Francis Schaeffer and the Worldwide Climate Disaster

Francis Schaeffer wrote Pollution and the Death of Man which came out in 1970. 

Tim Challies gives a fair assessment:

 

Schaeffer acknowledges from the beginning of this book what our society’s secular humanists cannot - that mankind has been called by God to exercise dominion over the earth. But like everything else in this world, man’s ability to exercise such dominion has been affected by the Fall. No longer do we tend the world always in love, but instead we ravage and pillage it. Though we may not believe in all of the dire claims being made about the world today, we must at least acknowledge that we have not cared for the world as God has called us to.

https://www.challies.com/book-reviews/book-review-pollution-and-the-death-of-man/

 

Those crying "Earth Too Hot‼" do not arrive at that conclusion from a Christian Worldview (Gen. 8:22):

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jay-hall-m-s-b64526a_day5-agt-globalwarming-activity-7343309844658999296-ijBv?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAHbbPwBBTN3-5NHy1Ow3Aqgq-KCW2E14ew

 

The  Eco-Apocalyptic predictions of "Mother Earth" activists have been wrong for over half a century:

https://cei.org/blog/wrong-again-50-years-of-failed-eco-pocalyptic-predictions/

 

As Schaeffer pointed out, "... many thinking men see the ecological threat as greater than that of nuclear warfare."[1]

Social commentators Richard Means & Lynn White have proposed Pantheism, Zen Buddhism and the "All is 1" philosophy as a solution to the Ecological Crisis.[2]  Will Red China go "Zen" and stop being @ the Top ↑ of the dam creator list?

https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=28392#

 

Not only are darter snakes mad, huge dams often have a negative effect on Indigenous Communities.  Aldous Huxley (Island) said, "Elementary ecology leads straight to elementary Buddhism."[3] 

 

We are Stewards of Creation and should treat our brother Critters with respect:

 

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,

    the world, and all who live in it;

for he founded it on the seas

    and established it on the waters. (Ps. 24:1,2)

 

The righteous care for the needs of their animals,

    but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel. ...

The lazy do not roast any game,

    but the diligent feed on the riches of the hunt. (Pr. 12:10,27)

 On the one hand, only Man is made in the Image of God (Imago Dei).  But on the other hand, we are all part of God's Creation: Man, Animal, Plant and Machine (via human invention).  Because of Creation Week, I can truly say along with St. Francis, "Brother Sun, Sister Moon."  According to Schaeffer, we should respect the tree:  

 

When you drive the axe into the tree when you need firewood, you are not cutting down a person; you are cutting down a tree.. But while we should not romanticize the tree, we must realize God made it and it deserves respect because He made it as a tree. Christians who do not believe in the complete evolutionary scale have reason to respect nature as the total evolutionist never can, because we believe God made these things specifically in their own areas. So if we are going to argue against the evolutionists intellectually, we should show the results of our belief in our attitudes. The Christian is a man who has a reason for dealing with each created thing with a high level of respect.[4]

 

The Eco-Fanatics have no basis for saying, "It's for the Children!"  Without God, Man has no intrinsic value.[5]  Many in that camp completely overlook the fact that God is the Creator and Sustainer of the world:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0018NFVWK

Some would say that Saint Francis (d. 1226) is the patron saint of extreme-environmentalists.[6] 

 

** The Canticle of Saint Francis ♫

Most high, all-powerful, all good, Lord

All praise is yours, all glory, all honor

And all blessing.

To you, alone, Most High, do they belong.

No mortal lips are worthy

To pronounce your name.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through all that you have made,

And first my lord Brother Sun,

Who brings the day; and light you give to us through him.

How beautiful is he, how radiant in all his splendor!

Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Moon and Stars;

In the heavens you have made them, bright

And precious and fair. ...

All praise be yours, my Lord, through those who grant pardon

For love of you; through those who endure

Sickness and trial.

Happy those who endure in peace,

By you, Most High, they will be crowned.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Death,

From whose embrace no mortal can escape.

How dreadful for those who die in sin!

How lovely for those found in Your Most Holy Will.

The second death can do them no harm.

Praise and bless my Lord, and give him thanks,

And serve him with great humility.

https://www.franciscanmedia.org/st-anthony-messenger/st-francis-and-his-canticle-of-the-creatures/

 

Note the place of peace, forgiveness, Eternity and Heaven & Hell!  The Gospel is Handy:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jay-hall-m-s-b64526a_the-gospel-is-handy-heaven-is-a-activity-7147733644705476608-uYsk/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

 

Science itself has a Christian foundation:

https://adamslostdream.blogspot.com/2011/05/michio-kaku-epic-fail.html

Saving the Whales is a good cause, but once you deny the Triune God of Christianity and take on a New Agey, Cultish Worldview, your morality is built on sand (not rock).  Evolution fails in many ways: explaining the Soul, new sources of genetic info, Origin of Life #OOL ... Signature in the Cell, Fine-Tuning, Applicability of Maths etc.  Can you defend Theism?  The Universe had a beginning - God created it (Gen. 1:1).  Design implies a Designer (Heb. 3:4).  Ethics must come from a Moral Lawgiver (see Kant).  God is the greatest, so He must exist.[7] 

Once we know that there is a God who made you, clearly He could write a book that you can understand.  Now we're ready for Truth in Religion by Mort Adler:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jay-hall-m-s-b64526a_firingline-billbuckley-williamabrfabrbuckleyjr-activity-7261866247930195969-ULS9?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAHbbPwBBTN3-5NHy1Ow3Aqgq-KCW2E14ew

 

The End of Free Speech?

https://adamslostdream.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-end-of-free-speech.html

 

The Sky's on Fire - Ozone Collapse:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jay-hall-m-s-b64526a_eotw-rush-fun-activity-7312245485094780928-Jion?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAHbbPwBBTN3-5NHy1Ow3Aqgq-KCW2E14ew

 

Climate Skeptic Vaclav Smil (How the World Really Works):

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/04/25/magazine/vaclav-smil-interview.html

** see chapter 18, "Animals are Important" (p. 133) >>

God's Wisdom for Man - Jay Hall & Norbert Smith (topical Proverbs & James):

https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Wisdom-Norbert-Smith-Ph-D/dp/1463754345

 

Are you familiar with Calvin Beisner and the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation?

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/e-calvin-beisner-75a0b75_climate-and-energy-a-case-for-realism-activity-7217199798179762176-fUzI?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAHbbPwBBTN3-5NHy1Ow3Aqgq-KCW2E14ew

https://cornwallalliance.org/

 

my site: https://totalyouth.us

 

** kudos - graphic source:

https://chatgpt.com/c/689128ae-884c-8005-834a-7e451dd3c7ae

https://www.organism.earth/library/author/alan-watts

 

 

Notes:

1) The Complete Works of Francis Schaeffer (Crossway, Wheaton, 1982), Vol. 5,  p. 12.

2) Ibid.,  p. 7.

3) quoted in Ibid., p. 12.

4) Ibid., 32.

5) Ibid., 34.

6) "The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis" by Lynn White in The Complete Works of Francis Schaeffer (Crossway, Wheaton, 1982), Vol. 5, Appendix A, p. 69.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.155.3767.1203

7) The Nature of Nature: Examining the Role of Naturalism in Science ed. by Bruce Gordon & William Dembski (Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Wilmingtion, DE, 2011).

https://www.amazon.com/Nature-Examining-Role-Naturalism-Science/dp/1935191284

 

#Ecology #Environment #Climate_Hysteria #Global_Warming #ICE_AGE (Post-Flood) #Too_Hot ‼ #Climate_Skeptic #Vaclav_Smil #HowtheWorldReallyWorks

#Science #Christianity #St_Francis #birds #poor #Francis_Schaeffer #Worldview  

#Nature_of_Nature #Bruce_Gordon #ID #Intelligent_Design #DISCO ♫ #Discovery_Institute #Seattle #Dembski #Math_Whiz #EXPELLED #Ben_Stein

#Genesis #GlobalFlood #Creationista #Creation #CritterZ #Fake_NewZ

#Extreme_Weather #Ozone #O3 #Gone_Natural #beatniks #hippies #bikes #NewAge #FreeSpeech #polution #DED7734 #Heaven ↑ #Gospel ╬  

#Calvin_Beisner #Cornwall_Alliance

Newton, Teleology and the Mars Hill Encounter

Newton's eminence is made plain by Isaac Asimov: "most historians of science would declare that Isaac Newton was the greatest scientific mind the world has ever seen."[1]  Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) was born at Woolsthorpe in Lincolnshire EngIand.  He taught college, invented the reflecting telescope, discovered Calculus, prosecuted a counterfeiter, and was president of the Royal Society for 24 years.

 

In the Principia, based on Democritus' atoms, Newton stated the law of gravitation: "Every particle in the universe attracts every other particle with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them."[2]  Mathematically, Newton gave proof of the order in the cosmos.  He believed that Pythagoras had already recognized this principle.[3]  Newton also described the laws of motion with such ideas as bodies at rest and uniform motion which can only be understood in relation to absolute space and time.

Not only was Newton a diligent scientist, he also wrote the equivalent of 30 books on theological matters. Referring to Daniel 12:14. he predicted that in the end times man would travel over 50 miles per hour.[4]  Voltaire later poked fun at this by declaring that any human would suffocate at 30 miles per hour.  Newton disbelieved in the transmigration or souls which Plato described. The doctrine of the Trinity was another view he refused to accept. Concerning the world-wide flood of Noah's generation, Newton along with Edmond Halley held to William Whiston's (Newton's assistant) explanation in which a heavenly body passed near the earth producing a tidal catastrophe.[5]  Of God's Word, Newton asserted, "We account the Scriptures of God to be the most sublime philosophy.  I find more sure marks of authority in the Bible than in any profane history whatever."[6]

Newton used order seen in the world to point to the Designer, Universal Ruler, Unmoved Mover, Conserver, Lawgiver and First Cause of the universe. Teleological arguments were previously used by Aristotle and Aquinas. One incident in Newton's life is a fine example:

 

One day, as Newton sat reading in his study with his [recently completed mechanical model of the universe] on a large table near him, his infidel fiend stepped in.  Scientist that he was, he recognized at a glance what was before him.  Stepping up to it he slowly turned the crank, and with undisguised  admiration watched the heavenly bodies all move in their relative speed in their orbits.  Standing off a few feet he exclaimed, "My!  What an exquisite thing this is!   Who made it?"  Without looking up from his book, Newton answered, "Nobody!"   Quickly turning to Newton, the infidel said, "Evidently you did not understand my  question.  I asked who made this?"  Looking up now, Newton solemnly assured him that nobody made it, but that the aggregation of matter so such admired had just happened to assume the form it was in.  But the astonished infidel replied with some heat, "You must think I am a fool!  Of course somebody made it, and he is a genius, and I'd like to know to know who he is."

Laying his book aside, Newton rose and laid a hand on his friend's shouIder  "This thing is but a puny imitation of a much grander system whose laws you know, and I am not able to convince you that this mere toy is without a designer and maker; yet you profess to believe that the great original from which the design is taken has come into being without either designer or maker! Now tell me by what sort of reasoning do you reach such an incongruous conclusion?[7]

 

By presenting the message of creation to the skeptical mind, Newton takes after the Apostle Paul's action on Mar's Hill (Acts 17:18-24).  Paul confronted the atheistic Epicureans and the pantheistic Stoics in addition to the Areopagus with the proclamation that, "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth..." (Acts 17:24).  Likewise, in the first chapter of Romans, Paul announces,

 

For since the beginning of the world the invisible attributes of God, e.g. his eternal power and divinity, have been plainly discernible through things which he has made and which are commonly seen and known, thus leaving these men without a rag of excuse. (Rom. 1:20, JB Phillips)

Is there truly a metaphorical relationship between man-made items and the natural world which is "commonly seen and known?"  The use of metaphor, first  described in Aristotle's Poetics is the source of virtually all our knowledge.  As C.S. Lewis contends "If there is not, in fact, a kind of psycho-physical parallelism (or more) in the universe - then all our thinking is nonsensical.[8]  Despite Hume's rejection of the metaphorical challenge from design, the Bible itself seems to use such reasoning: "Every house, of course, is built by someone - and God is the one who has built all things" (Heb. 3:4, TEV).  In the judgment of Albrecht and Alexander,

 

Men cannot but stand in awe of what they find in nature, from the celestial universe to the heart of the atom. In the apparent absence of God, those who have refused him have no choice but to attribute the eternity, power, and deity which is visible in the world to the creation itself.  Thus arises pantheism [as with the Stoics] and ultimately monism - the most consistent and systematic attempt to explain the supernatural qualities of the universe apart from its transcendent, personal Creator.  Sin and spiritual pride sever our experiential contact with God; this simple yet devastating fact sets in motion a progressive narrowing of philosophical options which virtually preordains the world view that we see emerging...  If the search for an ultimate starts with just the data of consciousness. it will by definition end with a rearrangement and reinterpretation of that same data; the conclusion is bound (literally) to be that the fundamental principle of existence is consciousness itself.[9]

 

Scripture portrays this condition quite accurately: "They exchange the truth about God for a lie; they worship and serve what God has created [the Creation] 

instead of the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever! Amen" (Rom 1:25, TEV).  Surely Newton would agree,

 

** I originally wrote this paper in 1978 (as best as I can figure).

my site: https://totalyouth.us

 

Notes:

1) Jerry Bergman, "The Law of Cause: An Examination of the Need For Causal Factors, CRSQ, June 1978, p. 41.

2) Konrad Krauskopf, Fundamentals of Physical Science (New York, McGraw-Hill, 1959), p. 82.

3) Jacob Bronowski, The Ascent of Man (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1973), p. 243.

4) H.L. WIllmington, That Manuscript From Outer Space (Lynchburg, VA:  Thomas Road Bible Institute, 1974), pp. 124,125.

https://archive.org/details/thatmanuscriptfr0000will

5) Donald Patten, The Biblical Flood and the Ice Epoch (Seattle, WA: Pacific Meridian Pub., 1966), pp. 31,184.

https://www.creationism.org/patten/PattenBiblFlood/

6) Dale Crowley, The Bible Has the Answer (Wash., DC: National Bible Knowledge Assoc., 1948), p. 103.

7) "The Law of Cause and Cosmology" by Jerry Bergman, CEN Technical Journal, Vol. 8, #2 (1994), p. 240.

https://dl0.creation.com/articles/p028/c02812/j08_2_238-245.pdf

8) Kathy Hutson, "Metaphor: An Evidence From Design of the Creation Model" Creation Social Science and Humanities Quarterly, Fall 1978, p. 9.  

9) Mark Albrecht and Brooks Alexander, "The Sellout of Science," Spiritual Counterfeits Project Journal, Aug. 1978, p. 25, emphasis in the original.

https://arcapologetics.org/the-sellout-of-science/

 

And Now 4@ Word from the #LoyalOpposition ...

a song about #TELEOLOGY >>

https://youtu.be/V97CdwYztwE

 

** quote in top graphic is from Newton's Optics (Query 30, p. 374):

https://www.iliesi.cnr.it/iniziative/Letture/clericuzio_newton.pdf

 

** kudos for graphics:

https://yandex.com/images/search?text=Sir+Isaac+Newton+optics&pos=5&rpt=simage&img_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsun3-12.userapi.com%2F7ga3Vc9VWYzDFN1fIUkj-vlyQ1m6VV1XasKhDQ%2Fxu460K5sQNo.jpg&from=tabbar&lr=109918

https://www.enginediy.com/cdn/shop/products/8d816860-46f5-449a-b7a9-769feb98e5c8_223e8fe8-dd4d-42b7-9275-14c531399568_700x700.jpg?v=1663730586

https://slideplayer.com/slide/16253965/95/images/9/I+can+identify+a+metaphor..jpg

#Newton #Teleology #MarsHill #Areopagos #Hume #Worldview #Design #Cosmos #UNI #Universe #SolarSystem #skeptic #God #Bible #Jesus #gravity #gravitas #JN316 ╬ #LoveSong #Optics #Opticks #SMILE ! itza #metaphor ☺☺ #Im2Tired (like a bike) #Scripture #Creator #Principia #Democritus #Calculus #iπDU ?