Obscuring the Gospel in the Name of Creation Care

Dr. James Tonkowich
(IRD Photo)

by Dr. James Tonkowich
Contributing Writer
Cornwall Alliance

The March 2011 issue of Backpacker magazine ran an article about evangelical environmentalists. And the article, "Hike. Pray. Protest." contains a number of valid points. I agree with the ministers the author, Tracy Ross, interviewed when they talk about the need to help Christians grow in their appreciation of God's grandeur displayed in His magnificent creation. If, as Gerald Manley Hopkins said, "The world is charged with the grandeur of God," we should get up from the couch, lace up our boots, and go out to encounter that grandeur first hand.

And Christians should certainly be involved where gross pollution threatens flora, fauna, and most especially human wellbeing and life.

But the article goes beyond that and touches on precisely the issues addressed by Peter Jones, Vishal Manglawadi, and Cal Beisner in "Resisting the Green Dragon," the Cornwall Alliance's twelve-part video curriculum.

For example, Ross writes that evangelical environmentalists "fervently believe that true salvation can only be found in communion with nature. The path to heaven, they say, is one part backpacking and one part Earth activism." Similarly, he says that the Rev. Peter Illyn, founder of the group Restoring Eden, wants Christians, "to understand that a transformative relationship with nature is the surest path to saving the planet and their souls. That journeying into the wilderness, meeting God, and coming out a steward of His Earth is the purest expression of Christianity. That a true evangelical is, in fact, the one who proselytizes for the planet."

Now I realize that "evangelical" is a notoriously elastic term, but it simply doesn't stretch this far. Ross is talking about nature religion, pure and simple.

The "true path to personal salvation" does not lie "in nature-and in the actions one takes after encountering God there." The "true path to personal salvation" lies in encountering and receiving the grace of God through the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Nature does not save; only Jesus saves.

Dr. Peter Jones

As theologian Dr. Peter Jones said in the documentary introduction to Resisting the Green Dragon, "You have movements now in the evangelical church which are asking young people in particular to become involved in the environmental movement as an expression of the Christian gospel. And the great danger there, of course, is that you begin to define the gospel as merely social justice, or ecological justice. You must not sell the gospel itself down the river."

After reading the article, I looked over the Restoring Eden website. It may be that Ross, whose grasp on Christian theology is at best tenuous, misunderstands and thus has misrepresented Illyn and others. At least I hope so.

If, however, evangelical environmentalists are fighting for what Ross calls "theological changes," the kinds of changes he suggests will distort and deform "the faith once delivered to the saints," leading untold numbers astray.

Recent Significant Developments

Science & Ecology

Carbon Dioxide and the Earth's Future (Craig and Sherwood Idso; CO2 Science)
Major study finds climate models wrong on predictions of droughts, floods, hurricanes, not credible on relationship of CO2 and temperature.

NOAA Confirms Recent Global Temperature Change Is Historically Small & Warming Is Decelerating (C3 Headlines)
“…recent annual temperature changes reported by the NOAA/NCDC dataset are well within normal variability. And … levels of CO2 show little, if any, impact on actual global temperature change.” (The figures’ significance is best seen if you click to enlarge them.)

The Revealed Mystery of the Mystic Met Office (Katabasis)
Print this out and keep it in your pocket. If you're ever tempted to think governments and their agencies are to be trusted when it comes to anything related to climate change (which once was called "global warming" but for obvious reasons isn't anymore), take it out, unfold it, and re-read it.

Economics & Energy

Gresham's Law of Green Energy (Jonathan Lesser; CATO)
“While the U. S. economy continues to struggle, politicians, green energy advocates, and energy regulators have adopted a “green jobs” mantra. They espouse the view that policies mandating renewable resources will provide not only environmental benefits, but economic salvation as well.” Not so. Here’s why. See related items here, here, here, here, and here.

The Switch Is On: From Cap and Trade to Renewable Energy Standards (Various Sources)
Cap and trade returns from the grave in Obama Administration's new push for a national renewable electricity standard--right when Europe and Australia are abandoning such plans as devastating to economies, just as Montana study finds. Opposition builds in Congress.

Religion & Ethics

"Green Awakenings" and Missing the Point of God's Story (Kathleen Neilson; The Gospel Coalition)
Christian college students’ “going green” can obscure and even corrupt the gospel, despite the best intentions and even many good actions.

Does Helping the Planet Hurt the Poor? (Bjorn Lomborg; The Wall Street Journal)
Reducing poverty is the path to environmental improvement, not its enemy. And fighting global warming condemns hundreds of millions to premature deaths while economic development would instead prevent those deaths.

Law, Regulation, & Litigation

Flawed "Climategate" Inquiries Failed to Restore Confidence in UK Climate Science (Dr. Benny Peiser; The Global Warming Policy Foundation)
“The latest follow-up report by the Science and Technology Committee on the disclosure of climate data from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia (UEA) confirms that the Climategate inquiries had serious flaws, lacked balance and transparency and failed to achieve their objective to restore trust and confidence in British climate science.” Related items are here, here, here, and here. For a very thorough critique, see here.

The Great Carbon Trading Scandal (Rowena Mason; The Telegraph)
Carbon allowances, Europe’s main weapon against climate change, have an impact on every household, yet the scheme is open to fraudsters and profiteers.

Politics & Debate

UN Sec.-Gen. Calls for Revolution Against Capitalism (Lorraine Connolly; Media Trust) while NASA Climate Alarmist Advocates U.S. Decline (The Washington Times)
It's not about science and ecology. Ban-Ki Moon reaffirms IPCC Co-chair Ottmar Edenhofer's pre-Cancun statement: “The climate summit in Cancun at the end of the month is not a climate conference, but one of the largest economic conferences since the Second World War. … we redistribute de facto the world’s wealth by climate policy. …” NASA's James Hansen publishes anti-democratic, pro-communist, anti-U.S. sentiments in China.

The UN IPCC–Influence Without Accountability (Dennis Ambler; Science and Public Policy Institute)
Hollywood does Halloween, Halloween II, Halloween III, etc., and other series of horror movies. Well, now the UN's getting in on the act. We've had IPCC, a horror movie if ever there was one. Now we're getting IPCC-II, though masked by a different acronym: IPBES. Forewarned is forearmed.

Meet the Critics: Joseph D'Aleo, Ph.D

Landmark Documents from the Cornwall Alliance

E. Calvin Beisner, Ph.D., Founder and National Spokesman
Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation

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