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jadedmusingsI'm reading this article andI'm alternating between laughing in disbelief and wondering where I can find a few billion dollars to invest in finding another planet I can go live on to get away from this bizarro world. I'm also wondering how it is this man was elected to Congress.
As commenters were pointing out over on Shakesville, God said he wouldn't destroy the earth; he said nothing about humans effectively crapping in their own sandboxes. Furthermore, climate change won't destroy the world, just make it nigh impossible for humans and many other species to survive. Life and the Earth will continue on in one form or another after we're gone.
I spent some of my life going to Southern Baptist churches, and so many times I heard, "God helps those who help themselves," and, "You have to meet God halfway." What Shimkus seems to be saying is that we can do whatever we want and God will just tolerate us fucking up his creation. Um, yeah, how about no? Old Testement Jehova had no problem with wiping Sodom and Gommorah off the map. He only said he wouldn't flood the entire world again.
While I suppose the matter of climate change can be considered something that is a heated debate in the scientific community, I still don't think the best approach to this or any matter of environmental and energy concern is to just leave it up to "man upstairs." I'm not Christian, but I am someone who believes there are so-called higher powers at play and I happen to believe we humans were given brains for a reason. We have science, math, and a myriad of other tools at our disposal. I'd think any god/dess would be infinitely more pleased if we used what we were given rather than rely wholly on them to save our asses in the end. Also, there's the whole issue with the fact that Shimkus is leaving all this up to a God who may or may not exist and who is not worshipped by every single American.
Between the Tea Party and remarks like this, I think we should put a generator over Thomas Jefferson's grave. He's got to be spinning enough now that he could give us a wonderful alternative energy source.
U.S. Representative John Shimkus, possible future chairman of the Congressional committee that deals with energy and its attendant environmental concerns, believes that climate change should not concern us since God has already promised not to destroy the Earth.
[...]
Shimkus already serves on the committee. During a hearing in 2009, he dismissed the dangers of climate change and the warnings of the scientific community by quoting the Bible.
First, he noted God’s post-Flood promise to Noah in Genesis 8:21-22.
“Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though all inclinations of his heart are evil from childhood and never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.
“As long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will never cease.”
“I believe that’s the infallible word of God, and that’s the way it’s going to be for his creation,” Shimkus said.
Then he quoted Matthew 24:31.
“And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds from one end of the heavens to the other.”
“The Earth will end only when God declares it’s time to be over. Man will not destroy this Earth. This Earth will not be destroyed by a Flood,” Shimkus asserted. “I do believe that God’s word is infallible, unchanging, perfect.”
As commenters were pointing out over on Shakesville, God said he wouldn't destroy the earth; he said nothing about humans effectively crapping in their own sandboxes. Furthermore, climate change won't destroy the world, just make it nigh impossible for humans and many other species to survive. Life and the Earth will continue on in one form or another after we're gone.
I spent some of my life going to Southern Baptist churches, and so many times I heard, "God helps those who help themselves," and, "You have to meet God halfway." What Shimkus seems to be saying is that we can do whatever we want and God will just tolerate us fucking up his creation. Um, yeah, how about no? Old Testement Jehova had no problem with wiping Sodom and Gommorah off the map. He only said he wouldn't flood the entire world again.
While I suppose the matter of climate change can be considered something that is a heated debate in the scientific community, I still don't think the best approach to this or any matter of environmental and energy concern is to just leave it up to "man upstairs." I'm not Christian, but I am someone who believes there are so-called higher powers at play and I happen to believe we humans were given brains for a reason. We have science, math, and a myriad of other tools at our disposal. I'd think any god/dess would be infinitely more pleased if we used what we were given rather than rely wholly on them to save our asses in the end. Also, there's the whole issue with the fact that Shimkus is leaving all this up to a God who may or may not exist and who is not worshipped by every single American.
Between the Tea Party and remarks like this, I think we should put a generator over Thomas Jefferson's grave. He's got to be spinning enough now that he could give us a wonderful alternative energy source.
