Friday, June 2, 2017

EOCAWKI: Sometimes the hand of God is at the end of your wrist

Recently, Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich) told a town hall meeting that if climate change is real then God will fix it. He said in part, "...I believe that there is a creator in God who is much bigger than us. And I'm confident that, if there's a real problem, he can take care of it."
Rep. Walberg's view of climate change reminded me of this old story:
A fellow was stuck on his rooftop in a flood. He was praying to God for help.
Soon a man in a rowboat came by and the fellow shouted to the man on the roof, "Jump in, I can save you."The stranded fellow shouted back, "No, it's OK, I'm praying to God and he is going to save me."
So the rowboat went on.
Then a motorboat came by. "The fellow in the motorboat shouted, "Jump in, I can save you."
To this the stranded man said, "No thanks, I'm praying to God and he is going to save me. I have faith."
So the motorboat went on.
Then a helicopter came by and the pilot shouted down, "Grab this rope and I will lift you to safety."
To this the stranded man again replied, "No thanks, I'm praying to God and he is going to save me. I have faith."
So the helicopter reluctantly flew away.
Soon the water rose above the rooftop and the man drowned. He went to Heaven. He finally got his chance to discuss this whole situation with God, at which point he exclaimed, "I had faith in you but you didn't save me, you let me drown. I don't understand why!"
To this God replied, "I sent you a rowboat and a motorboat and a helicopter, what more did you expect?"
Climate change is a real problem. The scientific consensus is that it is largely man-made. And God is already taking care of it. Through us. I believe that our Creator endowed mankind with the wisdom, good judgment, skills and science to recognize problems, and with everything we need to correct them. That's what the Paris Accord is intended to do.

I tend to perceive the Deity in terms of an all-present and loving parent who is the source of our life and who instills and nurtures in the children of this planet the sense and capacity to set things right when they head in the wrong direction.

Everyone likes dramatic, highly visible miracles and sometimes those do occur. But most often miracles arrive in plain brown wrappers placed right under our noses. Consider just how miraculous it is that nearly every country on this war-ravaged planet came together to form a consensus around climate change and agree on the way to address it. Even North Korea! The only nations that didn't sign on initially were Nicaragua and Syria. And now President Trump says the United States will make it a trio of outliers.

Yet despite this latest development, I am confident that mankind ultimately will fulfill our responsibility to care for and heal the one planet God gave us. After all, it's what a responsible child would do to honor a Loving Parent.