{"id":77,"date":"2019-02-20T11:28:11","date_gmt":"2019-02-20T06:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pilgrimsprogress.ca\/?p=77"},"modified":"2019-02-20T22:45:34","modified_gmt":"2019-02-20T17:45:34","slug":"the-false-dichotomy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pilgrimsprogress.ca\/?p=77","title":{"rendered":"The False Dichotomy"},"content":{"rendered":"

A younger cousin has taken me to task “as a devout Christian” on my strong expression of concern about our changing climate. He asks, “do you believe that God has created climate change to spite, challenge or invigorate humanity”? \u00a0I am regularly challenged on how we humans like to think in binaries. In so doing we often set up false dichotomies.\u00a0I like what Augustine of Hippo said about the false dichotomy many make between Scripture and the Natural World (Science) in his Literal Commentary on Genesis.<\/p>\n

The Literal Commentary advises a two-step procedure. First, we must evaluate whether the scientific claim has any validity. This must be done by the methods of science, empirical observation and theoretical reasoning. It is not enough to quote the Bible against a scientific theory. If we are unsure about the conclusion, we can consider it false. “The truth is rather in what God reveals than in what groping men surmise.”\u00a0https:\/\/www.catholic.com\/…\/how-augustine-reined-in-science<\/a><\/p>\n

Like Augustine, I assert, “Christians can be sure that God’s truth in nature does not contradict God’s truth in Scripture.”\u00a0As for the science of understanding what is happening to Planet Earth,\u00a0“Scientific evidence for warming of the climate system is unequivocal.
\n– Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change” https:\/\/climate.nasa.gov\/evidence\/<\/a><\/p>\n

I encouraged my cousin\u00a0to read both the NASA document above as well as Genesis 1 for the Old Testament story of creation which begins,<\/p>\n

The History of Creation<\/strong><\/em>
\nIn the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
\nThe earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.\u00a0https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Genesis%201…<\/a><\/p>\n

And the New Testament version in John 1.<\/p>\n

The Eternal Word<\/strong><\/em>
\nIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
\nHe was in the beginning with God.
\nAll things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
\nIn Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
\nAnd the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.\u00a0https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=John%201…<\/a><\/p>\n

Certainly some scientists and some religious folks like to see a complete separation of science and spirituality. As I wrote earlier, I believe that is a false dichotomy that has brought us to this current chaos. The whole point of the Genesis creation story is that God gifted us with free will. How we choose to exercise that free will makes all the difference. The story of the Old Testament is how we humans, despite our\u00a0best efforts to follow God’s laws and prophets, use that free will to bring chaos to the world. The story of the New Testament is how God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit seek to redeem us and this world.<\/p>\n

Yes, God loved the world so much
\nthat he gave his only Son,
\nso that everyone who believes in him may not be lost
\nbut may have eternal life.
\nFor God sent his Son into the world
\nnot to condemn the world,
\nbut so that through him the world might be saved.
\nNo one who believes in him will be condemned;
\nbut whoever refuses to believe is condemned already,
\nbecause he has refused to believe
\nin the name of God’s only Son.
\nOn these grounds is sentence pronounced:
\nthat though the light has come into the world
\nmen have shown they prefer
\ndarkness to the light
\nbecause their deeds were evil.
\nAnd indeed, everybody who does wrong
\nhates the light and avoids it,
\nfor fear his actions should be exposed;
\nbut the man who lives by the truth
\ncomes out into the light,
\nso that it may be plainly seen that what he does is done in God.” John 3:16-31<\/p>\n

And that eternal life, that Kingdom of God, is meant to start here and now as we humans choose to become the body of Christ. So it is not just Scripture that points to the Way, the Truth and the Life; but also God’s natural creation.\u00a0As Paul wrote in Romans 8, “the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time”. \u00a0Science confirms that as we continue to lay waste to Mother Earth and her groans become increasingly more distressed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A younger cousin has taken me to task “as a devout Christian” on my strong expression of concern about our changing climate. 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