Christian Action League Staff
Christian Action League
October 25, 2019
Greta Thunberg is the teenage Swedish environmentalist who chided world leaders at the United Nations for not doing enough to halt climate change. Thunberg’s speech was blunt, straightforward, and captured international attention. She said:
“This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you! You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!”
In an article, titled, The Religion of Climate Change & the New Doomsday Scenario, Charlotte-based Christian apologist, Dr. Michael Brown, argued that Thunberg is an example of the way environmentalists are stressing young people out over climate change.
Brown asserted that young people have become so anxious about climate change that they are (1) feeling like they can’t plan for the future, (2) angry that the people around them aren’t doing more to help, (3) frustrated that there is nothing that they can do to change things, (4) worried whether its responsible for them to have children, and, (5) feeling that everything in life is out of control.
Brown also cites the American Psychological Association’s recent claim that climate change is threatening mental health. “But herein lies the rub,” says Brown, “[i]t is not ‘climate change’ that is ‘threatening mental health.’ It is the apocalyptic way it is being reported that is threatening mental health.”
Read Rev. Mark Creech’s editorial: President Trump, Religious Liberty, and International Climate Policy
Indeed, Brown is right, and Thunberg is exhibit #1 for making the case. People are being frightened like watching a horror movie, but the reality of being in any actual danger is about as remote.
David R. Brumbelow is the pastor of a small Southern Baptist church in Highlands, Texas. Voices of reason have a way of bringing matters into focus and alleviating fears, especially when joined with assurances from God’s Word. This is what Brumbelow brings to the table in an open letter penned to Greta Thunberg, which he posted on his blog:
“Dear Greta,
“Stop worrying about catastrophic global warming/climate change. You can have a long, happy life if you stop buying the hype left-wing environmentalists are selling. Yes, there is plenty wrong with the world, but it is also filled with love, happiness, freedom, beauty.
“When I was a little younger than you, I was taught catastrophic global cooling! Curiously, I do not recall any of the experts apologizing to me when they changed their minds and began teaching the opposite, global warming; or when they then switched to climate change.
“As far as rising sea levels, it is interesting that even climate change promoter President Obama just paid millions for an ocean-front property. Apparently, he is not as concerned as he once appeared. Meanwhile, the ice caps and glaciers wax and wane. The media never seems to emphasize the places where ice is increasing.
“Proponents of climate change regularly fly private jets, own gas-guzzling vehicles, etc., revealing their hypocrisy.
“Fossil fuels, if they were discovered today, would be considered eco-friendly. Patrick Moore, a former Greenpeace activist, said, “If fossil fuels were banned every tree in the world would be cut down for fuel for cooking and heating,”
“God’s Word assures us in Genesis 8:22, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease” (NKJV).” You can find much comfort, truth, assurance in the Bible.
“Even relatively recent history (last 300 years or so) tells us weather goes in cycles and the climate changes regardless of man. We have warming, cooling, stormy, rainy, drought cycles.
“We should all be against pollution. May we support reasonable environmentalism, while wisely using the resources God has given. For years I have planted fruit trees, shade trees, native grass, and flowers, gardened, and enhanced the environment for wildlife. I encourage others to do the same.
“I challenge you to consider the other side of climate change and man-caused global warming. A good, free place to begin is the Cornwall Alliance: For the Stewardship of Creation (cornwallalliance.org).
“Greta, regardless, may you have a long, happy, fulfilling life, with just enough struggle to make you strong.
‘Sincerely,
David R. Brumbelow
Pastor Northside Baptist Church
Highland, Texas
Regardless of arguments to the contrary, the science around climate change is not settled. Instilling unwarranted apocalyptic fears into people, especially impressionable young people, concerning the subject, is like falsely yelling “fire” in a crowded room. People are likely to get hurt.
Greta Thunberg is an internationally celebrated victim of climate alarmists.