Can someone explain how believing in Climate Change makes you not a Christian?

[Michael70]

It is not Christian for another to judge your political beliefs, however, many places in the bible prove that God controls the weather. Deuteronomy Chapter 28/V23-24. Please read the whole chapter/it directly correlates to America these days. God's heart is truly hardened because of our country's iniquities. We need to ask Him for forgiveness as a Nation. We need a National day of prayer every month. We can change the weather if we all pray for it to God together. Thank you, May God Bless you, and also May Jesus come quickly.

 

[disciple Clint]

I think you mean not just climate change but man made climate change. According to the scriptures man and Christians even more have a resposibility to take care of the creation, being good stewards for the creation as mentioned not only in Genesis.
Having a big SUV running in a parking lot just to keep the AC working while shopping is simply an abuse of Gods creation. The US is the worlds largest producer of CO2, which leads to global warming. Anybody who denies this simply denies factual, scientifically proven, knowledge. To minimalize the human impact on climate serves only one purpose which is to maintain the dependency on oil and to maintain the cash flow into the coffers of the oil conglomerates, car manufacturers (although most of them have recognized they need to eliminate the combustion engine for reasons mentioned above) and simply supporting the laziness of the industry and consumers alike to adapt to new CO2 reducing/elimination technologies.
My advise: do not argue with climate change deniers, they are the victims of fake news, not you. You can not win this argument. Follow the scripture, be a good steward of Gods creation, and do your part in helping reducing CO2.

The facts and the conclusions in this post are incorrect.
"Nevertheless, as the data shows, China has become the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide by far, growing emissions at a breakneck pace. While the U.S. leads the world in cutting carbon emissions." The World’s Top 10 Carbon Dioxide Emitters

 

[Roymond]

That is absurd, you can use neither option to measure if you are a Christian or not. If you don't have to interact with this person regularly, I would say don't be bothered by it. If you do, then it could be a bit of a prickly situation. I, too, have dealt with people who fuse their ideas into their religious ideologies. It isn't fun.

That's a good point.

It make me think of how one of my New Testament (in Greek) professors used to respond to any view someone was asserting that wasn't relevant to theology: "Can you show me that in the scriptures?" and sometimes he added, "Or in the church Fathers?" When the answer was "No" (which was always) he'd say, "Then we have better things to devote our time to, don't we?"

 

[Roymond]

It is not Christian for another to judge your political beliefs, however, many places in the bible prove that God controls the weather. Deuteronomy Chapter 28/V23-24. Please read the whole chapter/it directly correlates to America these days. God's heart is truly hardened because of our country's iniquities. We need to ask Him for forgiveness as a Nation. We need a National day of prayer every month. We can change the weather if we all pray for it to God together. Thank you, May God Bless you, and also May Jesus come quickly.

I'm reminded of a point Charles Finney once made to a group of wealthy men: that if God has given you the means to get something done, praying for Him to do it instead is hypocrisy. We -- as in Western civilization -- have the means to deal with the climate issue, so our prayer should be "Help us succeed with the means You have given us".

BTW, God controls the Earth, too, but there are still earthquakes. Our Father put us in charge down here and only in rare circumstances intervenes -- and those circumstances almost always have to do with the message of salvation, a category into which I doubt climate change fits.

 

[ViaCrucis]

As others have noted, this is what happens when we merge religion and politics. Political ideas and political positions become treated like matters of religious dogma. Regardless of what side of the aisle one is politically, that's a deeply troubling and dangerous thing to be doing.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[water of life]

Believing in climate change doesn't make one a non Christian, but it is a secular, humanist view of the world. God's sovereignty over all things is not recognized. Instead it is up to us, and if all of humanity unites, then there is no limit to what we can accomplish.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Believing in climate change doesn't make one a non Christian, but it is a secular, humanist view of the world. God's sovereignty over all things is not recognized. Instead it is up to us, and if all of humanity unites, then there is no limit to what we can accomplish.

One can believe in the sovereignty of God and also recognize that we bear at least some of the responsibility for affecting climate change. These aren't mutually exclusive ideas.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Tropical Wilds]

I was recently told I am not a Christian because I believe climate change is a real thing. When I asked to explain why, they said that climate change is fake and part of the devil's plan to trick Christians. I was really confused by this. I know some of my friends on here don't believe it's real, and that's ok of course. We all have our views. But I am asking what the devil has to do with climate change being fake and what that even has to do with being a Christian. I can't seem to get any answers as to why exactly.

Only thing I can even guess is maybe fear? But that wouldn't make much sense since those into conspiracies seem to be in constant fear of everything being some secret thing that is after them or out to change the world.

So again, not here to debate if climate change is real or not, but how one fails to be a Christian is they think its real.

In the early 2000s somebody realized the best way to win votes with a minimum of effort was to tie political stances with religion because it’s far easier to say something is religiously wrong than it is to create and argue talking points through dialogue. There’s a bonus level of effectiveness because the unspoken undercurrent is not only if you don’t believe it, you’re bad at your faith, and if you’re bad at your faith you will be punished. If you could get people to think to be good at their faith they have to believe a certain way, you automatically have their vote.

 

[Roymond]

In the early 2000s somebody realized the best way to win votes with a minimum of effort was to tie political stances with religion because it’s far easier to say something is religiously wrong than it is to create and argue talking points through dialogue. There’s a bonus level of effectiveness because the unspoken undercurrent is not only if you don’t believe it, you’re bad at your faith, and if you’re bad at your faith you will be punished. If you could get people to think to be good at their faith they have to believe a certain way, you automatically have their vote.

Oh, it was well before the "early 2000s"; that was starting back in the mid-1980s with the James Dobson crew and the whole "Moral Majority" thing. What happened in the very late 1990s and early 2000s was that the connection effectively inverted from supporting those with real, solid evangelical credentials to opposing "liberals", which resulted in religious leaders endorsing candidates who hardly count(ed) as Christians, let alone as evangelicals. So it's no longer really a matter of "believing a certain way" so much as opposing certain ways of believing. So the connection between what people believe and what the candidate they support believes is broken.

Unfortunately that alien connection brought feedback such that evangelicals will support candidates who could be suspected of being antichrists so long as those candidates oppose the "evil" candidates -- and deciding if a candidate is evil no longer hinges on Christian beliefs or and actions but on right-wing political measures.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Oh, it was well before the "early 2000s"; that was starting back in the mid-1980s with the James Dobson crew and the whole "Moral Majority" thing. What happened in the very late 1990s and early 2000s was that the connection effectively inverted from supporting those with real, solid evangelical credentials to opposing "liberals", which resulted in religious leaders endorsing candidates who hardly count(ed) as Christians, let alone as evangelicals. So it's no longer really a matter of "believing a certain way" so much as opposing certain ways of believing. So the connection between what people believe and what the candidate they support believes is broken.

Unfortunately that alien connection brought feedback such that evangelicals will support candidates who could be suspected of being antichrists so long as those candidates oppose the "evil" candidates -- and deciding if a candidate is evil no longer hinges on Christian beliefs or and actions but on right-wing political measures.

In the February 1981 cover story of Parade Magazine, Rev. Billy Graham spoke of a conversation he had with Jerry Falwell, and was quoted as saying:

"I told him [Jerry Falwell] to preach the Gospel. That's our calling. I want to preserve the purity of the Gospel and the freedom of religion in America. I don't want to see religious bigotry in any form. Liberals organized in the '60s, and conservatives certainly have a right to organize in the '80s, but it would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it." - Billy Graham, Parade Magazine, February 1981

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Roymond]

In the February 1981 cover story of Parade Magazine, Rev. Billy Graham spoke of a conversation he had with Jerry Falwell, and was quoted as saying:

"I told him [Jerry Falwell] to preach the Gospel. That's our calling. I want to preserve the purity of the Gospel and the freedom of religion in America. I don't want to see religious bigotry in any form. Liberals organized in the '60s, and conservatives certainly have a right to organize in the '80s, but it would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it." - Billy Graham, Parade Magazine, February 1981

-CryptoLutheran

Yep -- he saw it coming, and he saw it clearly.

 

[grasping the after wind]

I was recently told I am not a Christian because I believe climate change is a real thing. When I asked to explain why, they said that climate change is fake and part of the devil's plan to trick Christians. I was really confused by this. I know some of my friends on here don't believe it's real, and that's ok of course. We all have our views. But I am asking what the devil has to do with climate change being fake and what that even has to do with being a Christian. I can't seem to get any answers as to why exactly.

Only thing I can even guess is maybe fear? But that wouldn't make much sense since those into conspiracies seem to be in constant fear of everything being some secret thing that is after them or out to change the world.

So again, not here to debate if climate change is real or not, but how one fails to be a Christian is they think its real.

One can certainly be a Christian and believe that climate change is real or if one believes it is not. Perhaps the person you talked to is confused by the word believe? Thinking that if one believes something to be real one puts one's faith in it rather than in Christ? There are some whose faith in things like political ideologies or the primacy of a particular cause might interfere with their faith in Christ. The problem for the person you spoke with might be an inability to see the difference between any secular or religious zealotry which separates one from Christ if they become the object of devotion instead of Him, and acceptance of good evidence to show that the climate changes.