Judgement Day revisited

Remember May 21, 2011?  What was significant about this date?  That was the day preacher and Family Radio founder Harold Camping predicted the world was going to end.  He purchased billboards advertising the rapture located all over Southern California: “Save the date! Jesus is coming on May 21!”

Well, May 21^st has come and gone a few times.  We all survived and many of us had a pleasant laugh at the expense of the prognosticator who inaccurately predicted Judgment Day.  Of course, there are many similar predictions. Remember the predictions based on the Mayans’ calendar, which ended on December 21, 2012.  Some took that as an indication that signified “the end of times.”  Most of us just assumed the Mayans run out of rock. 

Our periodic fascination with “doomsday” and tragedy reminds me of an old joke I attribute to the late Lewis Grizzard, former columnist from the Atlanta Constitution:

During a terrible flood, the preacher of a small community stood on the top step of his church as the flood waters continued to rise.  Soon a row boat came by:

Boatman: Preacher, get in the boat sir, we have to get you out of here.  The flood waters are still rising and there is no end of this rain in sight.

Preacher: You boys go on and help others, I’ll be fine.  If I need saving, the Lord will save me.

The boat left.  Soon, the preacher was forced to move to the second story of his church.  As he looked out the window at the rising waters a second row boat came by:

Boatman: Preacher, we have to get you out of here.  Please get in the boat

Preacher: You boys are doing good work, go on and help the others.  If I need saving, the Lord will save me.

The waters continued to rise and eventually the preacher was left standing on the steeple holding onto the cross.  As the waters rose to the preacher’s ankles, a helicopter spotted him, flew over and dropped a rope ladder.

Chopper Pilot:  Preacher, grab the ladder, we have got to get you out of here before the dam fails.

Preacher:  No thank you boys, I appreciate your offer but I have faith, if I need saving the Lord will save me.

Eventually, the Preacher was lost to the flood.  As he stood before the Pearly Gates, Saint Peter expressed shock at seeing the Preacher, since it “wasn’t his time.”  The Preacher expressed his disappointment, saying he thought if he needed rescue, “the Lord would save me.”  To which St. Peter replied:

“We sent two row boats and a helicopter, what did you want?”

It occurred to me that this joke, which I first heard over 20 years ago, is a perfect analogy for our current political and climatologically situation.

For the record, I am neither a theologian, nor a climatologist.  However, it occurs to me that the political left and right can at least agree that something is happening with our weather, and perhaps our planet as a whole.  For evidence, I offer the following observation: Since the beginning of the new millennia, we have experienced the following extremely devastating and record setting natural phenomena:

·         Hurricanes along the Gulf Coast and in the Atlantic.

·         Shrinking polar ice caps.

·         Volcanoes in Iceland.

·         Earthquakes and Tsunamis in Haiti, Indonesia and Japan.

·         Record heat & droughts in California, Texas, Russia, South America, India, the American Midwest and throughout the world.

·         Record rainfalls and floods throughout the United States.

·         Blizzards and ice storms with intensities that haven’t been seen in over 30 years.

·         Invasive species, such as the Emerald Ash Borer, the zebra and quagi muscles, and purple loostrife, attacking and displacing native flora and fauna.

·         The increase in tropical diseases, such as West Nile, hitting the United States, which is supposedly a temperate zone.

This is by no means an all inclusive list, and this list does not include purely man-made disasters, such as war.  However, it does offer an alternate version of Mr. Grizzard’s joke:

Imagine a similar scenario, where a “do nothing” politician, constantly denying climate change in spite of evidence to the contrary, continually screams:

“If mankind’s actions need to change, I have faith, the Lord will tell us they need to be changed.”

He and his followers (or mankind if you prefer) are killed in a tragic flood. As they stand before St. Peter, the politician explains why he did nothing to help address climate change. The politician concluded by saying that he thought that if man's activities needed to change, the Lord would have sent him a sign, St Peter replies:

“We sent hurricanes, droughts, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, blizzards, water shortages and disease, how much more of a sign did you need?”

So what’s my point?  Whether you call it global warming, climate change, or the will of God, something IS happening in our environment. And before people start pointing their fingers at me and leaving comments to the contrary let me make one other statement: I am NOT being paid for saying this. I will wager that where ever you are hearing information that is contradictory, there is money involved (advertisements on radio and television for example).

In my learned opinion, there can be little doubt that the principal causes of these climatological oddities, at least in part, are the activities of mankind.  Between the world population that has almost doubled over the past 3 decades, the increase in energy consumption, the demand for more food production leading to deforestation, and the industrialization of China and India; one question must be contemplated: Are we are in a midst of a climatological disaster?  Perhaps Judgment Day isn’t as distant as we may think.