I felt encouraged the other day while listening to NPR. The subject at hand was "Climate Change". If ever there were two words to stir up a heated debate with religious proportions, these would be the two. It seems there are two schools of thought when it comes to this "oh so controversial" issue. One is that man has been careless and reckless and created destructive outcomes for the earth and planet, and we darn well better do something about it, or Armageddon is about to become real. “The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant” (Isaiah 24:5). The other seems to be that the earth has always gone through cyclical changes over vast amounts of time, and something greater than ourselves is ultimately perfectly in charge and in control and we need not worry. So maybe those are the extreme versions, but that is my basic understanding.
I don't always agree with my mother-in-law, but one time she said: "Everybody thinks their version of right is the right version of right". For some reason this really stuck with me, and the more I thought about it, the more I agreed. To take it a step further though, I don't think people always act in a way that even corresponds with their own version of right. Sometimes one may actually not be sure which right is most right and act in a way that is comfortable and could be right, but maybe is not.
I do believe in grey. I think there is room for gray in climate change too. Maybe we have not been good stewards of the earth. “Let them have dominion over all the earth” (Gen. 1:26). Due to sin in the form of greed and gluttony. Maybe Mother Earth is desperately calling out to us and saying “pay attention”. Maybe God has a plan for the planet that no man, woman, or child can change despite the most heartfelt efforts.
I was encouraged though listening to this podcast because the gentleman who was speaking was someone who works for clean energy. He in fact is a proponent of "Climate Change", but at some point he said: "It does not really matter what you believe". It rang like music to my ears. He went on to say how many "red" states are actually leading the way in clean energy, particularly wind powered in this case. He said that pretty much everyone agrees in lower pollution; healthier air to breathe, and everyone agrees with lower costs. Bam. So beautiful. I just love this because people waste so much time trying to convince the other that their right is the right version of what is right. Most people are not willing to give that up, and maybe rightly so. Who is to say that what may be right for me at a certain time might be wrong for you etc. I am not saying that I do not believe in an objective reality where no moral laws exist—clearly I do. But God works in mysterious ways and can turn hearts in ways we can not imagine or even begin to understand. “For those who love God all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28).
As mere mortals we can not read the hearts of men nor tell the future, but we can find areas of agreement and work towards mutual goals. I realize some areas are harder than others and the road seems more fog filled when such disparate priorities are in play, but I love the idea that it does not matter what you believe. I don't know if I have completely carved out the depth of that, but it seems there is something good there. Even people with supposed same or similar beliefs can have large areas of discord. It seems there is a meeting ground for humanity that lies not in one's beliefs but rather in one's actions for a common good. I felt a glimmer of hope in this unique gentleman's approach to such a divisive subject. “For in this hope we were saved” (Romans 8:24).
I once knew a friend who said something to the effect of: "If there are only two choices, right and wrong, black and white, then there is not God". Kind of like Bishop Curry's where there is not love, there is not God. “God is love”; “Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him” 1 John 4:8 and 4:16b). God is life. God is far more complex than mere black and white, for all the colors of the rainbow exist within white (reflects all colors). Black is an absorption, lack of its own hue. Sometimes things are not what they seem and when it comes to God, certainly how much more so.
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