10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,
12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!
13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
2 Peter 3:10-13
There is much talk today about global warming and the scientific “proof” for its effects. I have listened to politicians and religious leaders speak of this greater global concern and the fact that the millions upon millions of dollars we are spending on it are just not enough. There are many evangelicals who are engaging in the discussion as well.
I believe that we are to be good stewards of creation and God has definitely called us to be the managers of creation in subduing the earth (Gen.1:28). However, we must never forget 2 Peter 3:10-13. I do believe in global “warming” and one day God’s heat will consume the earth and those who are in Christ will reside in His satisfying presence forever. While we are good stewards of God’s good gift of nature, let us not invest the majority of our time and resources either on the physical well-being of the planet or the debate about it. Let us remember that God’s patience means redemption for those yet to receive Him. We must joyfully participate in the proclamation of the gospel and care for the spiritual well-being of the earth’s inhabitants.
2 Corinthians 4:1 reminds us that we are given the gospel message as a merciful act of God. It is a privilege and a joy to proclaim that in Christ alone is lasting joy and apart from Him we will spend eternity in a very real place called hell, not just some ecologically out-of-balance version of earth! At the end of that same chapter, Paul says that we are ambassadors for the gospel, which means we are on “foreign” soil. Let us remember that if indeed we are believers in Christ, we are part of His kingdom and no longer earthly citizens. May our love for this “planet” be marked more by our love for lost souls and less by our concern for melting ice caps.
Grounded 
I have read your blog carefully more than once, and find myself in general agreement with the underlying principles expressed. In particular I agree that we as Christians should be more concerned about sharing the gospel with a lost world than our “record” would seem to indicate. That being said, I think we should be cautious about how we engage in discussions with those in our society about environmental matters. There is certainly a reasoned debate even within the scientific community about the level of concern (or even the actual presence) of global warming. What we as Christians cannot do is come across as uncaring about man’s abuse of God’s creation. I have been embarrassed at some evangelical leaders in the U.S., including some within our own denomination, who have publicly expressed the position from Genesis that man’s dominion over the earth should be translated as doing whatever we want to do with creation to benefit our own selfish desires. The reason for my embarrassment is that the public (and particularly the media) lumps all evangelicals into one mold, so if Dr. “so and so” states a position then all evangelicals must agree. (We have exacerbated this situation by adopting our own internal “extra-biblical” litmus tests for who is a true evangelical.)
I certainly do not agree with the environmental extremist who can be brought to tears over the fate of baby whales while at the same time defending a woman’s “right to choose”. What I want to be careful of is that we as Christians are not so arrogant about our “rightness” on some issues that we dismiss as obviously wrong a position espoused by someone from outside our evangelical base. We should evaluate our position on issues in society against our only true standard, the Bible. I am convinced that man’s dominion over the earth as set out in Genesis does not give us a license to pollute and destroy God’s creation with impunity. In fact, I believe that we should serve as the primary example of environmental stewards of God’s creation. As we dialogue with those in our community about such matters, let us state our biblically based convictions firmly, but not in a mean-spirited manner which has become all too common today.
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