Creation: Good, Groaning, Glorious (Project Essay)

Certificate in Christian Rural and Environmental Studies

Final Project: Creation: Good, Groaning and Glorious

To what extent can “Acts of God” and the Activity of Humanity affecting the Natural World be considered Eschatological? - a consideration of Global Climate Change in the context of Eternity.

Introduction:

This project, which marks the final element of a year of studies exploring Global Climate Change[1], is being completed at a time when much of the mobility and freedom that has been increasingly taken for granted in the twenty-first century is under threat from the consequences of ash in the upper atmosphere emitted from the erupting Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajőkull, whilst at the same time a man-made disaster, in the form of a major oil spillage from an offshore oil rig, is threatening to devastate livelihoods and the fragile ecological systems of the Gulf states of the United States of America.

The project essay will start with a brief resume of the so-called natural disasters that have been publically recorded as occurring during the past twelve months, and then present a study of the occurrences and significances of similar disasters as recorded in the Bible. As a conclusion, it will consider how the effects of natural disasters (often referred to as “Acts of God”) linked with the accelerated rate and heightened impact of Global Climate Change in the last few centuries (generally accepted as a consequence of the activities of humanity), may be perceived within the context of eternity, with its promise of a renewed creation, and, if so, how a world view which adopts considerations of eternity as presented in Christian Scriptures may influence and affect a largely secular and material, temporal-minded world.

As an accompaniment to this project, there is a 15-minute multimedia presentation[2] which is intended for use as an aid to meditation and reflection and which seeks to portray a Biblical perception of Creation as being Good, Groaning and ultimately Glorious. The presentation provides a way of engaging emotionally through sight, sound and prayer with the issues that are approached from an academic perspective in this essay, and is built upon the Christian Biblical perspective that Creation is a consequence of the creative initiatives and desire of an everlasting, unchanging and good God. The goodness of Creation is temporarily diminished as a consequence of human sinfulness, but as a consequence of the personal intervention of God into this temporal expression of Creation through the life, death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ, creation and all creatures will ultimately be restored to the glory originally intended by the Creator.

Acts of God? A summary of natural disasters recorded between May 2009 and April 2010

According to the emergency aid support organisation, Reliefweb[3], there were at the very least,[4] 193 natural disasters recorded in 2009, including 85 floods, 30 storms (including local storms, tropical storms, tropical cyclones, hurricanes and storm surges) 21 earthquakes, 16 land- or mudslides, 8 droughts, 6 cold waves and 6 volcanic eruptions. Since the start of 2010, the same organisation records at least a further 40 natural disasters including the devastating earthquakes in Haiti and on the Tibetan plains, and, of course the volcanic eruption of Eyjafjallajőkull, which has brought the whole concept of a natural disaster to a constituency previously able to keep itself largely immune from any consequential impact upon its ways of life.

In a similar way, the explosion from a deep-sea oil well in the Gulf of Mexico has brought heightened awareness of the fragility of the environment to an oil-addicted American public, just weeks after the passing of a Climate and Energy Bill that facilitated expansion of off-shore drilling for oil.[5] The repeated failure to repair the damaged well has prompted the US government to declare that the spill was “probably the biggest environmental disaster we have ever faced in this country”[6]

In the United Kingdom, the normal process of a general public response in the United Kingdom to the news of a natural disaster, begins with the initial stage of information, normally provided by the news media. The next stage may see some response in the form of action by specialist rescue teams, and a wider public response to fund-raising appeals, co-ordinated, for example, through the Disasters Emergency Committee in the case of severe natural disasters where there is huge loss of life. Usually, after a couple of weeks at the most, the world seems to move on, and compassion for - and active engagement with - the specific event declines, as does any meagre public consideration amongst the cultures of the West of the disaster as having any moral, let alone possible spiritual, significance. Any consideration of such natural disasters in the context of the outworking of God’s plans for the establishment of His everlasting Kingdom is usually confined to some of the more strident declarations that emerge from within certain faith communities at times of disaster.[7]

In the instance of the disruption experienced as a consequence of the volcanic activity in Iceland, the response from the general public has been different. For a start, far more people in Western Europe, are being forced to become aware that assumptions about the sustainability of global travel and economics which have been increasingly built up in recent decades, are vulnerable to the influence and unpredictability of the natural world. This has particularly affected holiday-making air travellers and whilst there has not been any tragic loss of life, the cost of this unseen, and for many, unbelievable intrusion – unbelievable, because minute grains of silicon ash 18-30,000 feet in the atmosphere cannot be readily seen - into their livelihoods, has been immense, as levels of economics and inconvenience – which matter greatly in a materially comfortable and capital-driven society - are taken into account. Of possible greatest concern, to a largely faith-less society, is that there is no-one to blame for the financial fall-out or disruption to lifestyle, and the phrase “Act of God” is invoked by insurance companies that are unwilling, or unable to provide the kind of financial settlement that many of the affected seem to consider as their right.[8] Could it be that this inadequacy in the usual arguments of reason and logic might serve to encourage questioning minds to become more open to arguments which involve matters of faith and spirituality? There are certainly those already engaged in the Climate Change debate, who demonstrate an ability to take the debate beyond the boundaries assumed by reason and logic.[9]

It is highly ironic that almost as soon as restrictions on aviation companies flying through the atmosphere where ash was considered a threat to safety have been lifted (though at the time of writing, further disruption due to volcanic ash is being experienced[10]), that a major oil spill from an off-shore rig operated by British Petroleum, possibly extracting the very same fossil fuel that would be refined to provide airline fuel for the re-liberated fleets of aircraft, began to re-focus minds on the impact that such exploration can have on the multitude fragile eco-systems that also provide livelihoods for many in the United States of America, a country where a powerful Climate Scepticism lobby thrives.

For almost every society and culture that existed before the so-called “Age of Enlightenment”, and even nowadays for those people-groups that may be protected by isolation and environment from the excessive rationality and material well-being of the Western world-view, the concept of an “Act of God” being used to describe the volatility of the natural order may be vague, with roots in folk-lore or superstition, but it has never been over-looked. Recent comments made on television by the President of Iceland, a country which embraces many of the values of rationalism and materialism that dominate much of contemporary western society and its thinking, serve as a timely reminder that such ambivalence towards the power of nature and its forces is foolish.[11]

The Bible and Natural Disasters

The realisation that the activities of the forces of nature cannot always be predicted with precision, however well they may be understood from a scientific point of view, is opening the way for a possible re-connection of humanity with a spiritual world view that has been marginalised by many over the past couple of centuries.[12]

The Bible writers’ collective attitude towards the forces of nature, takes its basis from the description of creation, as found in the early chapters of Genesis, and from which the conclusion is drawn that God is in charge of the whole of the natural order, including seas, winds, floods and storms[13]. The Biblical attitude towards natural and climatic disasters similarly seems to find its basis in the same chapters with the description of the process of separation of creation from Creator. The consequences of the sin of Adam - the representative man – not only brought about the fall from Gods grace of humanity as a whole, but also the natural order of the environment occupied by that humanity.[14] “For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” [15]

Whereas in much contemporary western thinking the notion of Divine judgement is generally barely acknowledged, in Scripture floods, winds, and storms are related to God’s Judgment[16], and sometimes to God’s salvation, resulting in many people coming to faith[17], as well as occasionally being regarded as “birth pang” signs of the imminent return of Christ as Lord and King.[18] With increasing understanding of the fragile state of the natural world, linked with trends to identify and hold accountable those inflicting damage on it (e.g. the current US government stance towards BP following the Gulf of Mexico oil spill), it is entirely possible that the concept of judgement by someone or thing beyond humanity holding the race as a whole accountable over the way it has not fulfilled its mandate to be good and wise stewards of creation[19] might again find its way into contemporary debate. This, in turn, should lead to opportunities for Christians, convinced of the engaging, healing and transforming work of Jesus Christ, to speak confidently of God’s everlasting purposes for the restoration of a glorious Creation.

Climate Change and Bible end time prophecy

There is an increasing general acknowledgement that weather patterns are changing, and for many, the cause of this is Climate Change, mainly as a consequence of human activities since the Industrial Revolution. It also seems reasonable to suggest that informed consideration of Natural Disasters is playing a part in helping increase a general awareness of the fragility and volatility of the environment, and an increasing conviction that this environment occupied by humanity cannot sustain current levels of human interference. Scripture asserts that God is quite capable of, and indeed has, used the weather and the forces of nature as a way of arresting man’s attention, and Biblical prophecy says that He will do this again. Some of the ways in which climatic conditions – past and future - have been interwoven in the narrative of God and man are: Darkness and Gloom[20], Drought[21], Violent Storms, Floods and Hail[22]. When Jonah tried to ignore God's instructions by taking a boat trip, God sent 'a great wind and storm' (Jonah 1.4) that threatened to destroy the ship. Then, in New Testament times, God reversed the situation and calmed the wind and sea in order to save the disciples: (Mk 4.39)

Scripture also teaches that there will be a definite transformation of life as we know it at the Second Coming of Christ. Earth's governmental, economic and trading systems, its animal kingdom, and even geology will all be changed, as God renews His creation in accordance with the resurrection pattern established by His Son, Jesus Christ, and fully and finally establishes His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. The prophet Isaiah foresees this as a time of judgement as God deals with rebellious nations whilst changes in the climate of creation will also feature. (Isaiah, chapters 24-27).

Integral to this time of judgement, as envisioned by Isaiah are environmental conditions of Drought and Scorching Heat[23], severe enough to kill people. A similar image is found in the book of Revelation, where again extreme weather is perceived as part of God’s judgement upon the nations[24]. Jesus, Himself, when questioned about the end of the age, hints at wild, stormy weather (Luke 21:25).

It is therefore pertinent to raise the question: are the effects of Climate Change presently being experienced across the globe indicators of the denouement of the world as we know it, and as Scripture foresees, or are they just part of the broader pattern of climate cycles the earth has experienced for millions of years, partly attributed to the changing orbit of the earth around the sun (expanding and contracting between more circular and more elliptical paths)?[25]

There is increasing agreement amongst scientists that, when considered alongside long-term temperature changes, increases in CO2 concentrations since the industrial revolution show a far more pronounced and rapid rise than those calculated alongside historic climate cycles. The recent UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen served to draw widespread attention to the environmental and social challenges and dangers that such rises in CO2 concentrations and global temperatures will generate, but without any formal and binding international agreement, or indeed globally shared political will, to curb emissions, these increases are forecast to double during the course of the twenty-first century. The rises in global temperatures are predicted to bring with them corresponding instability in the weather patterns, rising sea levels and drought, with devastating consequences for humanity during the course of the next fifty years[26].

It is, therefore, more than interesting to note the correlation between biblical and scientific statements on climate, with both predicting increasing temperatures, more severe storms and more severe drought. The challenge for those who would seek to explain this correlation to a wider audience is to introduce a credible and accessible spiritual, faith-focussed dimension into what is generally seen as a rational, scientific debate.

Over recent centuries advances in science have provided an ever-increasing number of explanations for the existence and development of the natural world to the extent that the need to account for the unexplained in terms of God has receded, resulting in an ever-diminishing role and function for the so-called “God of the Gaps”. However, there are those from within the contemporary scientific community who do not see a dichotomy between faith and reason / science, and who rather consider science as being part of the whole of God’s relationship with the natural order.[27]

Barely five years ago, consideration of climate change from a moral perspective, would typically generate a dismissive response.[28] However, a wider inclination seems to be emerging even from within the Climate Science community to consider the issue of ethics and justice in the debate about climate change[29], and these are concepts that can allow distinct connections with the world of faith, religion and spirituality.

“The climate change debate is so difficult and confusing. Not least, because it is just as much an ethical and political debate as a climate science debate. It deals with values and morals, power and weakness, responsibility towards the individual and for society, for humanity, economy and the future well-being of society. Stuck in the middle of the debate are the climate scientists who are accustomed to asking subject specific questions about their own and others research, but who meet within the climate debate criticism that cannot always be defended from a scientific standpoint. The critics, who most often are not climate research scientists, are not interested in genuine scientific debate. They have their own interests in the areas of values and politics.”[30]

There are eminent Climate Scientists who actually go beyond thinking merely in terms of morals and values within the Climate Change debate, and incorporate spiritual concepts embracing eschatology - (lit. 'study of the last')[31] into their research and arguments, often from the basis of their own Christian convictions, a development which has been questioned by other scholars.[32] It may well be that the whole Climate Change debate, embracing as it does matters of the natural world which will affect the future of the whole of humanity, is beginning to provide Christians within the scientific community increased confidence in challenging the post-Enlightenment world view that has hitherto denied much space for religious arguments. If this is the case, the time may well be coming, when this increased confidence, linked with a better ability to articulate arguments in ways that resonate to a wider public, will be (re-?) discovered by Christians from beyond the scientific community.

Orthodox Christian beliefs, as declared in the traditional creeds[33], and as perceived in the prophetic words of Scripture, look to a future with a renewed creation embracing both heaven and earth, following the pioneering, and totally unique, pattern of death and resurrection established by Christ Jesus. It is, as a consequence of Jesus being raised to new life, that hope and healing breaks into the world, and provides, for Creation and creatures alike, the foretaste of a transformed physicality that embraces the fullness of existence as originally intended by God. “The foundational biblical promise, upon which the whole practice of Christian citizenship depends, is the promise of new heavens and a new earth… The Bible moves from creation to new creation.”[34], and therefore it is not surprising that incidents involving the Natural World which seem to threaten the stability and future of humanity as we know it at present, should be considered in the context of the eschatological out-workings of the purposes of the God of all Creation as Judge and Redeemer.

Acts of God and the Activity of Humanity: towards a renewed creation?

In order to consider this final part of the discussion about Climate Change in the context of eternity, and a new (re-newed) Creation, it is necessary to keep in mind the basics of the first creation. Scripture records that God created not only the heavens, but also the earth and called it “good”.[35] The full and final revelation of God’s everlasting purposes in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ demonstrate that God is in the business of redemption and renewal as opposed to destruction and annihilation, and, as if underlining God’s commitment to the physical world, created earth mysteriously responds as these eternal purposes are worked out.[36] Early heresies that arose within the Christian church, heavily influenced by Greek Platonic philosophy, sought to separate the physical from the spiritual, which by natural conclusion, restricts heaven and the new creation to the merely spiritual. The resurrection appearances of Jesus, as described in the Gospels, give the benchmark and blueprint for all resurrection in the future, with a wonderful new collaboration between the physical and the spiritual.[37]

There have been Christian voices down the ages that have interpreted natural disasters as being part of the process by which God judges the world[38], and whilst there are certainly images in Scripture of great destruction on Earth preceding Christ’s return[39], these images do not necessarily lead to a conclusion of the total destruction of the Earth. Rather, it appears that Christ’s return brings an end to the destructive activity caused by sinful humanity, and instead brings God’s redemption and restoration. Christians believe fundamentally that God has actually already judged the world: God judged it guilty and declared it forgiven through the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. God so loved the world that He is, even now, in Christ, reconciling all things to Himself. To that end, when humanity chooses to abuse the freedom God gives within His created order, it cannot be said that God is judging us, rather it is we who are causing our own suffering through selfishness and greed, which impact on the fragile environment and created order we are given to enjoy and steward. “The increase in natural disasters can (…) be taken as a wake-up call. Instead of trying "appease" God so that God will "stop judging us", let us look at our actions and activities on the face of the earth. …. The ice caps are melting. The water is poisoned. The air is polluted. The climate is changing, and so are the wind patterns and air pockets… We have used our free will to ravage and mutilate our planet, and it is showing signs of giving out. We are consuming earth's resources as if there were 3 or 4 more planets available, and disregarding things as if there really were an "away" to which to throw things. The planet can't take our abuse, and it is letting us know. God is not supernaturally intervening and spinning up more hurricanes, or drying up water resources; God is letting us feel the consequence of our own action.”[40]

This is a helpful interpretation of the classic mediaeval phrase: “Gratia non tollit sed reparat naturam” (Grace does not destroy nature, but restores it), as quoted and developed by the theologian Anthony Hoekma[41].

It is this prospect of a renewed and glorified creation that can be a major encouragement for Christian believers to regain confidence and conviction in their engagement with the secular world with passion for the Natural World and out of compassion that this Earth is to be the only everlasting domain of God’s redeemed people, the identity that all are invited to adopt through Christ. "This world is our home: we are made to live here. It has been devastated by sin, but God plans to put it right. Hence, we look forward with joy to newly restored bodies and to living in a newly restored heaven and earth. We can love this world because it is God’s, and it will be healed, becoming at last what God intended from the beginning."[42]

The conviction that “the world is our home”, in the present, graced temporarily by the incarnate Son of the Creator[43], and also into eternity, where that temporal blessing of God’s presence becomes permanently apparent, calls Christians in particular to be dynamic and effective stewards of the natural world and its resources, living out the priorities, principles and privileges of the coming Kingdom in advance of its fulfilment with the return of Christ as King. This is a clear mandate to engage in activities and initiatives that not only increase general respect for the Natural World in all its glory, but also which bring restoration and renewal to derelict and destroyed environments, in the secure conviction that such engagement, when entered into humbly and in accordance with the prompting of God’s transforming Spirit, will have an impact and effect that will last into the new creation, whilst at the same time rejoicing in the truth that: “At the climax of creation, as at the beginning of creation, God will do what only God can do. … The renewal of the earth is a divine activity ..; but in the name of God’s Son and in the power of God’s Spirit, we can be fellow workers with God in all that He is doing ahead of and towards that great day”[44]

The nature of the resurrection body of Jesus Christ, as described in the Gospels and book of Acts in the Bible[45], holds some clues as to how a redeemed and renewed Creation might possibly appear – immediately recognisable as a version of the original creation, with added characteristics as yet not experienced, such as transcending time and space, and yet still bearing the scars of its history in relationship to humanity. The image of the wounded Christ who is raised to glory, the fore-runner for the whole of creation, is a powerful image, and speaks words of encouragement and hope that the wounded and fragile earth in which we exist, will too be a physical and tangible feature of the new created order. When we consider how much of wonder and beauty and awe is a consequence of dramatic, primeval upheaval in the universe, it is hard to conceive that such creative forces would cease to bring God glory in eternity. Somehow, maybe, they will no longer have their potential for devastation, or maybe, redeemed humanity, will have learnt a better way to respect and value them, and to live in harmony with them, not least because the new heaven and earth will rejoice in the tangible protecting and lovingly governing presence of its Creator, who has made them His home for ever. In this new creation, it is not difficult to imagine that redeemed humanity itself will, like the risen Lord Jesus, no longer be bound by time or space, and therefore no longer be in need of fossil-fuel burning aircraft to transport them across the globe, and even the universe in order to witness the wonders of the new creation, and tangibly share the Creator’s pleasure in them!

Such an exercise in imagination and encouragement to humanities’ current behaviour, find eloquent expression in the words of the late nineteenth century preacher C.H. Spurgeon who, whilst remaining unswervingly faithful to Scripture, allows his imagination to be prompted by the Holy Spirit to look beyond that which is tangible and mortal to say: “It is the purpose and intention of the Lord Jesus to make this world entirely new. You recollect how it was made at first--pure and perfect. It sang with its sister-spheres the song of joy and reverence. It was a fair world, full of everything that was lovely, beautiful, happy, holy. And if we might be permitted to dream for a moment of what it would have been if it had continued as God created it, one might fancy what a blessed world it would be at this moment. Had it possessed a teeming population like its present one, and if, one by one, those godly ones had been caught away, like Elijah, without knowing death[46], to be succeeded by pious descendants- -oh! what a blessed world it would have been! A world where every man would have been a priest, and every house a temple, and every garment a vestment, and every meal a sacrifice, and every place holiness to the Lord, for the tabernacle of God would have been among them, and God himself would have dwelt among them! What songs would have hailed the rising of the sun--the birds of paradise carolling on every hill and in every dale their Maker's praise! What songs would have ushered in the stillness of the night! Ay, and angels, hovering over this fair world, would oft have heard the strain of joy breaking the silence of midnight, as glad and pure hearts beheld the eyes of the Creator beaming down upon them from the stars which stud the vault of heaven.

Verily the day will come--whether it shall be at his second advent or before his second advent, I do not know--the day when from the east to the west, and from the north to the south, there shall be a new world as far as men are concerned. There shall be no injustice towards the poor; there shall be no envying of the rich; there shall be no law to make men slaves; there shall be no power to oppress, because there shall be no will to do it. Our Lord Jesus Christ shall put a new heart into earth's kings, and then he shall come himself to take their thrones and their crowns, and to be himself our Universal King, and in his day shall the righteous flourish.

Now I believe the way for us to regard that happy day in which he will make all things new; that happy day when the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, when the sword shall be turned into the sickle, and the spear into the pruning hook--the way for us to regard that day, I think, is not standing with our mouths open expecting it, but by setting to work after the Master's own fashion, seeking to bring it about, to gather out the elect from mankind, to illustrate the gospel practically in our lives, and so to do as Jesus did among the sons of men; promoting light, and peace, and truth, and holiness, and happiness as God may help us”.[47]

Conclusion:

Christian scriptures acknowledge that the present world order is subject to decay, and this includes the whole of creation, which Paul the Apostle, in Romans, describes as “groaning”[48], as a direct consequence of humanity choosing, amongst other things, to ignore the Creator’s original intentions that it should be cared for under His direction. However, this deteriorating condition is not the ultimate destiny of a Creation that is made, and which will always be sovereignly sustained, by the God who is good, and who declares His creation “good”. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has established the pattern of transformation and renewal which ultimately will embrace all of life, under God’s sovereign rule. In the meantime, Christians are challenged to discern God’s presence, as well as His distress within the activities and condition of a precious and yet fragile natural world, and to act as ambassadors for the new world order, His Kingdom, empowered by His transforming, renewing Spirit. The current challenges of human-induced Climate Change, alongside upheavals in the natural order, often termed “Acts of God”, present such ambassadors of Christ abundant opportunity to engage with the whole of humanity on issues that are of shared global concern, and at the same time to speak words of hope, grounded in the truth of the resurrection of Jesus, that the whole of Creation does indeed have a “glorious” future destiny, in the everlasting presence of its Creator.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Books

A Moral Climate – the ethics of global warming: Michael S Northcott DLT 2007

Cherishing the Earth: How to care for God’s creation; Hodson M&M, Monarch 2008

Christianity, Climate Change and Sustainable Living: N. Spencer& R. White SPCK 2007

Disciples & Citizens – A Vision for Distinctive living: Graham Cray IVP 2007

Heaven: R. C. Alcorn , Tyndale House Publishers 2004

Heaven is Not My Home: Learning to Live in God's Creation, Paul Marshall W Publ. Group 1999

Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis: Al Gore, Bloomsbury 2009

Surprised by Hope: Tom Wright SPCK 2007

The Care of Creation ed. R.J. Berry IVP 2000

The Groaning of Creation: Christopher Southgate, Westminster John Knox Press 2008

The Search for God: Can Science help? John Houghton, Lion Publishing, Oxford 1995

When Jesus Returns: David Pawson, Hodder & Stoughton 1995

Articles:

A New Creation: Spurgeon C.H. A Sermon published on Thursday, July 15th, 1915. Spurgeon Ministries, P.O. Box 1673 Kingston, Ontario Canada

Nature in the New Creation: New Testament Eschatology and the Environment - Douglas J. Moo, Published in Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 49 (2006)

Jesus and the earth: the Gospel and the future of the environment: James Jones, University of Gloucester 8-2-2003

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[1] Further reflections on these studies, including previously submitted coursework, can be found on www.Kenysabb09.blogspot.com

[2] The presentation can be viewed as the final posting on www.Kenysabb09.blogspot.com

[3] Annual Statistics 2009 and updates for January – April 2010 www.reliefweb.int

[4] (The International Red Cross and Red Crescent organisations list many more http://www.ifrc.org/where/appeals)

[5] “Unlike the Exxon Valdez disaster, this one is agonisingly close to home for four state, 30 million Americans and fishing and tourism industries worth $6 billion (£4 billion) a year in Louisiana alone. It may not be enough to wean an entire culture off oil, but its message has already been heard across the divide between business and the environmental movement; oil alone cannot be the answer” It is out there waiting … a huge rebuke for America’s addiction”. Giles Whittell, The Times 4-5-10

[6] Carol Browner, a White House adviser, as reported in http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/environment/article2535152.ece

[7]: “It seems clear that the prophetic times I have been expecting for decades have finally arrived. And even worse, it appears that the judgment of America has begun. I warn continually that the last days lineup of world powers does not include anything resembling the United States of America. Instead, a revived Roman Empire in Europe is to rule the West, and then the world.” Hal Lindsey MediaMatters for America: Religious conservatives claim Katrina was God's omen, punishment for the United States 13-9-2005

[8], “I have been stranded in Nigeria since Friday and BA has done nothing to contact any of us! I rang BA and asked why they were not making any hotel arrangements for us and the woman said: 'It is an act of God and we are not responsible!' I said "You don't really expect me to believe what you're saying?" and I was told "Yes, we do". So, I ended the conversation - what if I were an atheist?” MAYANK SHARMA, BRITON IN LAGOS, NIGERIA www.bbc.co.uk

[9] “In a sense, of course, all this volcanic ash – if it really exists (doesn't virtually invisible, super-fine dust sound like the airborne version of the emperor's new clothes to you? I'm just saying) – is Mother Earth's revenge: if you mess with the planet, it will return the compliment, big style. This is the gist of environmental scientist James Lovelock's book The Revenge of Gaia, in which he writes: "Now that we are over six billion hungry and greedy individuals, all aspiring to a first-world lifestyle, our urban way of life encroaches upon the domain of the living Earth . . . Now it is changing, according to its own internal rules, to a state where we are no longer welcome." Iceland volcano: imagine a world without planes Stuart Jeffries, The Guardian, 20-4-2010

[10] Ireland flights grounded by return of volcanic ash cloud: The Times Newspaper 4-5-2010

[11] “We need to start planning our societies on the premise that climate destruction and natural disasters will happen, and with unpredictable frequency President Olaf Grimsson, BBC t.v. interview 19-4-2010 (transcribed CEH)

[12] “The Bible is filled with stories of major environmental changes, like floods, droughts and desertification, often shown as God's righteous punishment for human misdeeds. In these stories, some scientists see a chance to understand a little more about the world.” NPR Radio report Scientists Examine Climate Change in Bible Tales by NEDA ULABY

[13] E.g. Nahum 1:3; Psalms 29:10; Psalms 135:6-7;Job 38:11; Isaiah 51:15; Psalms 24:1-2

[14] Genesis 2:16-17; Romans 5:12

[15] Romans 8:20-22

[16] Genesis 6-9; Jeremiah 30:23-24;Isaiah 8:7; Isaiah 28:1-2; Ezekiel 13:13-16; Jeremiah 51:41-45

[17] Acts 16:25-33; 2 Peter 3:9; 1 Timothy 2:3-4; Revelation 11:13

[18] Matthew 24:3-8; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

[19] “God created human beings, He created them godlike, reflecting God’s nature. He created them male and female. God blessed them: “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take care! Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth” Genesis 1:27 – 28 ( The Message)

[20] Exodus 10.21-22; (Ezekiel 30.3, 32.8).

[21] Deuteronomy 28.23,24

[22]Joshua 10.11, Ezekiel 13.13

[23] Isaiah 24.3,4

[24] Revelation 16.8,9

[25] Astronomical Theory of Climate Change – US Natural Climate Data Center ( after Milankovitch 1941)

[26] E.g. Joint Royal Society - NERC - Met Office climate science statement 26 November 2009 http://royalsociety.org/Joint-Royal-Society-NERC-Met-Office-climate-science-statement

[27] “God is not just active in those areas which science cannot explain, as if science were an alternative to God. Instead, our science is God’s science. He holds the responsibility for the whole scientific story” The Search for God: Can Science help? J Houghton, Lion 1995 p. 59

[28] “The trouble with the global warming debate is that it has become a moral crusade when it’s really an engineering problem.” “Global warming: Why bother?” Robert Samuelson, Washington Post June 2006, ref. Unbossed.com 7-7-2006

[29] “A significant number of contemporary environmentalists are convinced that some form of religion is needed to provide motivational power for the transformation of human attitudes toward the natural world. Max Oelschlaeger has claimed, "There are no solutions for the systemic causes of ecocrisis, at least in democratic societies, apart from religiousnarrative. The ecological crisis has therefore been a powerful stimulus to the growth of various eastern and new-age religions, as well as the radical revisions of Christianity seen in, for instance, process theology and eco-feminist theology”. (Nature in the New Creation: New Testament Eschatology and the Environment Douglas J. Moo )

[30] Klima – Norwegian Magazine for Climate Research 2-2010: The difficult climate debate – Tove Kolset– translation CEH

[31] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eschatology (The article continues: “Most modern eschatology and apocalypticism, both religious and secular, involves the violent disruption or destruction of the world, whereas Christian and Jewish eschatologies view the end times as the consummation or perfection of God's creation of the world.”)

[32] “Still more puzzling to me, is why our cosmologists and astronomers are so preoccupied with the question of how it all will end. It’s almost as omnipresent in the writings of astronomers and cosmologists as it is in Christian theologians and has produced a new school of scientists/theologians like Ian Barbour and John Polkinghorne who try to graft a Christian eschatology onto their science.” Neil Gillman: How will it all end? Eschatology in Science and Religion http://www.crosscurrents.org/GillmanSpring07.pdf

[33] “We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come” The Nicene Creed

[34] Disciples & Citizens: G. Cray: p 141

[35] “God looked over everything that He had made; it was so good, so very good!” Genesis 1:31 ( The Message)

[36] “The truth is that the earth did not stay silent as it witnessed the Son of Man’s death and resurrection” : James Jones – Jesus and the Earth 2003 - referring to the earthquakes that accompanied the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in Matthew.27:51 & Matthew 28:2

[37] Houghton pp 179 - 180

^[38] E.g. The Association of Orthodox Experts (APE) believes that the volcanic eruption in Iceland is a manifestation of God’s anger. “Is not Europe increasingly departing from its Christian heritage? Does it not see that the eruption of the Icelandic volcano, and the appearance of its paralysing ash clouds, is a stern warning from God against their ‘advanced’ society?” Interfax-Religion 20-4-10 (http://02varvara.wordpress.com/2010/04/21/association-of-orthodox-experts-see-the-volcanic-eruption-in-iceland-as-a-sign-of-gods-anger/

[39] E.g. 2 Peter 3:10-13 (ref Cray pp144-145)

[40] MEGAN RISLEY www.Helium.com

[41] “"In his redemptive activity, God does not destroy the works of his hands, but cleanses them from sin and perfects them, so that they may finally reach the goal for which he created them. Applied to the problem at hand, this principle means that the new earth to which we look forward will not be totally different from the present one, but will be a renewal and glorification of the earth on which we now live” The Bible and the Future Anthony Hoekma P. 73 Eerdmans (1994) ISBN-13: 978-0802808516

[42] Heaven is not my home: P Marshall p. 247

[43] “The reason we respect, cherish and revere the earth is precisely because it is God’s footstool ( ref Isaiah 66:1-2), His resting place.” James Jones op. cit

[44] Disciples and Citizens: G Cray p.146

[45] Mt. 28:9-10;17-20; Mk.16:9,12,13-19;Luke 24:15-31;36-53;John 20:1417;19-23;26-30; 21:4-25; Acts1:3-9

[46] Consideration of existence beyond the redeemed physicality of the new heavens and new earth is beyond the scope of this projext, as well as the current philosophical abilities of its author.

[47] A New Creation: Spurgeon

[48] Romans 8:19-22