Two triangles merge to make the symbol of an hourglass – the end is nigh! From New York to Paris the chants and banners herald an ‘inconvenient truth’. An Australian protester speaks with passion and reason: ‘We are simply telling people what to expect. Our politicians are asleep at the wheel. We need to tell the truth.’
Yet, as I watched the Extinction Rebellion demonstrations in my own city, I couldn’t shift the overriding emotion – ‘Have these people just taken my job?’ For if we are Christians, we are those who know that the end is nigh. This end will not arise because of any increasing ocean acidification or glacial retreat, but rather because the Judge is at the door (James 5:9). The message of climate change is vital (we are to be good stewards of creation), but it cannot be equated with the immanent and glorious return of Christ. And it is this inconvenient truth that really is the grounds for waking up those are asleep at the wheel.
Are evangelicals obsessed with sex – to the detriment of other important issues?
It seems to have passed into our constituency mindset that ‘people’ – by which we generally mean liberals or the world at large – think we have a particular ‘thing’ about sex and that we are always talking about it.
I was 16 years old. A new convert. Enthused and encouraged in my new-found faith. I loved reading the Bible, until one day I was given a book with a title along the lines of ‘101 problems in the Bible – resolved’. I actually didn’t have any problems with the Bible – but after I read the book I had 101!
The problems were real, but the answers were shallow and superficial. It was my first ‘crisis of faith’. The only way I got out of it was to realise that I was very young in the faith and that I could not be expected to know everything at once. I believed that over the years the Lord would guide and show. Over the years most were gradually and graciously answered as the Lord taught me to read and think biblically. I came to understand that I needed to be transformed by the renewing of my mind (Romans 12:2) and to have the mind of Christ. I only have about four or five problems to go – although new issues still arise.
Last Word: Extinction
Two triangles merge to make the symbol of an hourglass – the end is nigh! From New York to Paris the chants and banners herald an ‘inconvenient truth’. An Australian protester speaks with passion and reason: ‘We are simply telling people what to expect. Our politicians are asleep at the wheel. We need to tell the truth.’
Yet, as I watched the Extinction Rebellion demonstrations in my own city, I couldn’t shift the overriding emotion – ‘Have these people just taken my job?’ For if we are Christians, we are those who know that the end is nigh. This end will not arise because of any increasing ocean acidification or glacial retreat, but rather because the Judge is at the door (James 5:9). The message of climate change is vital (we are to be good stewards of creation), but it cannot be equated with the immanent and glorious return of Christ. And it is this inconvenient truth that really is the grounds for waking up those are asleep at the wheel.