Cause for Environmental Concern #1

OK, so I'm a little behind on this week's sermon. I've got the guts of it, but it still needs work. Besides prayer, I thought I would motivate myself by posting my sermon up as I finish it. Its a once-off topical on the Environment, so here's my introduction:

Is God a Greenie?

• Is God a greenie?
• Does God want me to use plastic bags?
• How long should I spend in the shower or have my air conditioning on for?
• What kind of car would Jesus drive? Would he be a Commodore V8 guy or a Daihatsu Charade kinda man? Hereby known as WWJD- What would Jesus drive?
• Should you vote Green? Or just use green bags instead of plastic ones?
• Should you vote at all since there is so much paper wastage on election days?

I don’t know if any of these questions have crossed your mind, but the Environment is a big issue in today’s world, and its not an issue that is going to go away.

Earlier this year The Sydney Morning Herald published an article on the front page with the headline: ‘World wakes to climate calamity’.

February 3, 2007: 2007-THE world has been delivered its strongest warning yet that human actions are causing global warming and that greenhouse gas emissions must be reined in by 2020 if humanity wants a chance to avoid catastrophic climate change.

Should Christians care about this? There are many reasons humanly speaking why we should be concerned about the environment. Here's 4:

1. Population Growth. At the moment the population of the world is 6.7 billion. But by the year 2015, it could be 8 billion. Can the earth handle such a large population? How many people could live in your house before its just too much to handle?

2. Use of resources. Can we feed 8 billion people? The earth only has a limited amount of resources. You think of oil and other fossil fuels you cant recycle. Once they are gone they are gone forever.

3. Waste disposal. Our nation is rich in uranium, which when it is used it is still radioactive. What do we do with all that waste?

4. Damaged atmosphere. Think about the damages done to the ozone layer, and global warming. The hole in that ozone layer is getting larger, and are we to blame? And is it linked to increases in skin cancers and global warming? Scientists think that by 2100 the average temperature of the planet will increase by 1-5 degrees. Is that why there is a drought in this country and is the future of our great grandchildren that they will all die slow thirsty deaths?

There are many reasons why we should be alarmed about the environment.
But as Christians we always want to be driven by God and his concerns.

Coming up:
3 Inconvenient Truths
2 Reasons Christians Should care
Some Principles to Live by