The danger of crackpots in government:
Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) is running to be the head of the Energy and Commerce Committee, which has a key role in climate policy. And he created a stir a couple weeks ago after he reiterated his belief that global warming is not a problem because God has promised he wouldn’t destroy the Earth again after Noah’s flood.
Ignoring the obvious flaw in his argument, his “logic” isn’t even defensible.
I am not a religious person, but I have religious education in my background. More importantly, I have a copy of the Bible on my Kindle, meaning I can search it easily. Let’s see if Rep. Shimkus’ argument is reasonable, even using only Biblical standards.
God’s covenant with Noah (Genesis 8:20-22, 9:1-17) only says that God will not again destroy all life on Earth. He never says He will stop us from doing it to ourselves.
Genesis 8:21
And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.”
Further, only flood is mentioned as a specific extinction-level event. Other possibilities such as widespread drought, famine, disease, a new ice age: these are all available smiting options.
Genesis 9:11
I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
Does anyone remember “free will”? That’s God giving us enough rope to hang ourselves. Free will is already at work in the very first book of the bible, Genesis. God sets up the first two humans with a paradise, and they only have to follow one rule: don’t eat the fruit of one specific tree. That’s it. Then He sits back and waits.
If you don’t know the story, I’ll bet you can guess: they ate the fruit, and got kicked out, thus screwing all of humanity for the rest of time.
Free will.