Today’s Scripture Reading (July 16,
2015): Exodus 11
Pope Francis
encyclical on climate change, which was released a month ago, continues to take
heat in certain corners. And if the subject matter wasn’t so serious, it would
almost be laughable. Some of the arguments that have emerged seem to have been
created somewhere down Alice’s rabbit hole – they just don’t make any sense.
Among the excuses I have heard have been that the Pope can’t be right about
Climate change because he opposes gay marriage (I am still trying to figure out
the connection between climate change and gay marriage) or that he can’t be
right because he believes that the world is overpopulated and yet he refuses to
endorse the use of condoms (again the connection with climate change seems to
be missing.) One of the most level headed responses is that the Pope simply believes
that the earth is the creation of God and that we have been given the task of
caring for it – whatever that might take. That understanding of the Papal
encyclical is almost biblical.
Pope Francis
has also been attacked because he is trying to take a science issue and make it
a religious one. But what all of the attacks seem to miss is that we have a
problem. We are recording higher and higher temperatures in many parts of the
world, the polar ice is contracting (as are mountain glaciers – one glacier
that I visited as a child is now a mere shadow of what it used to be – and that
change has happened in my lifetime), and California is in the middle of a
historic drought. And one of the issues that we seem to be hung up on is
discerning who deserves the blame for climate change – is the current global
situation due, at least in part, to the actions of man, or is this a normal
cycle. But the problem is that the blame doesn’t matter. If we are going to
continue to survive on this planet, we need to figure out a way to stop the
current climate change, even if we aren’t the ones at fault. If we don’t, there
will be a much bigger problem that will have to be solved by our children. And
I don’t want them to look back at my generation and say that because we refused
to sacrifice in our time, they will have a much tougher time just trying to
live. For me, that is the nightmare scenario.
Generations
of biblical scholars have argued over the plague of the first born. Did it
really happen, and if it did, what does that say about the character of God?
But in the end it is really the wrong question, and not one that would have
been asked in antiquity. We can’t read ancient texts with a modern mindset because,
when we do, we miss the ancient focus. For
the plague of the firstborn the ancient focus was simply this – how could
Pharaoh miss all of the warnings and signs; after the first nine plagues how did
he not take Moses seriously and allow the tenth to happen when the solution to
the problem was so clear – let Israel go. Pharaoh’s pride and his unwillingness
to sacrifice became something that would have to be paid for by the next
generation, and it would be paid for by the entire society including the
animals in the field – all because Pharaoh refused to do what he needed to do.
Regardless
of who is at fault for climate change, the Papal encyclical should be a
reminder of our own responsibility to the next generation – and the last thing
that I want to do is make their journey through life harder than it needs to
be. I need to be willing to do what I need to do – no matter what it might be
that that entails.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus
12
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