I Went For a Walk Today/Will This Cause Global Warming?

I went for a walk today, which is nothing new of late because I am currently responding to a challenge by my wife to have a healthier lifestyle. My goal started out as an attempt to lose weight (was I really up to 260 lbs.?) which required watching what I eat and getting more exercise. The exercise of choice is power walking with our dog, Pippin. I am currently up to around four miles a day. I have had success losing over 30 pounds. Pippin looks great!

However, in my desire to be a responsible world citizen, this exercise program brings me to a quandary . Might I be adding to global warming? If indeed carbon dioxide gas is a major cause of global warming as we are being led to believe, then my increased exercise might be adding to the problem. Here’s how I have it figured: If I walk four miles a day, that’s four miles worth of increased respiration and four miles worth of increased oxygen consumption and four miles worth of increased carbon dioxide emissions. To make matters worse, by taking Pippin with me, I’m causing her to do the same. How could I be so irresponsible? Wouldn’t it be better for me to abandon this health kick, gain the weight back, ignore the fact that I feel better with less weight (how could I be so selfish?), shorten my lifespan and thus decrease my carbon imprint on this earth?

For those of readers (all two of you) who think I have lost my mind at this point and will soon denigrate in to mindless ramblings, you may not be far from the truth. There is that danger here, for I do enjoy mindless ramblings, especially when I am the one doing the rambling. However, on the other hand (perhaps a greater danger here), there is a point to all this.

It should be obvious that all I have written up to this point is tongue in cheek, and that I do not hold the current politically correct conjectures concerning global warming in high regard. To say that I believe all the rhetoric advanced by the other side, would be not be accurate either. I do believe that it can be demonstrated that we do live in a period in which global temperature has warmed. I also believe that it can be equally demonstrated that our earth has gone through cycles of both global warming and global cooling and that we may just be at the warm end of one of those cycles. After all, in the 1970’s there were the concerns of global cooling. In any case, I have not seen any convincing evidence that there is anything man can do that will greatly affect natural temperature cycles. But then again, I may be burying my head in the sand as global warming enthusiasts would not doubt claim I am doing.

As a believer in Christ though, I see another side to all this. While I do believe that there is a need to live responsibly in this world God has given us, and if there is anything we can reasonably do to inhibit adverse climate change, then we should do it providing the evidence is clear (I’m not giving up my walks, though). However, global warming is not to me one of life’s major problems, spiritual cooling is. We do have a trend, not only in America but worldwide, where men are simply turning their backs on God. What has been declared sin according to God’s Word is now given legal status by the law of the land. Men who stand up for Biblical principles are denigrated and dismissed as bigots. Churches of every denomination, in an attempt to retain relevancy and stem declining attendance, embrace popular thought including that concerning global warming, neglecting the warnings that are real in Scripture and more important have ceased proclaiming the Gospel. Preachers who dare to insist that God’s judgment is coming are let go in favor of those who are more politically correct.
The truth of the matter is that the world is in decline both spiritually and physically. God created the earth perfectly, but according to Romans 8:21-23 all of creation is under the curse brought on because of man’s sin. Our world is deteriorating and will continue to do so until Jesus returns when global warming will be the least of man’s problems. The plagues described in the Book of Revelation are not to be seen as merely symbolic. God has promised to judge the earth. This world will dissolve (2 Peter 3:10) and a new (or renewed) earth will come into being (2 Peter 3:13). Sin, which is man’s rebellion, will be no more. All will be good. This is not mere conjecture, in that it has basis in God’s Word. If we are serious about the status of our planet we must heed the Bible’s warnings. What other book is there where it could be said (and backed up) that 100% of its prophecies describing events already taken place have come true? Why should we then doubt that the rest of what the Bible says is in store for this earth will take place as well?

If we were able to solve the issue of global warming, we have done little to save this earth from its ultimate destruction. As a believer in Christ I see the only solution to man's problems is found in the message of the Cross of Jesus Christ. It was on the Cross that He made the way for my salvation. It is the Cross that has become our banner for it shows us the evidence of God’s love. The message of the Cross (that men are sinners, Christ died for our sins, and that receiving Him brings eternal life) brings us the story of redemption which is for eternity. This world will pass away, but life in Christ is forever.