Global warming experts, deaf and blind

Batas Mauricio

ALMOST all the countries that attended the global warming follow-up meeting which ended in Bonn, Germany on Saturday, are convinced that no substantive benefit came out of the so-called Paris Agreement towards improving the environment. The Philippines was one of the signatories of the Paris Agreement, and was also a participant in the meeting at Bonn, Germany.

According to reports, temperatures continue to rise in many places in the world, even as the environment continues to get hotter and hotter every day. This despite the promises of the countries who signed the Paris Agreement to considerably scale down their use of materials which push global warming, like coal and fossil fuel.

As I see it, nothing is new in these reports. From the time conferences started to be held by experts on the environment to find ways to combat global warming, they really haven’t found any effective solution to increasingly hot temperatures, and this is true even as of now. The reason for this is simple: these experts are deaf and blind on the real reason behind global warming.

Deaf and blind these experts on global warming truly are, because they refuse to consider the reality that there is a spiritual angle to the worldwide problem on environment degradation. These experts, including the ones from the Philippines, appeared to be too engrossed on their own self-importance that they became blinded and unable to hear the true issue on global warming.

What is the spiritual angle on global warming that is being ignored? This can be seen, first, from Deuteronomy 28:22-23 of the Christian Bible, which says: “… The Lord will send you… scorching heat and drought… The sky on your head will become truly hot, and the soil on which you are standing will become tough like a steel…”

This spiritual angle can also be gleaned from what Jesus, our God and Savior, said in Matthew 7:24-27. Jesus, in these verses, warned of the coming of rains, floods, and winds, which will bring death and destruction to many. Both of these two parts of the Bible–Deuteronomy 28 and Matthew 7–contain just one reason why global warming and climate change are happening.

What is this “one reason” that will cause heating temperatures and rains, floods, and winds in the world? It is man’s turning away from God, which is manifested by their refusal to read His Bible as well as their refusal to obey His commands.

Because of this, I have been proposing, like a broken record now, that side by side with the suggestions from experts on environment degradation, there should likewise be a sincere action on the part of the governments of the world to return their respective citizens towards reading of the Bible once again, and towards obeying God’s commands all over again.

If the reason for global warming is man’s straying away from God’s Word and refusal to obey Him, the most effective remedy against hot, fiery, and scorching temperatures would be listening to God all over again, and obeying Him all over again. My prayer is that this would be read by the leaders of the countries who are God-believing before it is too late.

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This column first came out on Sept. 14, 2011: “Republic Act 9344, or the Juvenile Justice Law, is one example of a law that was enacted by our congressmen, senators and the president who signed it, without any one of them really thinking about what they were doing, or what the impact would be of the law they were crafting or signing.

“In short, this is a law that was born out of the sheer stupidity and criminal carelessness of our political leaders, who got paid their salaries just the same through our taxes even if what they did turned many Filipino children 15 years old and below into hardcore criminals.

“There ought to be a law which will require the immediate hanging—politically, that is—of lawmakers and other government officials who will commit the same blunder of doing something, in the guise of performing their official duties and responsibilities, that will prove to be harmful and prejudicial to the nation and our people, especially the youth.

“And then again, with due respect to Sen. Francis Escudero of the Senate Committee on Justice, it would seem to me that what our senators and congressmen are trying to do to suspend Republic Act 9344 `in the nature of a temporary relief’ is yet another `juvenile unthinking response’ to an emerging crisis.

“The question is, can the House of Representatives and the Senate suspend the implementation of a law just by their passing of a joint resolution? Can a mere resolution of Congress stop the implementation of a duly-enacted law?

“Any freshman law student will tell you that such a resolution is even illegal and could pose a dangerous example in the future, because only a repeal or an amendment which passed through the legislative mill and then signed by the President can suspend or stop the implementation of an existing law.”

E-mail: batasmauricio@yahoo.com