Exclusive: Climatology: Futurist Fundamentalism’s New Hydra Head
Posted on Wednesday, January 17 @ 10:36:49 PST by John McPherson
by John McPherson When we think of "futurism", we naturally find ourselves referring to the theological/doctrinal perspective involving the supposedly future "Second Coming of Christ", the "end times"/Apocalypse scenarios forecasted by prophecy hacks on TV, and all other nonsense of that nature. But futurism is much more diverse, in reality. It is an all-encompassing philosophical perspective that affects every one of us, every day, at every level of society.
As we are all aware, our global climate appears to be in a state of flux and instability. Some sort of cyclical change is occurring. The futurist climatologists would have us believe that mankind’s pollution and overpopulation of the planet are the primary contributing factors in this area. The tragically comic element in this is that man was not responsible for bringing ANY of our ecosystems into being, nor do we sustain them at the planetary level. Yet all of a sudden, we are somehow responsible for potentially jeopardizing all life on this planet and it all hangs in the balance - our pollutants and our means of controlling and reducing them being the ultimate measure of our projected survival as a race. It’s ludicrous on the very face of it! And yet, the high priests of this new, pseudo-scientific fundamentalism - David Suzuki and Al Gore (that pre-eminent scientific “authority”, author of “An Inconvenient Truth”) being the most visible – assure us that our unavoidable reality involves battling climate change globally through drastically increasing our pollution contols industrially, commercially and personally. WE are causing the “global warming” effect by releasing unprecendented levels of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The thinking here is remarkably similar to that of the Christian fundamenalist futurists who start with a presupposition and then “proof-text” their way into a hermeneutically-distorted and mangled pespective on Bible prophecy.
As an example of the absence of true, empirical science in global warming futurism’s agenda, please consider the following. I receive a newsletter from www.environmentaldefense.org from time to time, and at their affiliate site, www.fightglobalwarming.com , they have the following tidbits on their “Myths and Facts” link:
MYTH
Global warming is just part of one of the earth's natural cycles.
FACT
The global warming we are experiencing is not natural.
People are causing it by burning fossil fuels and cutting down forests. Scientists have shown that these activities are pumping far more carbon dioxide (C02) into the atmosphere than was ever released in hundreds of thousands of years. This buildup of CO2 is the biggest cause of global warming. (IPCC 2001) Since 1895, scientists have known that CO2 and other greenhouse gases trap heat and warm the earth. As the warming has intensified over the past three decades, scientific scrutiny has increased along with it. Scientists have considered and ruled out other natural explanations such as sunlight, volcanic eruptions and cosmic rays. (IPCC 2001)
Though natural amounts of CO2 vary from 180 to 300 parts per million (ppm), today's CO2 levels are around 380 ppm. That's 25% more than the highest natural levels, looking back 650,000 years. Increased CO2 levels have corresponded with higher average temperatures throughout that long record. (Boden, Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center)
As you can imagine, not only did I do a “double take” when I read the ludicrous claims that CDIAC has accurate, empirically verifiable climate data detailing CO2 levels in the atmosphere over the last 650,000 years – I actually gagged. What a joke. How can these people possibly expect anyone to take their claims seriously?
The “Inconvenient Truth” for Al Gore, is that man’s impact on the global climate is minimal at best. Certainly, reducing our greenhouse gas emissions might help reduce the drastic levels of change occurring, but this IS a part of the planet’s natural cycle. And out here on the West Coast of BC, Canada – our winter is anything BUT unusually warm. We’re having the coldest, snowiest, iciest winter in ten years out here. In fact, we haven’t had a winter like this (if you include November’s massive rains that wiped out local roads and power repeatedly) for thirty years. The global warming pundits need to come out here and explain themselves as they fight to navigate our icy roads and avoid the 25-foot snowbanks. The ice storms south of us and the blast of winter weather on the East Coast of Canada should really raise some eyebrows among those whose critical thinking capacities aren’t dulled by mass media pulp fiction.
The "sad plight" of the "dying polar bears" - those beautiful creatures of the north - also gave me a chuckle. The overpopulation of those bears has put man on the menu up there for many years, and the people in Flin Flon and Churchill, Manitoba are breathing a little easier when they hear that the bear populations might be reduced through the loss of the ice pack. They are also aware, however, of how adaptable these animals are and how they hunt both on LAND and off of the ice. It is highly unlikely that the loss of the ice pack will mean the disappearance of the polar bear completely. It might mean, however, in the short term, that residents of northern Manitoba and Nunavut will have fewer worries when considering strolling around their communities freely and safely.
For Full Preterists, of course, the apocalyptic doom-and-gloom projections so popular among sensationalist futurists are demonstrably false and baseless when considered in the light of Biblical truth. Texts such as Psalm 104:5, “5 You [God] who laid the foundations of the earth, So that it should not be moved forever” ; Gen. 8:21,22, “21 And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. 22 "While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease." ; and Eccl. 1:4, “4 One generation passes away, and another generation comes; But the earth abides forever” readily spring to mind. When considered in conjunction with each other and the immediate contexts involved, it is apparent that not only is the planet and its day/night and seasonal cycles eternal, but that mankind’s existence on it is likewise established forever. The Creator has declared this to be the eternal reality for this planet and our physical realm, thereby nullifying all pessimistic futurist projections and prognistications.
We have a wonderfully optimistic view of the future to share with those around us. The more exposure we gain in the media (and online) for Preterism’s positive perspective on this planet’s ecosystems, environment and climate in terms of their continued, divine maintenance and sustenance, the better for human civilization as a whole.
John McPherson
Gold River, BC
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John McPherson is a columnist for PlanetPreterist.com. John McPherson lives in British Columbia, on the West Coast of
Vancouver Island with his wife and two boys. John enjoys studying and writing, and is currently working on a B.Th. program.
Note: Opinions presented on PlanetPreterist.com or by PlanetPreterist.com columnists may not necessarily reflect the position of PlanetPreterist.com, or reflect the beliefs, doctrine or theological position of all other preterists. We encourage all readers to first and foremost carefully analyze all articles in the light of God's Word.
Re: Climatology: Futurist Fundamentalism’s New Hydra Head (Score: 1) by Islamaphobe on Wednesday, January 17 @ 12:05:04 PST (User Info | Send a Message)
This is an interesting post, John, one that I can handily "warm up" to. Although I was an economist by profession, I had a lot of training in geography, including physical geography and earth science. I also taught natural resource economics and environmental economics for about a half dozen years. I am aghast at the lack of respect for and understanding of genuine evidence that exists among the global warming advocates. There is nothing new about long-term swings in earth's temperature, of course. What is new is the determination of so many whom I identify as "liberals" to ascribe the probable modest rise in Earth's average temperature to man-made carbon dioxide (and lately to the "production" of methane by domesticated cattle). To my mind, this is a rather different variety of "futurism" from that evinced by so many religious conservatives who love to think that the world is going to hell and will have to be rescued by divine intervention of the apocalyptic variety. This futurism of liberals is, I think, a kind of religion substitute that is related to a weakening of Christian belief and disillusionment with the promises of earthly utopia by Marxism and other varieties of socialism. Can it be that the ability of humankind to apply reason to human existence owes a great deal to the Christian faith? I think so.
I like your biblical quotations, but I would argue that Earth is not eternal. It will last a very long time, for sure, but the day will come when our Solar System no longer exists. Let us say that Earth is functionally eternal as far as human beings are concerned.
Re: Climatology: Futurist Fundamentalism’s New Hydra Head (Score: 1) by Ed on Wednesday, January 17 @ 18:30:32 PST (User Info | Send a Message)
Yes, and it was only about 30 years ago that these same liberals were saying that we were facing the "next ice age" due to global cooling.
The media reported with glee right after the first of the year that 2006 was the warmest year on record. Of course, that' due to the fact that December (at least up here in Michigan) had NO SNOW.
But, just to prove that God has a sense of humor, He sent these storms right after the news reports. Ice storms, record lows, several feet of snow, etc., etc.
But this brings up another point: why are Americans so stupid? Is it just because of public education? I mean, any reasoning person would watch Al's movie and laugh his ass off from the silliness. Once the storms hit, the argument should be over. Al's a propagandist, nothing more. But America still rents the video (our video store was out of copies, about 8 on the shelf, all gone). Who rents this stuff?
Could it be a bunch of college students, getting data for their next paper? Or maybe those same college students (Young Republicans) getting drunk or stoned and getting a belly laugh while watching Al trying to be a serious advocate of anything.
CO2 nourishes plants, which in turn give us Oxygen. The by-product of burning hydrocarbons is hydrocarbons, which after cooling, fall to the ground, fertilizing it. Therefore, all the fossil fuel we burn results in one basic thing: a fertilized and CO2 rich plant. So, get ready all you vegans out there, the huge crops are coming in.
I would also encourage those vegans to save our planet by eating as much beef as possible, since their farts are causing global warming. Might help.
One more point for you John, in reference to the theological futurists: Rick Warren, Brian McLaren, Jim Wallis, et al are all believers in global warming. But the rub is that some pretty prominent Preterists are claiming that global warming is true too. What's their excuse?
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