{Still working on getting this introduction right, edited Thursday evening, 10/2/14}
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The Biblical Perspective of Environmental Stewardship: Subduing and Ruling the Earth to the Glory of God and the Benefit of Our Neighbors
1. We affirm that the Earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness thereof (Psalm 24:1). We deny that the Earth or anything else is the result of impersonal, blind chance over time.~ ~ ~
This is a misrepresentation. Evolution isn't about "blind chance" it's about dynamic processes of selection that can be observed, studied and increasingly understood. Trying to portray it as "pure chance" is pure dishonest!
I imagine Dominionist would probably claim that there is no chance and instead God directs everything, but that makes no sense thinking of God spending eternity watching his clock work ticking away.
Why not consider a God willing to set events into motion and watch were they lead?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 2. We affirm that the Bible—the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments—is the sole, absolute, inerrant epistemological basis for mankind for all knowledge of all things, seen and unseen, and that all claims of truth and moral duty that contradict it are false and harmful. We deny that the physical universe and human observations of it justify truth claims contrary to those of the Bible, and that liberty, justice, and human dignity can be sustained while rejecting Biblical truth and law.~ ~ ~
To begin with, the Bible was written in ancient times by humans. All human's are fallible, with their countless petty jealousies and greedy impulses, often driven by astounding ruthlessness. To think God made them perfect for the writing of his book is conveniently self-serving, but still disconnected from what human history reveals.
{For some further thoughts on the topic see, "God flowing into the Word" 8/3/8 http://citizenschallenge.blogspot.com/2008/08/god-flowing-into-word.html}
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As for deny #2, "We deny that the physical universe and human observations of it justify truth claims contrary to those of the Bible"
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3. We affirm that the only true God—a spirit infinite, eternal, and immutable—revealed Himself in creation (which He made out of nothing and includes both physical and spiritual things), the Bible, and His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, and that though God reveals His wisdom and power in the creation, He is, always has been, and always will be absolutely distinct from and transcendent over creation, which He rules at all times and places.~ ~ ~
We deny atheism (there is no God), pantheism (everything is God), panentheism (God is to the universe as the human soul is to the human body), animism (there are many gods, and they indwell and animate physical objects as human souls indwell and animate human bodies), and any other view that denies the Creator/creature distinction, because those who hold them exchange the truth about God for a lie and worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever (Romans 1:25).
Cornwall Alliance claims they believe God created creation but that he's distinct and separate from his creation. Why would anyone want to force such a bizarre unnatural distinction when so much evidence, both spiritual and physical, points to a reality where "God IS creation" as in One with Creation.
Basically, they are emptying all of God's creation of it's divinity. Seems to me that's Biblical blasphemy.
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4. We affirm that human dignity, freedom, and justice can be sustained only insofar as a society affirms the Creator/ creature distinction and embraces the truth of Scripture, and that those who deny it become futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts are darkened (Romans 1:21). We deny that societies built on atheism, pantheism, panentheism, animism (also called spiritism), or any other rejection of the Creator/creature distinction can flourish intellectually, morally, aesthetically, and materially.~ ~ ~
Cornwall Alliance really stresses the importance of acknowledging some "Creator/creature" distinction, but I'm having a tough time conceiving what that's supposed to mean.
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As for those "Externalities" . . .
How Big Business Robs Us With "Externalities"
By The Daily Take Team, Truthout | Op-Ed | April 24, 2013
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Putting a price on global environmental damage
05 October 2010- Top 3,000 public companies were responsible for $ 2.15 trillion worth of environmental damage in 2008
- Environmental harm could affect significantly the value of capital markets and global economic growth
- Global environmental damage estimated to cost $28 trillion by 2050
World's top firms cause $2.2tn of environmental damage, report estimates
Juliette Jowit | The Guardian | Thursday 18 February 2010
Report for the UN into the activities of the world's 3,000 biggest companies estimates one-third of profits would be lost if firms were forced to pay for use, loss and damage of environment
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5. We affirm that the creation includes persons— conscious spirits capable of reason, moral judgment, and affection, and therefore morally accountable for their actions—and that some of these persons are bodiless (immaterial, e.g. angels and demons) and some embodied (combinations of spirit and body, e.g., humans). We deny that the material cosmos—“nature” and its parts, the created world of time and space, matter and energy, planets and stars, energy and material elements—is personal, either in its whole or in its parts; hence we deny that forests and trees, mountains and rocks, oceans and lakes and streams, and animals are persons.~ ~ ~
Here it get's real interesting, read those two paragraphs carefully.
Sure seems like the Cornwall Alliance worships the God of Avarice.
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6. We affirm that God made man, male and female, in His own image (Genesis 1:26–27).
{Who's kidding whom, it's more like people created god in our own image}~ ~ ~
We deny that any other terrestrial life form bears the image of God or is of equal value or priority with human beings (Matthew 10:29–31).
This perspective makes no sense.
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7. We affirm that though the Earth is the LORD’s, He has also given it to men (Psalm 115:16) and mandated that they be fruitful, multiply, fill the Earth, subdue it, and have dominion over everything that lives in it (Genesis 1:28). We deny that human dominion over the Earth is, in principle, sinful, and that the possibility of its abuse negates the righteousness of its proper use.
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Population growth drives depletion of natural resources
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Population growth and resource depletion
by Jennifer M. Wenner, Geology Department, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
- - -"The Lord" is ruler and master over his dominion. To imagine that the God almighty of creation, time and life, who has witnessed the cascade of events all these eons, would view "his" creation from the petty perspective of a man jealously guarding his hard fought for domain, it's nothing less then ludicrous.
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8. We affirm that the Earth and all its physical and biological systems are the effects of God’s omniscient design, omnipotent creation and faithful sustaining, and that when God completed His creative work it was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). We deny that an infinitely wise Designer, infinitely powerful Creator, and perfectly faithful Sustainer of the Earth would have made it susceptible to catastrophic degradation from proportionally small causes, and consequently we deny that wise environmental stewardship readily embraces claims of catastrophe stemming from such causes.~ ~ ~
This is childish and totally ignores global observations. Denying the damage we are inflicting is sinful! Take a look at what we've done to our once endless oceans.
THE LONG, SLOW DECLINE OF NEW ENGLAND’S FISHERIES
The Mortal Sea: Fishing the Atlantic In the Age of Sail. By W. Jeffrey Bolster. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2012. 378 pp. ISBN 978-0-674-04765-5.)
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Human impacts on the oceans and the ecology on marine ecosystems
Published on Jan 9, 2013
Evening Lecture | Jeremy Jackson: Ocean Apocalypse | January 7, 2013
Jeremy Jackson is Senior Scientist Emeritus at the Smithsonian Institution and Professor of Oceanography Emeritus at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He studies human impacts on the oceans and the ecology and paleoecology of tropical and subtropical marine ecosystems. Jackson is author of more than 150 scientific publications and eight books.Jeremy Jackson's presentation is the College's academic year 2012-2013 International Lecture. The lecture is sponsored by the Naval War College Foundation in memory of Edgar W.B. Fairchild https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zMN3dTvrwY
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Canada leads world in forest decline, report saysBy William Marsden, PostMedia News, September 4, 2014
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9. We affirm that by God’s design Earth and its physical and biological systems are robust, resilient, and self-correcting.
We deny that they are fragile.
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Cornwall Alliance is ignoring simple math and the reality of accumulating interest. Our planet is finite and can only handle so much damage before impacts are felt. Here are some other things they are ignoring
State of Ocean Fisheries Worldwide - World Ocean Review
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The State of the World’s Fisheries
Written by Emily Tripp | April 10, 2013
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Earth's Health in Sharp Decline, Massive Study Finds
Brian Handwerk March 31, 2005 | for National Geographic News
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Approaching a state shift in Earth’s biosphere
Anthony D. Barnosky, Elizabeth A. Hadly, et al.
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Scientists uncover evidence of impending tipping point for Earth
By Robert Sanders, Media Relations | June 6, 2012
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10. We affirm that godly human dominion over the Earth means men and women, created in the image of God, laboring freely and lovingly together to enhance Earth’s safety, fruitfulness, and beauty, to the glory of God and the benefit of our neighbors. We deny that godly human dominion entails humans’ being servants rather than masters of the Earth.
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These folks can't get past their Lord and master, servant mentality. They display no conception of, nor interest in, how our planet developed, nor how it's many interlaced processes function. All they seem interested in is mastery.
We are creatures of Earth, we and all other living things are the products of this planet's long rich, endlessly fascinating evolutionary history unfurling one day at a time resulting in this fantastical planet we inherited for our short span on this planet.
Here's an excellent overview of this planet I'm so in love with, but that the Cornwall Alliance can't get themselves to recognize
Here's an excellent overview of this planet I'm so in love with, but that the Cornwall Alliance can't get themselves to recognize
Earth from Space
If we are going to speak about master, let's get real - time is our master and it waits for no one.
This talk of a distinction between God and "his" creation is disconnected from what we know through our own eyes and lives.
But the Cornwall Alliance expects us to disregard hundred of years worth of human observation and learning, that built upon previous thousands of years worth of human observations and learning. Just as primal organisms built upon successes to create ever new and fascinating forms of life and appreciating God's creation.
Instead, Biesner and the Cornwall Alliance expect us to disregard all of human knowledge in favor of the "66 books of the Bible" written by desert tribes a couple thousand years ago and manipulated ever since.
No thanks!!
Instead, Biesner and the Cornwall Alliance expect us to disregard all of human knowledge in favor of the "66 books of the Bible" written by desert tribes a couple thousand years ago and manipulated ever since.
No thanks!!
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11. We affirm that when God had created Adam, He placed him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and guard it (Genesis 2:15).We deny that the Garden of Eden represents the whole Earth and that the instruction to “cultivate and guard” the Garden ought to be reinterpreted to mean either that man is to “serve and protect” the Garden or the Earth, or that man is to “worship and protect” the Garden or the Earth, or that man is to “worship and hear” God either directly or through the Earth or its parts.
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The Bible is many things to many people and it's words have been reworked by every person arguing their personal convictions.
That's why science came along to provide a consistent frame work for a rational, even handed exchange of ideas and observations and lessons, dedicated to learning about the world around us and relying on each other to keep ourselves honest.
This religious approach of the Cornwall Alliance sounds more like totalitarian absolutism, than any spiritual or learning quest.
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12. We affirm that a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between God’s placing Adam in the Garden to cultivate and guard it (Genesis 2:15) and God’s commanding Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and fill the Earth and subdue and rule everything in it (Genesis 1:28) entails a growing population that spreads out from the Garden to till the whole Earth and transform it from wilderness to garden and ultimately to garden city (Revelation 21:2; 22:1–3).We deny that Biblical Earth stewardship, or godly dominion, is limited to keeping Earth in the condition in which man finds it, i.e., we deny that, as many environmentalists put it, “Nature knows best” and its transformation by humans is in principle wrong or harmful.
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ditto
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13. We affirm that the Bible normally associates wilderness or wildness with divine judgment and curse (Exodus 23:29; Leviticus 26:22; Deuteronomy 7:22; 1 Samuel 17:46; Isaiah 5:2–4; 13:19–22; 34:1–17; Jeremiah 50:39; Leviticus 16:21–22).We deny that wilderness is the best state of the Earth.
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Well how about acknowledging that this "wilderness" is our planet's biosphere and home to thousands and millions of other creatures going about their lives following eons long interwoven rhythms that make life possible for all of us?
The Cornwall Alliance wants people to ignore the reality that our modern society is only possible because of this "wilderness" and it's bountiful resources along with our planet's relatively moderate and consistent weather patterns, which reached an exceptionally optimal rhythm these past 8/9 thousand years. A pattern that was the result of billions of years worth of geologic and biological evolution working hand in hand. An evolution that continues.
As for denying that wilderness is the best state of Earth it's an idiotic diversion. To begin with no serious person thinks such a thing. Besides, society has so altered the pre-human condition of this planet, that it's too ludicrous a notion to spend any time on anyways. But the Cornwall types are all about diversions and wasting precious time with nonsense.
As for denying that wilderness is the best state of Earth it's an idiotic diversion. To begin with no serious person thinks such a thing. Besides, society has so altered the pre-human condition of this planet, that it's too ludicrous a notion to spend any time on anyways. But the Cornwall types are all about diversions and wasting precious time with nonsense.
Want to learn a little about some of the humanity driven changes Earth has experience? Here's is an very fascinating look at what might be seen as the beginning of man's dominion over the Earth, namely the "Columbian Exchange." It's a lecture given by the scholar Charles C. Mann titled "1492 Before and After" definitely worth the time.
Chicago Humanities Festival - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bghLhJ-c8os
But Beisner and CA refuses to consider such a rational observation based perspective, preferring blind faith in their own interpretation of ancient words.
But, I can see understanding God isn't what Beisner or CA are about. It all about the right to consume resources, make profits and disregard the life threatening damages those acts are inflicting upon this Earth and our children's futures.
But, I can see understanding God isn't what Beisner or CA are about. It all about the right to consume resources, make profits and disregard the life threatening damages those acts are inflicting upon this Earth and our children's futures.
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14. We affirm that God placed minerals, plants, and animals in and on the Earth for His pleasure, to reveal His glory and elicit man’s praise, and to serve human needs through godly use (Genesis 2:5–16; 4:22; Numbers 31:21–23; Job 38–41; Psalm 19:1–6; Psalm 104).We deny that recognizing instrumental value in the Earth and its various physical and biological components dishonors God or is idolatrous.
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Get a load of this con-man's spiel. They aren't talking about "God's" pleasure - this is all about their own desires and pleasures.
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15. We affirm that one way of exercising godly dominion is by transforming raw materials into resources and using them to meet human needs.We deny that leaving everything in the Earth in its natural state is proper Biblical stewardship (Matthew 25:14–30).
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What a cheap shot, passing off one's own desires as God Almighty's desires.
Where do these Cornwall Alliance folks get off speaking with such certitude about God's Will - haven't they ever read the Biblical warning that God Almighty is beyond any human's comprehension? (Philippians 4:7)
A more rational perspective is that humans evolved into very curious, intelligent, resourceful, handy, and always learning creatures. Humanity was conceived within our natural world - on a spiritual and physical level we are all part of the same greater organism as all other Earthly beings. We are here for our short moment and pass into time, leaving our collective contributions to work their way into the fabric of future events.
We are part of Earth, not distinct from it. Our resourcefulness and the fullness of our accumulated knowledge makes us masters of this planet only on a superficial level. We control it's surface for a beat in geologic time. Earth's natural processes and geophysical facts of life rule all else and will be here long after we leave this Earthly stage.
As for that denying part, another ludicrous ploy, who every said we should leave everything in Earth!? More fabricated nonsense.
The important message Beisner and friends consistently ignore is that we have a physically active planet under our feet, one who's health we depend on in every way, yet this Cornwall Alliance wants us to pretend we aren't severely battering and depleting it to the detriment of future generations. Denialism of the worst kind.
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16. We affirm that because of man’s fall into sin, sinful human hearts often fall prey to materialism, the covetous love of money, and the selfish accumulation of possessions (Luke 12:16–21; 1 Timothy 6:10; Colossians 3:5).We deny that the temptation to materialist idolatry entails that the production of wealth, whether material from the Earth or immaterial from the human mind, is sinful in and of itself.
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No one ever said it was! More nonsense talk by Beisner.
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17. We affirm that man is accountable to God’s judgment in all he does with the Earth. {Then why does their concern for Earth never pass beyond lip service?} We deny that man’s accountability to God justifies abolishing private property (Exodus 20:15, 17), adopting collectivist economic institutions, or delegating to civil governments—whether local, national, or global—ownership or control of land, natural resources, or private property.
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Here we go, Cornwall Alliance telling us God Almighty's mind again.
Seems to me the God of time and creation and life on Earth is well beyond the petty concerns about the property rights of rich white guys. Beisner would do better to familiarize himself with the seven deadly sins and reconsider the ease with which he speaks for God Almighty.
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18. We affirm that man’s fall into sin (Genesis 3) entails the possibility and indeed the historical reality of human abuse of the Earth and of fellow humans.We deny that man’s fall into sin completely destroys the possibility of godly dominion.
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Continuing their masquerade as God Almighty's agent, Cornwall Alliance now explains that destroying this planet may be part of God's plan anyways, so no worries, full speed ahead.
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19. We affirm that in response to man’s sin God cursed the ground so that it would not, as before sin, yield easily even to godly dominion/cultivation, let alone to ungodly, abusive domination (Genesis 3:17–19), and indeed subjected the whole cosmos to decay and corruption until He restores it partially in history by obedience to the dominion mandate (Genesis 1:28), whether by the unregenerate through common grace (Matthew 7:11) or by the regenerate through special grace (Romans 8:18–24) , and fully in the New Heavens and New Earth of the eschaton (Revelation 21:1–3, 22–27; 22:1–5), all secured by the redeeming work of Christ (Colossians 1:14–20).We deny, due to God’s faithfulness to His covenant, in which He proclaimed, after the Flood, that He would sustain the cycles on which terrestrial life depends for as long as the Earth endures (Genesis 8:22), that God’s curse on the Earth negates either the dominion mandate (Genesis 1:28) or the robustness and self-correcting resilience of the God-sustained Earth.
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This is such a spiritually lazy approach, squeezing all of reality into one ancient book, then using the book to blame it all on God.
I reject the Cornwall Alliance's extreme conceit and hubris!
I do not believe they speak for God and I do believe they have displayed no understanding of the Bible itself, instead picking and choosing convenient sounding phrases to build their agenda driven fantasy upon.
I do not believe they speak for God and I do believe they have displayed no understanding of the Bible itself, instead picking and choosing convenient sounding phrases to build their agenda driven fantasy upon.
If Beisner and the Cornwall Alliance is speaking for a God, it is certainly the God of Avarice and not the God of creation.
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20. We affirm that human multiplication and filling of the Earth are intrinsically good (Genesis 1:28) and that, in principle, children, lots of them, are a blessing from God to their faithful parents and the rest of the Earth (Psalm 127; 128).We deny that the Earth is overpopulated; that “overpopulation” is even a meaningful term, since it cannot be defined by demographic quantities such as population density, population growth rate, or age distribution; and that godly dominion over the Earth requires population control or “family planning” to limit fertility.
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I won't mince words, Beisner's statement is an insane claim.
Extractive World Order: Plundering Planet Earth, Seizing Resources and Erasing Cultures
By D Kazemi | Global Research, December 09, 2013
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2012 Living Planet Report
The 2012 edition of the LPR highlights the tremendous pressure that humanity is putting on our planet. We are using 50 per cent more resources than the Earth can provide. By 2030, even two planets will not be enough.
also see
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The six natural resources most drained by our 7 billion people
For how long can we realistically expect to have oil? And which dwindling element is essential to plant growth?
October 31, 2011
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21. We affirm that when the Bible speaks of God’s judgment on human societies because they have “polluted the land,” the “pollution” in mind is consistently not chemical or biological but moral—the pollution of idolatry, adultery, murder, oppression of the weak, and other violations of the moral law of God expressed in the Ten Commandments (Psalm 106:38; Jeremiah 3:1–10; 16:18). We deny that Biblical prophets’ concerns about the pollution of any land focus significantly on chemical emissions from agriculture or industry, although prudent study of the risks those pose to human and ecosystem health is a worthy task and can lead to proper efforts to balance risks and benefits.
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It's impossible for a profits focused organization to honestly interpret the Bible's words. The corporate focus is obviously on protecting turf and increasing profits, nothing else matters to them.
I reject the Cornwall Alliance's extreme conceit, hubris and their presumption to speak for God Almighty!
It seems to me, if the Cornwall Alliance is speaking for a God, it is the God of Avarice.
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22. We affirm that cost/benefit analysis (Luke 14:28) is a proper and critically important aspect of godly dominion over the Earth (Proverbs 14:4).We deny that cost/benefit analysis is unprincipled pragmatism or indicates a lack of faith in God.
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Here the Cornwall Alliance tells us that the God of this timeless universe is concerned about their cost/benefit formulas.
The hubris is astounding.
The hubris is astounding.
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23. We affirm that, pursuant to sin and the curse, risk is inherent in every human activity (Hebrews 9:27) and therefore that it is lawful in principle to balance risk against risk.We deny that the mere existence of risk in an activity makes it immoral in principle.
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Well then why the hell is Beisner and the Cornwall Alliance such cowards when it comes to facing the realities of our changing world?
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24. We affirm that proper environmental prioritization will address greater risks before lesser risks and take into account the opportunity costs of fighting various risks—i.e., that it will recognize that since resources spent to reduce one risk cannot be used to reduce another, it is wise to allocate resources where they will achieve the greatest risk reduction.We deny that spending vast resources to reduce small risks, when those resources could be spent to reduce greater risks instead, is good environmental stewardship.
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The Cornwall Alliance refuses to become familiar with our planet's biosphere, or its global heat distribution engine (read, climate system), they refuse to look at or acknowledge the intense destruction that our progress, sky rocketing population and free corporate market economic practices have inflicted on the biosphere, which is after all our life support system.
To assess opportunities and best investments one must understand the situation rather than hide within an ancient book, after all if you think about it, time is our master and this is 2014, but not for much longer.
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25. We affirm that environmental policies that address relatively minor risks while harming the poor—such as opposition to the use of abundant, affordable, reliable energy sources like fossil fuels in the name of fighting global warming; the suppression of the use of safe, affordable, and effective insecticides like DDT to reduce malaria in the name of protecting biodiversity; and the conversion of vast amounts of corn and other agricultural products into engine fuel in the name of ecological protection—constitutes oppression of the world’s poor. We deny that the policies named, and many others like them, are morally justified.
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What a cynical laundry list, first we have: 'drill baby drill' while ignoring basic math and the cumulative consequences of injecting over two gigatons of CO2 a potent greenhouse gas into our atmosphere every month.
Then comes the Republican/libertarian canard regarding DDT packed with more deception than education.
The DDT Controversy
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How the 50-year-old campaign against Silent Spring still distorts environmental debates.
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Continuing with this pandering Beisner tosses in the sorry tale of mandated ethanol which is a study in political horse trading rather than considering rational approaches to our nation's energy challenges. It goes back to the Energy Policy Act of 1992 that had plenty of Republican backer to join the Democrats meaning there's plenty of blame to go around for mistakes made.
Sadly this is an example of the Republican tendency to use mistakes as bludgeons rather then as learning moments/tools to build better outcomes upon.
Sadly this is an example of the Republican tendency to use mistakes as bludgeons rather then as learning moments/tools to build better outcomes upon.
The Great Yellow Hope
By Michael Pollan
The New York Times "On the Table" Blog, May 24, 2006
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What this #25 reveals is the corporate agenda that's actually driving Beisner and CA and their presumptive Letter from God.
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26. We affirm that, because a clean, safe, healthful, beautiful environment is a costly good, wealthy societies can better afford environmental protection and restoration than poor societies.We deny that economic development is, per se, a threat to environmental quality.
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Thus denying the many destructive side-effects caused by our marvelous modern age and increasing population to over seven billion resource consuming humans onto this finite planet.
Rather than facing our Earth's realities and preparing for this new age, Cornwall Alliance wants us to pretend nothing has changed in the past 2,000 years when the world's population was two to three hundred million.
Rather than facing our Earth's realities and preparing for this new age, Cornwall Alliance wants us to pretend nothing has changed in the past 2,000 years when the world's population was two to three hundred million.
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27. We affirm that private ownership of land and other resources, because it harnesses God-given human incentives to overcome the “tragedy of the commons,” is the best institutional economic system for environmental protection. We deny that collective economic systems are equally good at protecting or improving natural environments.
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Now we are back to using God's name in vain. This time presuming that the God Almighty of time and this universe and life who's watched these billions of years flow by - that this being is concerned about Beisner's property rights ! ?
All I can think is, man are these people full of themselves... well and that this is the God of Avarice speaking, pure and simple.
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28. We affirm that local, constitutionally limited, responsive governments by the consent of the governed are better suited to environmental stewardship than central, unlimited governments without regard to the consent of the governed.We deny that socialism, fascism, communism, and other forms of collectivist, expansionist government offer better solutions to environmental risks than limited, free, constitutional governments with market economies.
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Here Beisner and friends make clear that their God rejects everything they don't like. How convenient.
But then what can we expect from people who mold their God into a likeness of themselves?
But then what can we expect from people who mold their God into a likeness of themselves?
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29. We affirm that truth-telling is a moral obligation and that sound environmental stewardship depends on it.We deny that intentional exaggeration, as practiced by many environmental advocacy organizations, or minimization, as practiced by many industries, of environmental risks or of the effectiveness of various means of addressing them is righteous.
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Then why in God's name do these Cornwall Alliance people do so much lying and misrepresenting and plain old crazy-making?
Why ignore the dishonest advocacy being committed by the Republican/libertarian crowd?
Beyond that, I agree truth-telling is a moral obligation, but we must realize it also requires good-faith listening to recognize the truth. Good faith listening requires appreciating one's own fallibility and the possibility that "the other" has good information to share, enabling some learning to occur on both sides.
Unfortunately the Cornwall Alliance approach is all about their absolutism and a deliberate exclusion of important real world information and evidence.
Here's a short digression into my philosophy on constructive dialogue:
http://citizenschallenge.blogspot.com/2008/08/why-start-this-blog.html
"... I'm also a believer in our Founding Father's brand of Free Speech.
A Free Speech that wasn't about talking, so much as dialoging.
This form of speech requires an attuned receiver.
The listeners suspend judgment
long enough
to absorb what is actually being said
before returning to evaluation mode and judgment calls.
The benefit is that it allows us to better understand
why we should disagree -
or... it might open up
unexpected knowledge and potentials.
In dialogue once a speaker finishes, he, she reverts back to listening
and thinking.
It's an expression of
respect and acknowledging our mutual humanity...
a good thing to do. ..."
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30. We affirm that godly dominion is a responsibility for everyone at all times. We deny that the expectation of divine judgment, in whatever eschatological framework, negates the need for Biblical Earth stewardship.
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What a presumptuous conceit, people exercising "God's Dominion." This sounds like pure hubris, there are many realms of God's dominion beyond our comprehension or even awareness.
If God is anything, God IS creation and well beyond the comprehension of the business interests at the heart the Cornwall Alliance.
Thinking about how freely Calvin Beisner takes on the mantel of God's earthly representative, I'm reminded of Mathew 21:12 and Luke 18 and what Jesus thought about those who were lead by the God of Avarice.
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Feel free to copy and share (or rework then share) any of the above, attribution is unimportant, publicizing the lies this Cornwall Alliance is peddling that is important.
By E. Calvin Beisner, Ph.D., Founder and National Spokesman of The Cornwall Alliance, author of Where Garden Meets Wilderness: Evangelical Entry into the Environmental Debate. Written for the International Church Council Project. Review Committee: Dr. Jay Grimstead, Dr. Robert Fugate, Dr. Eugene Calvin Clingman
Copyright 2013
International Church Council Project
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