatness evident to all (Rom. 1:18-23).

In my last post on global warming, one of the presuppositions that under-girded my statements was that science is an effective means for determining the question of the legitimacy of global warming.

While it is not my purpose to question the legitimacy of this statement, there is a presupposition that I believe is even more fundamental to this question of global warming, which is that God is in control – period!

Therefore, how does one reconcile the belief in possible man-made global warming with the affirmations and reality of the providential care of this Creator-God as contained in the Bible?

It is my thesis that, no matter what the science says, God is indeed in control of all that happens at both a macro and micro level, which means that, ultimately, if this theory is true (in the extreme, I believe this is highly unlikely), then Scripture does not give us any other option than to conclude that (1) God has purposed this, with man, possibly being the mediate cause.  (2) Global warming theory fulfills the outworking of His eternal plan, however unlikely that seems.

Let’s look at what Scripture says… Good idea, glad you asked!

God is in Control – The Macro Perspective

Scriptural affirmations such as Daniel 4:34b-35 and 6: 26b-27 paint a comprehensive picture of the God of the Bible as being in complete control.

However, while these are significant, I want to focus on a trilogy of Scriptures in the New Testament that makes this even more explicit.

Firstly, Hebrews 1:3 makes it clear that Jesus, the second person of the Triune Godhead upholds all things by the word of his power.

The Greek word for upholds is the present participle form of phero.  Here is what Grudem has to say about this word and what this verse teaches.

This is commonly used in the New Testament for carrying something from one place to another, such as bringing a paralyzed man on a bed to Jesus (Luke 5:18), bringing wine to the stewards of the feast (John 2:8), or bringing a cloak and books to Paul (2 Tim. 4:13).  It does not mean simply “sustain,” but has the sense of active, purposeful control over the thing being carried from one place to another.  In Hebrews 1:3, the use of the present participle indicates that Jesus is “continually carrying along all things” in the universe by his word of power.  Christ is actively involved in the work of providence (emphasis mine).

The second portion of Scripture is Colossians 1:17 where Paul affirms that all things in and of Christ hold or endure together.

Grudem is again helpful.

The phrase “all things” refers to every created thing in the universe (see v. 16), and the verse affirms that Christ keeps all things existing – in him they continue to exist or “endure” (NASB mg.)  Both verses indicate that if Christ were to cease his continuing activity of sustaining all things in the universe, then alll except the triune God would instantly cease to exist (emphasis mine).

Grudem subsumes these previous two scriptures under the heading of Preservation.  However, our final passage comes under another closely related aspect, Concurrence.

Thirdly, in Ephesians 1:11, we are told that God accomplishes all things after the counsel of  his will.  Here’s more from Wayne.

The word translated “accomplishes” (energeo) indicates that God “works” or “brings about” all things according to his own will.  No event in creation falls outside of his providence (emphasis mine).

Let’s bring this doctrine of concurrence together, in light of what has also been affirmed with preservation.  Grudem has an extended quote that is particularly relevant to this.

The doctrine of concurrence affirms that God directs, and works through, the distinctive properties of each created thing, so that these things themselves bring about the results we see.  In this way it is possible to affirm that in one sense events are fully (100 percent) caused by God and fully (100 percent) caused by the creature as well.  However, divine and creaturely causes work in different ways.  The divine cause of each event works as an invisible hand, behind-the-scenes, directing cause and therefore could be called the “primary cause” that plans and initiates everything that happens.  But the created thing brings about actions in ways consistent with the creature’s own properties, ways that can often be described by us or by professional scientists who carefully observe the processes.  These creaturely factors and properties can therefore be called the “secondary” causes of everything that happens, even though they are the causes that are evident to us by observation.

If Scripture corresponds with truth, then what we have been taught is that the God of the Bible is indeed in control, and absolutely!

However, let us take this to the next level by looking at how Scripture affirms this on a more micro level.

God is in Conrtol – The Micro Perspective

Some time ago I began a study (still to fully complete) on various words that related to weather/ natural phenomena, to see how Scripture describes the Creator’s relationship as these are outworked on planet earth.

While there are many occurrences where these are referred to descriptively in the text, Scripture does record numerous instances where it is clear that there is a cause and effect relationship between God and a given meterological event.

I will take the wind as a point of exemplification.

Genesis 8:1 affirms that it was ultimately God who caused a wind to pass over the earth.

Psalm 78:26 states again that God caused an East Wind to blow and He also directed the south wind.  This does not paint God has some aloof Creator, allowing things to solely happen through natural processes!

Psalm 107:25 tells us that the stormy wind came about because He spoke and raised it up.

Psalm 148: 8 speaks of stormy wind fulfilling His word.

Finally, Jeremiah 51:16 speaks of God making lighting for the rain and bringing forth the wind from His storehouses.

If Scripture is true, then we not only have comprehensive statements that affirm that God is the cause who also controls the effect, but we also have individual examples where we see this being outworked on planet earth.

Therefore, if global warming was to cause more hurricanes or tornadoes,  He would be the cause, ultimate or otherwise.

Man is not in Control

The presupposition behind much that is spoken of in climate change policy is that man is in absolute control of what will happen on this planet, and that God is at best irrelevant to this discussion.

While the impact of man’s decisions and choices has some truth in a secondary sense, the ultimate presupposition is God-less, which states that man is both the destroyer and maker of his and planet earth’s destiny.

Therefore, the Creator becomes irrelevant and the belief of history moving to its fulfillment in Christ in the future is Narnia-like.

Such thinking leads to such unbiblical theories as the Gaia theory, which says, among other things that,  if we humans would only get out of the way and stop impacting the earth, then earth would get back to what it was like and should be like, which reeks of a Pantheistic worldview, and rejects man’s place in God’s creation and God’s call for him to have dominion (Gen. 1:26-28), which means it is clearly unscriptural

Such theories are the reason for much of the environmentalism as religion talk that many individuals rightly perceive, as detailed here, here, here and here

Conclusion

In Genesis 8:22, God has covenanted that while the earth remains, although the impacts of the Fall are inherent in all creation, where there will be many climate “groans” to come, as it longs for redemption (Rom. 8:22), as we all do, while there will be chaos, it will not be complete disorder.  God is still in control

This scriptural affirmation should cause those who adhere and purport extreme scenarios to think more deeply about how the extent of the Fall will outwork itself in creation, and God’s covenantal commitment in creation.

While there is consistent periodic breakdown, for it to go to the extent where weather patterns are so impacted that they loose their integrity on such a scale, I believe goes beyond the ramifications of the Fall as outworked in God’s providential care.

This does not presuppositionally mean the global warming is not possible in God’s economy, but if it does happen, it is purposeful (I have to say, I can’t see a present purpose, although I am premillennial, if you know what I mean) and under His absolute control.  When we take this into account with other human factors, let me say that I don’t think God is drinking the kool-aid either… but what do I know!

I think Wayne Grudem says it well as he is quoted in a letter challenging some other Evangelicals on this issue.  Here is how he describes the issue

It does not seem likely to me that God would set up the world to work in such a way that human beings would eventually destroy the earth by doing such ordinary and morally good and necessary things as breathing, building a fire to cook or keep warm, burning fuel to travel, or using energy for a refrigerator to preserve food.

Indeed!!!  God is in control and He is Good!

Next time you hear the next “extreme” scenario, remind yourself Who is outworking Whose plan in this world.  Man wants to think he is the author of his own destiny… and God just laughs!

Dwell on God’s Words and to quote Carson, let it master you!!!

In closing, I encourage you to read the following…

A rather long paper by E. Calvin Beisner here, which seeks to answer what are the most important environmental tasks facing Christians.

A paper from the Cornwall Alliance titled,  A Call to Truth, Prudence, and Protection of the Poor An Evangelical Response to Global Warming here

An Open Letter to the Signers of “Climate Change: An Evangelical Call to Action” and Others Concerned About Global Warming here

Until Next Time

I am Jonny King