“I felt a sense of doom rumbling like a bass note in my chest, because we humans are making increasing numbers of increasingly violent storms increasingly inevitable. 'You think this is bad? You haven’t seen bad yet', a little voice inside me whispered." (Brian Mclaren in Florida after Hurricane Ian 2022, from his 2024 book "Life After Doom").
In 2024 there were three hurricanes spinning simultaneously in the Atlantic, intensified by ever heating oceans. Debby, Helene and Milton have struck—some of the deadliest, costliest storms ever to hit the United States. Fueled by bathwater temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Milton has smashed into Florida with catastrophic flooding and winds.
Around the world climate records are not just being broken, they are being shattered. In April 2024 Filipinos were saying that it was “so hot you can’t breathe", as millions of students in the Philippines were kept home from school due to temperatures soaring to 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit).
After soaring temperatures Canada has faced two seasons of "unending fires”. This amounted to a 1,100% increase over the 10-year average that left massive destruction and razed small towns to the ground. In the recent past, Brazil's historic drought triggered massive fires with smoke being visible 100km (62 miles) away. Just last month, Reuters reported that the Amazon river dropped to its lowest level every recorded and river dolphins were dying in the overheated water.
We may all be in the same storm, but we are not in the same boat.
Do not forget that in all these disasters the poorest and the most vulnerable are most impacted. To borrow a phrase made popular during the recent global pandemic, “we may all be in the same storm, but we are not in the same boat.”
How do we respond? Brian McLaren quotes Professor Mark Maslin who notes the seven stages of climate denial: "1. It's not real, 2. it's not us, 3. it's not that bad, 4. we have time, 5. it's too expensive to fix, 6. here’s a fake solution, 7. it’s too late, you should have warned us earlier." Those who resist the idea of a climate crisis, should consider where they are on that spectrum.
For Christians we can add a few more views: 8. OK, it’s real, but it’s not a spiritual priority, 9. it’s bad but it was foretold in scripture, and 10, its bad but at least we have another home!
Do we have another home?
Billy Graham is famously quoted for saying, "my home is in heaven; I’m just traveling through this world". We see this also in the folk theology of popular songs, like this old one sung by Jim Reeves, "This world is not my home, I’m just a-passing through, if heaven’s not my home then Lord what will I do?" If that is true, then we really do not need to do anything about climate change. But, what if it is not true?
Where is this new home? The Bible speaks about the coming of a “new Earth” along with a "new heaven". It is an expression used in Isaiah, Revelation, and Second Peter...
- "See, I will create new heavens and a new Earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind." (Isaiah 65:17)
- "Then I saw a new heaven and a new Earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea." (Revelation 21:1)
- "But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new Earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness." (2 Peter 3:13)
Greek has two words for new: “neos” (brand new), and “kainos” (restored, renewed). Dave Bookless of A Rocha/Lausanne Movement has a helpful illustration: "Imagine my car is in a bad accident. It is written off and the insurers allow me to buy a brand-new car—a neos car. If it is badly damaged then I take it for panel beating and a respray—it is a kainos car. Not brand-new, but the same beloved car now renewed and restored, redeemed, upcycled."
In the three scriptures quoted above it is the word “kainos” that is used—a renewed Earth, not a brand new one. Our precious world will receive an upgrade not a replacement. But it you think God will just repair the damage we have done to the earth prior to its renewal, without consequence, the consummation described end of Revelation 11:18 provides further food for thought, "It is time to destroy all who have caused destruction on the earth."
Yet, in the face of increasing doom and despair, we Christians are called to bring hope. As followers of Jesus are called to be co-creators of God's New Creation (see N.T. Wright's "Into The Heart of Romans"), we bring hope as we work for the restoration and renewal of this Earth. As we have just seen, there is no Planet B!
Another popular Christian view is that climate change has been foretold, and the Earth will be destroyed as a result of our sins.
Does the Bible foretell climate change?
"The present heavens and Earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly." (2 Peter 3.7)
Based upon the previous assumption, commonly known as "replacement theology", there are those who believe that climate change disasters are signs of the end times, and that this planet will be burned up in order for a new one to replace it. However, if we look at this verse in context we can see in 2 Peter 3 verse 4 it says that the world was ‘destroyed by water’—which it obviously was not. The flood was a refining action. Similarly, as in Malachi 3:2-3, fire has refining effects. We are undergoing great destruction indeed, but as is often the case when we suffer the consequences of our own foolish actions, we learn hard lessons. It leads us to repent. So, even our current experience could be considered a kind of purifying fire. According to scripture, it will not result in the full destruction of the planet, and not necessarily even the end of the world.
In Romans 8:22 we have the painful but hopeful image of creation groaning in childbirth. Yes, the creation is groaning and we must hear the cry of the Earth just as we are commanded by God to hear the cry of the poor—but this verse is a hopeful image, that as we hear and act in the power of God's Spirit, new life will come forth.
Is this not a spiritual priority?
For many Christians climate change is becoming an important issue but they don’t see it as a high priority for Christian mission—they prefer people before planet. Yes,
People are important but we really need to reflect on our understanding of salvation and consider if it is actually biblically aligned.
In the beginning, God placed Adam and Eve in a garden on our planet to work it and look after it (Genesis 2:15). They lived in harmony with God, one another, and nature, nurturing its development.
Then sin entered into the garden in the form of the serpent and they were tempted to eat beyond the limits God has laid down. We all know this. We know that this disobedience caused a breakdown of the relationship between God and humans. They were friends, walking in the cool of the evening and now, through sin, they fear God, trying to hide in their shame.
We soon then see the breakdown of relationship between humans—Adam and Eve had a wonderful relationship; now they blame each other, and within one generation murder enters this dysfunctional human family.
But there is an additional part of the narrative that we often forget—the breakdown of their relationship with creation. From being in a balanced and growth-oriented relationship with the garden they have now caused the Earth to be cursed: "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it. It will produce thorns and thistles for you" (Genesis 3.17, 18). Sin broke our relationship with God, people... and the Earth.
Thanks be to God, Jesus came to bring reconciliation in these same three areas—with God, with fellow human beings, and with the whole of creation, "Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross" (Colossians 1:20, The Message).
In climate crises and their related effects, we are experiencing the consequences of our destruction of the ecosystems that we depend upon. We need a new relationship with the Earth. We must hear the cry of the land, and the poor, and of the generations to come.
Growing as disciples of Jesus means that we mature towards a restoration of all our relationships—with God, with humans, and with creation. It does not automatically happen. It must start with repentance for the breakdown of all our relationships, and then a commitment to a new way of life. To turn from our selfish arrogance and pursue life and godliness, to seek first God's justice and righteousness in all three relationship dimensions.
So, creation care (and, by extension, the consequences of climate change) is a gospel issue and should be considered part of our spiritual priority. As the Cape Town Commitment that followed Lausanne 3 in 2010 says, "If Jesus is Lord of all the Earth, we cannot separate our relationship to Christ from how we act in relation to the Earth. For to proclaim the gospel that says ‘Jesus is Lord’ is to proclaim the gospel that includes the Earth, since Christ’s lordship is over all creation. Creation care is thus a gospel issue within the lordship of Christ."
Rev Dr Rachel Mash is the Environmental Coordinator of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (South Africa, Eswatini, Lesotho and Namibia) and author of "Renewing the Life of the Earth". She is based in Cape Town, South Africa. She works with the Green Anglican Movement, which is now in 13 countries across Africa, and you can find them on social media with the handle @greenanglicans.
