SENTINEL WATCH August 27, 2007 Issue

GLOBAL WARMING: WE DON'T HAVE TO BE HELPLESS VICTIMS

MARTHA SARVIS

"CLIMATE SCIENTISTS studying global warming now predict that it's highly likely the world is undergoing significant, human-induced climate changes," reports The Christian Science Monitor's Global Warming page on its website (www.csmonitor.com/globalwarming/). It goes on to say that these climate changes "may result in more intense storms, droughts, sealevel rise, wildlife extinction, and other serious problems. But humanity is not a helpless victim. ..."

As I pray about this issue, I'm finding helpful guidance from the parable Jesus told about the prodigal son who took his inheritance and wasted it on material pleasures. He ended up a penniless slave (see Luke 15:11–32). Some people wonder if Western society has been wasting its environmental inheritance, while others question global warming's role in climate change. I think the message in Jesus' parable can help all of us, no matter what our personal beliefs may be, because it presents us with a more spiritual view of the issue at hand.

As the Monitor points out, we don't have to be helpless victims. When the prodigal son came to his senses, he perceived in some way that he needed to give up the material view of life—both the pleasurable indulgences and the feelings of hopelessness. Through this decision, he also changed from being a victim of his life choices to being a fully restored son. His change in thought impelled his return to his father's house. He didn't lose his home or his father's love. And through his father's generous greeting, the story implies that he didn't actually lose an inheritance, either.