Religion and Global Warming

[krysalyss]

Nelle - I understand what you are saying but just want to clarify one thing. You say that if it comes to either humans or the environment then humans have to come first.
Firstly how far does this extend? For example, are you talking about human desires (eg houses, cars etc) or needs (clean water, freedom from fear etc).
Secondly, how can humans live without the environment? We are part of a whole ecosystem with trees, water, soil etc. How can we choose humans over the environment when humans can't live without the environment?

What an interesting topic!

[Bathsheba]

I get what you are saying Kryss, some Christians seem to have this idea that humans are actually separate from nature... that we have been placed upon the earth like aliens landing from another planet. We, I think, are nature... we are an integral part of our environment we are made of the same "stuff" but have God-like souls. We are subject to the laws of nature and if we hurt nature we hurt ourselves.

ETA: correction our souls are not "God-Like" they have the potential to become God like LOL

[Nelle]

Oh! Needs. The tricky thing is, it'd all be fine if everyone were making their decisions based on what Christ taught, and what God wants us to do.

I don't think there's anything wrong with wants, and cars and planes and houses can be useful. Which I think is the key word - useful. Are we using these things the way God wants us to? Or are we thinking only about ourselves? We need balance.
Definitely a roof over my head, because I have a responsibility to keep myself and my family safe and well. But then, I need to think about others - can someone in need come regularly for a meal, have a bed to sleep in, have clothes I don't need?
If I have a car, great, I can go to the shops and get my kids from school. Can I give someone without a licence a lift, can I grab some extra groceries for someone?
Not hard stuff is it, but it requires me to look beyond the end of my own nose, which...is harder for me than it should be! Me me me, that's how I often think.

I wonder if every person in the Western world (who had an income, any sort) gave their money wisely, whether suddenly a whole lot of people would be much better off. But change happens with each individual, so we can only really act for ourselves.

Krys, I'm sure the environment issue gets very grey in areas! I was just thinking in basic terms, I'd rather chop down some trees (if there was no better way) to build a house rather than say, no you must go without a home because these trees are more important.

[krysalyss]

Nelle - Is it your little ones birthday today?!?
If yes - Happy Birthday!

[Nelle]

Riv turned 1 almost 2 weeks ago...I'll change my sig soon!! Thankyou very much though!

[Oie]

Hi, sometimes things like this make us wonder don't they. i mean the time line of creation, and the global warning debate. My little one is really into Dinosaurs and so far (as he's too young) hasn't asked about their existance. I guess that is doesn't really matter if they did or didn't - because knowing or not knowing doesn't alter God as creater of all. Dinosaurs are not mentioned in the Bible - yet we see fossils they were in the past sometimes. Just like aeroplanes aren't mentioned in the Bible as they were in the future.
When Jesus walked as a man on earth he could have set the record straight on all these issues (since he was with God from the beginning), but instead he just left 2 commandments. You knoe the ones: Love the Lord your God with all your heart mind and spirit and your neighbour as yourself. I think he figured these were the important issues and would take us (mankind) a life time to achieve as it is.

Anyway just my thoughts. Some days I worry about stuff like that, and somedays I don't. But in saying that showing love would be to love and respect Gods creation (planet/environment) and each other (human race).
BTW Sara you have an enquiring mind and have started some intersting threads beacuse of it - Ta

[Heaven]

Thanks Oie!
OOh, I was wondering about the dinosaur thing a while back too and looked it up...I'll see if I can find what I read.

Dinosaurs and the Bible

Most of us loved reading about dinosaurs at some time in our lives. In 1993, the movie “Jurassic Park” stimulated the public interest in dinosaurs far beyond its previous level. As a result, increasing numbers of people have thought, “Since we have found all these fossils and dinosaur bones, we know dinosaurs existed. How come they are not mentioned in the Bible?”
Actually, dinosaurs are mentioned in the Bible, and we will prove it by doing the following three things:
Examining the Bible’s text and the related scientific facts.
Explaining the accuracy of the Bible.
Exploring what we are taught in school and through the media.

The Bible’s Text
The Bible refers to many the common animals we know today. The list includes lions, wolves, bears, sheep, cattle and dogs along with various kinds of birds, rodents, reptiles, and insects. What is interesting is that this extensive list includes three animals that we no longer recognize. These three are tanniyn, behemowth, and livyathan.
Although we alter the spelling of behemoth and Leviathan slightly, we still use those same words in bibles today. However, tanniyn is always translated into another word when we write it in English. Tanniyn occurs 28 times in the Bible and is normally translated “dragon.” It is also translated “serpent,” “sea monster,” “dinosaur,” “great creature,” and “reptile.” Behemoth and Leviathan are relatively specific creatures, perhaps each was a single kind of animal. Tanniyn is a more general term, and it can be thought of as the original version of the word “dinosaur.” The word “dinosaur” was originally coined in 1841, more than three thousand years after the Bible first referred to “Tanniyn.” In 1822, Mary Ann Mantell became the first person to discover and correctly identify a strange bone as part of a large, unknown reptile. Her husband, Dr. Gideon Mantell, later named this creature an “Iguanodon.” From that time forward, these forgotten animals were given names chosen by the people who rediscovered them. Of course, the Bible, written between approximately 1450 BC and 95 AD, does not include any of these names.
Reading the Bible carefully, you will realize that no living creature matches the descriptions of behemoth and Leviathan. However, if you grab your kid’s dinosaur book, you will notice several possible matches for each one.

Modern Evidence

There is a growing body of evidence that dinosaurs and humans were contemporary. In 1970 newspapers reported the discovery of cave paintings in Zimbabwe. The paintings were made by bushmen who ruled that area from about 1500 B.C., until a couple of hundred years ago. Along with accurate representations of the elephant and the giraffe, is a painting of an Apatosaurus (brontosaurus). These art works have greatly puzzled scientists since bushmen are known to have painted from real life! (Bible-Science Newsletter 1970, 2).
About seventy years ago, Dr. Samuel Hubbard, curator of archaeology in the Oakland (California) Museum, discovered dinosaur carvings on the cliff walls of the Hava Supai Canyon in Arizona. One remarkable carving resembles a Tyrannosaurus. Nearby, dinosaur tracks were preserved in the rock surface. (For a picture of this carving, see our book, The Mythology of Modern Geology 1990, 31.)

What about the Paluxy Tracks?

When the discovery of what appeared to be human footprints, along with dinosaur tracks (in the Paluxy River bed near Glen Rose, Texas), was reported in the May 1939 issue of Natural History, it created a furor that has not subsided to this very day. For decades it seemed obvious to careful observers that this was clear evidence of human/dinosaur co-habitation.
Then, a few years ago, Glen Kuban, a computer programmer from Cleveland, Ohio, discovered chemical discolorations at the front of some of the human-like prints. This led him and others to suggest that the human-like tracks were not human at all; rather, they were simply portions of the dinosaur tracks that had been altered by mud-fill.
Those who were disposed to believe in the theory of evolution alleged that this destroyed the Paluxy evidence once and for all. Some creationists, e.g., those of the Institute of Creation Research in San Diego, adopted a wait-and-see policy until further research is forthcoming. Others were not so easily swayed. Two authors, Robert F. Helfinstine and Jerry D. Roth, recently produced a study which strongly argues for the validity of comtemporary human/dinosaur tracks.

It has even been speculated that someone may have “doctored” some of the dinosaur/human prints to eradicate the impression of “humanness.” Evolutionists, of course, desperately want to discredit the tracks as human, for as some of them have conceded:

Such an occurrence [i.e., human and dinosaur tracks in the same stratum], if verified, would seriously disrupt conventional interpretations of biological and geological history and would support the doctrines of creationism and catastrophism (Journal of Geologic Education 1983, 111-123).

Needless to say, this controversy is far from over.
Those who accept the testimony of the Bible are confident that men and dinosaurs did occupy the ancient earth at the same time. We are not dependent upon modern discoveries to confirm that for us. However, when clear evidence does come to light, we should not hesitate to accept it.

There's lots of stuff but that's mainly what it says, just goes into more detail. It's certainly interesting, so I don't know what to think. But imagine living in a world with dinosaurs, lol, omg scary!