Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Inconvenient Truth: Global Warming



Elder Kee Huat was the Director of National Energy Commission, which provided him a unique perspective into the issue of global warming and creation care. Last Sunday, he gave an informative and passionate plea for action to the Church.

The Powerpoint slides would provide some research data he compiled, painting a grim picture of current situation that requires our response. Towards the end, he gave a Christian response similar to the Creation, Stewardship sections of the Lausanne Evangelical Commitment to Simple Lifestyle document.

He also draws resources from Richard Foster's Discipline of Simplicity for personal application:
"The inward reality of simplicity involves a life of joyful unconcern for possessions. Neither the greedy nor the miserly know this liberty.

If what we have we receive as a gift, and if what we have is cared for by God, and if what we have is available to others, then we will possess freedom from anxiety.

However, if what we have we believe we have got, and if what we have we believe we must hold onto, and if what we have is not available to others, then we will live in anxiety."


What are some outward expressions of Simplicity?

- Buy things for their usefulness rather than their status.
- Reject anything that is producing an addiction in you.
- Develop a habit of giving things away: de-accumulate
- Refuse to be duped by gadgetry: time saving devices almost never save time.
- Learn to enjoy things without owning them: beach, parks public libraries...
- Develop a deeper appreciation for creation. Walk whenever you can, smell the
flowers, watch birds.
- Develop plain simple talk.
- Reject anything that breeds the oppression of others.
- Shun anything that distracts you from seeking first the Kingdom of God.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Have U read this ?
Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years

at least check those comments.

Unknown said...

The term "Inconvenient Truth" was popularized by Al Gore's environmental movie.

But he is a hypocrite. Should we trust him?

Check this one:

---- one of the comment ---
Hypocrite-–noun 1. a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, esp. a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.
2. a person who feigns some desirable or publicly approved attitude, esp. one whose private life, opinions, or statements belie his or her public statements.
That pretty much sums up this guy. But hey, he won a ridiculous Hollywood movie award. I bet he flew in a private jet to the ceremony.
— Posted by Jim
---------

Unknown said...

It's so encouraging to hear that an Elder spoke on creation care in Singapore. How rare is that!? I'm Melissa, My husband Daniel and I are serving in an international Christian nature conservation NGO called A Rocha (www.arocha.org) and although I'm based in BC Canada for another 1.5 years, my desire is to help Christians in Singapore understand creation care as a normal part of discipleship and daily life. Cheers! Mel melissa.ong@arocha.org

Unknown said...

Oops, it's Mel again. I'm sorry I assumed the author and Elder Kee Huat are from Singapore since it was "The Agora Singapore" page I was reading! Anyway, there's a short version of an A Rocha creation care video we produced that features John Stott, Alister McGrath and scientists. It's on Google Video, use key words such as Melissa Ong. The search results are cleaner than A Rocha. Thanks.

Daniel C said...

I agree with Abel. Since when has anti-God environmentalism become the pressing concern for the church, while compromise and apostasy hardly makes it on the radar screen?

Daniel C said...

Oh wait... another thing.... what is the quotation from the spiritual mystic Richard Foster doing there? Contemplative prayer anyone?

Unknown said...

this blog posting_comment#6 has very practical explanation on global warming.

Quote:
Let me dumb it down for you. Suppose the amount of heat trapped by CO2 is equal to 1 brick. If you increase man-made CO2 amounts so that it traps 1.2 bricks, that’s a 20% increase in CO2 heat trapping. Seems like a lot, right? Now, compare that to 1000 bricks, which is a pretty good comparison of the heat trapping of man-made CO2 to that released by natural sources. If you have an increase of .2 bricks to 1000 bricks, the net effect of heat trapping by that extra .2 bricks is negligible.

Now, take into account the fact that all the heat trapped from those 1000 bricks is significant in a dry system (such as a wintry Siberia, or the Arizona desert). But that same amount of bricks is trapped by a system with 5% humidity. As the % humidity increases, the bricks trapped by water overtake the relevance of the CO2 due to the concentration of water in the atmosphere. If all of that CO2, the 1000.2 bricks of heat, cannot significantly change the heat trapped by water, then you’ve got a system where the heat dynamic is strictly controlled by water vapor alone. That’s about 80-85% of the total surface area of the planet.

Dave said...

Melissa and Daniel, it's great joy to see u present the work of A Rocha in my church a few weeks back. Keep up the good work and hope Peter connected u with some frens who are like minded...


DDD - Since when has creation care become anti-god since God himself created the universe? :D

And whatever we disagree w Foster on prayer does not detract from the truthfulness of his statements on simple living, does it?

Unknown said...

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