Sunday evening at Rivers of Joy Baptist I spoke on Global Warming. Of course, I had never addressed that issue before in a lesson or sermon. But we hear so much about this green symbol that I began to say, "What does the Bible have to say about all this?"In researching for the lesson, I was so surprised how much the evangelical community of churches have gotten involved with this latest fad. Thanks to Google I was able to discover some very interesting articles on the subject.
I understand the naturalist community getting involved in wanting to clean up the environment.
I understand that we should be conscious of having clean air, and clean water, and clean soil so we can have safe food and water to drink and air that is clean to breath. I get the idea we don't want to get poison in our foods.
I get that we should have cars that do not pollute the air. I get it that companies like Ohio Stove here in Portsmouth make a product that requires them to change their process that could pollute the air.
I am glad that there has been an effort to make products safe to use. Growing up we never gave a thought about what we drank out of, we never gave a thought what we breathed in from the air. We saw black smoke coming from the factories in Roanoke, Virginia, and never gave it a thought. We used paint that had lead and never thought about the effects of it.
The environment in my neighborhood was not an issue. Well, in my surrounding of people that I knew we didn't talk about how we should clean up the environment. We didn't think that smoking a LSMFT would harm the air or your lungs. (Of course, I have never smoked either).
I don't remember a single sermon by my Dad, Everette Whisnant, on "Let's Clean Up The Environment." He did mention that smoking and drinking were not good for you. I do not remember any school teacher talking about the polluted air around Roanoke. And believe me, there was polluted air, from the local "dump" as it was called in those days. Today it's the land fill station. They would burn the trash every day, and you knew when they did. It's a wonder we didn't die from the stink, you know. I lived in that environment for 18 years no less.
I am glad they have changed a lot of practices that we used to do. You can't just dump your trash outside in a ditch. You can't put your raw trash in a can, now you have to put it in a plastic bag; and then there is the whole process of getting rid of it in a proper matter. Oh my, Allan Barnhart knows what I am talking about there.
Anyway, where I draw the line is this idea that we should repent as Christians of our behavior of the past. I should not have to repent of green sins..
I will pick this up tomorrow.
