The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) believes that increasing greenhouse gas concentrations resulting from human and animal activity and even such things as animal flatulence are causing the observed temperature increase in the earth since the middle of the 20th century. The IPCC also believes that variations in natural phenomena such as solar radiation and volcanoes produced most of the warming from pre-industrial times to 1950 and had a small cooling effect afterward.
These conclusions have been endorsed by more than forty scientific societies and academies of science. According to the National Climatic Data Center, the average global surface temperature has risen approximately 1.2°F (0.7°C) since 1880. However, just like all scientific studies, not all the facts are correct nor does it tell us the causes of the earth warming are caused by man or animal.
What Is Global Warming?
Global warming is defined as an increase in the earth’s average atmospheric temperature that causes corresponding changes in climate and that may result from the greenhouse effect.
How Do They Collect Their Information?
Some truly believe the greenhouse gas emissions are causing climate change. They honestly examine the data and come to that conclusion themselves. Some hold to the climate change mindset as if it were a religion. Many within the environmentalist movement are so obsessed with protecting “Mother Earth” that they will use any argument to accomplish that goal, no matter how crazy their agenda is. Some merely support climate change for financial gain. Some of the strongest supports of climate change legislation are those who stand to have the greatest financial gain from the “Going green” movement.
How Can We Know The Truth About Global Warming (climate Change)?
Just like everything else that science tries to get us to believe, we go straight to the Bible. Believe it or not, the earths temperature does fluctuate naturally since the flood. We must understand that God is in control of the earth, the Bible tells us of many signs that account to global warming, but they have nothing to do with what secular science believes them to be.
What Does The Bible Say About Global Warming?
Biblical examples of what could be considered climate change would be the tribulation Jesus spoke about in the Gospels, and the end time disasters prophesied in the Books of Ezekiel and Revelation. These prophecies have nothing to do with greenhouse gas emissions; rather, they are the result of the wrath of God, pouring out justice on an increasingly wicked world. For example, “And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.” – Revelation 16:8-12.
“Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.” – Revelation 16:15-18.
What these verses tell us is that one day the earth will be destroyed, and nothing we do will change God’s mind on that. We must also remember that God is in control and that this world is not our home if we are saved, we will be safe up in the clouds from all this and eventually join Him on the New Earth. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” – II Peter 3:9-12.
While Global Warming is not specifically mentioned in the Bible, Jesus does warn us of many natural disasters that will occur prior to His return, which do, in fact, attribute to the whole global warming issue. “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” – Matthew 24:6-8,29-31.
If you take a look at the issue of global warming, as a topic, it shows that there is a great deal of disagreement about the facts of climate change. Experience and research leads us to believe that warming of the earth does occur, but it has nothing to do with man causing it through daily walks of life, or cows passing gas. The idea of earth “wearing out” is an analogy, the truth is, the entire world has been continually being naturally destroyed since the fall of man.
Global warming “facts” are notoriously hard to come by. One of the few facts universally agreed upon is that the current average temperature of Earth is indeed rising at this time. According to most estimates, this increase in temperature amounts to about 0.4-0.8 °C (0.72-1.44 °F) over the last 100 years. Data regarding times before that is highly theoretical and very difficult to obtain with any accuracy. The very methods used to obtain temperature records are controversial, even among the strongest supporters of human caused climate change. The facts leading one to believe that humans are not responsible for the current change in temperature are as follows:
• Global temperature changes from past thousand years, according to available data, were often severe and rapid, long before man supposedly had any impact at all. That is, the current climate change is not as unusual as some alarmists would like to believe. In fact, the glaciers said to be melting as a result of climate change have increased.
• There is tons of evidence proving that the earth has had times of noticeable warming and cooling, long before man had an ability to produce carbon emissions.
• Water vapor, not carbon dioxide, is actually has the most influential greenhouse gas effect. It is difficult to determine what effect, if any, mankind or animal kind has on worldwide water vapor levels.
• Given the small percentage of human produced carbon dioxide, as creating the greenhouse effect, human impact on global temperature is only as little as 1%.
• Global temperatures are known to be influenced by other, non human controlled factors, such as the sun, orbital movement, volcanic activity, solar system effects, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. Carbon emission is not the only explanation for global warming.
• Ice Age temperature studies, although rough, frequently show temperatures changing before Carbon levels increased, not after. This calls into question the relationship between warming of the earth and carbon dioxide, in some cases, the data could easily be interpreted to indicate that the warming caused an increase in carbon dioxide, rather than mankind.
• Most of the global temperature increase in the last hundred years occurred before most of the man made Carbon was produced.
• In the 1970s, global temperatures were actually dropping since 1945, and a “global cooling” concern became prominent, despite what is now ignored as lack of scientific support.
While no one can deny that warming is occurring, “overwhelming evidence” of any objective type does not exist to support the idea that global warming is significantly influenced by human or animal actions. There is plenty of vague, short-sighted, and misunderstood data that can be seen as proving it is only a theory. It is a valid point that the data used in these studies is frequently flawed, easily misinterpreted, and subject to misconception, as with all theories.
Resources: Friendsofscience.org, Answers In Genesis