He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still! The wind ceased and there was great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” They were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?” (Mark 4:39-41)
The above passage attests to the power of God in the person of Jesus Christ, and the infinite scope of divine providence. The origin of the storm and its magnitude relative to previous storms was not in question. There was a sudden climate change that posed an imminent threat. Jesus commanded obedience from the wind and sea. The reason for the storm was unknown, but it was evident that dealing with the event was “above the pay grade” of all in the boat.
Today, some people claim that climate change is an imminent and existential threat to our planet. Severe weather changes that brought about death and destruction, once considered “acts of God” and well beyond the grasp of humankind, have become political cudgels used to attack all who disagree with a schema that places human reasoning and activity above God’s wisdom and providence. The following quote highlights the major cause of the changes in Earth’s climate that have occurred throughout the ages:
Earth’s climate has changed throughout history. Just in the last 800,000 years, there have been eight cycles of ice ages and warmer periods, with the end of the last ice age about 11,700 years ago marking the beginning of the modern climate era — and of human civilization. Most of these climate changes are attributed to very small variations in Earth’s orbit that change the amount of solar energy our planet receives. (“Evidence,” NASA Science)
The last Ice Age around 11,700 years ago was undoubtedly cataclysmic. The culprit seems to have been “very small variations in Earth’s orbit.” Where was the second Person of the Blessed Trinity at the time? Right on the case, along with the Father and the Spirit. Nothing escapes God’s notice, and never will. He is aware of every sparrow that falls, as well as everything in and beyond the universe. We are certainly called to be good stewards of creation by thoughtfully “tilling the soil” of Planet Earth. However, we must exercise humility by acknowledging the limitations of even the best scientific discoveries and theories.
Something like the Ice Age seems to be close to our doorstep in the form of Global Warming, and fear of its fury has grown exponentially in the modern era. The change in solar energy is at least partly due to the world’s carbon footprint, and the topic has become a worldwide “hot button” issue. There have been calls for decades now to eradicate fossil fuels and reduce global emissions to net zero. They have been a battle cry to save our planet from extinction.
Even if that goal is achieved, how far it will move the needle in and of itself is unknown to science. What about the changes in Earth’s orbit that brought about the previous eight cycles? Will the “small variations” happen for a ninth time? And if they do, can we accurately predict the outcome?
We have survived 800,000 years without worldwide climate accords and political activism. The lengthy reply from God to Job cited below “cleared the air” as to God’s omniscience, and the folly and arrogance of human reasoning that fails to recognize that resolving climate change without prayer and deference to the Almighty will yield the same results as the Tower of Babel project:
Do you know the ordinances of the heavens;
can you put into effect their plan on the earth?
Can you raise your voice to the clouds,
for them to cover you with a deluge of waters?
Can you send forth the lightnings on their way,
so that they say to you, “Here we are”?
Who gives wisdom to the ibis,
and gives the rooster understanding?
Who counts the clouds with wisdom?
Who tilts the water jars of heaven
So that the dust of earth is fused into a mass
and its clods stick together? (Job 38:33-38)
The one who can change the orbit of the planets can also adjust the trajectory of human endeavor even if it is almost completely off course. Archbishop Ven. Fulton Sheen gives offers this perspective:
But whatever our vision, nature belongs more to God than to us. It is on His side, not ours. If we abuse nature, it abuses us. With “traitorous trueness and loyal deceit,” it is fickle to us and true to Him. Everything that is, whether on this earth or in space, bears the eternal memory of the Divine Command: “Let there be.” (On the Demonic, p. 10; cit. Francis Thompson, “The Hound of Heaven”)
Let us pray to the God who “counts the clouds with wisdom” and “tilts the water jars of heaven” as we brave the many and varied changes of climate we encounter throughout our lives.
13 thoughts on “Climate Change: Tilting the Water Jars of Heaven”
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The point here is well-taken, and one that I have argued with my siblings.
The study of the story of the Flood is complex, as is the study of what destroyed the Pleistocene mega fauna, and when. Was it an ice age? (In Mexico and Brazil?) See Sir Henry Howorth’s two volumes that are on the Internet that question that theory. See his free online text, THE MAMMOTH AND THE FLOOD, (1887), and then tell me that Gn. 7.11 isn’t describing the same cataclysm that the early paleontologists described in relation to water being the cause of the demise of the Mammoth Age fauna. Land masses rose and fell during the Deluge, when “all of the fountains burst forth.”
This event was not 10,500 years ago. That is simply more false geologic gradualism, which in its day of invention was the equivalent to the godless “climate change” explanation for what is wrong, and why, with our weather. These theories have gone off the rails in the process of ignoring what John Paul II referred to as metaphysics. Or, to state in in the language of Arthur C. Clarke’s novel, CHILDHOOD’S END, “Science destroyed all religion.”
The Flood occurred most likely at c. 3100 B.C., which date is consistent with the chronology of the Alexandrian Septuagint, the Sanskrit records, the Mayan Long Count Calendar, and the historic dawn of the first cities, c. 3,000 B.C.
If the media were to include a mention of the possibility that there is a spiritual nature — a spiritual dimension — to our meteorological phenomena, how evolved our human understanding of the inner reality of the Spirit would be!
I see that my quote of Gn. 7.11 left out something: “All of the fountains of the great deep burst forth.” This cataclysm involved tremendous, indescribable volcanic forces that were unleashed.
Thank you, David. Spiritual indeed!
Also the desertification of the Sahara began about that time and lasted for about 1000 years before settling its boundaries. These swings in climate appear to be getting shorter. The great warming between 950 AD and 1300 AD was only three and a half centuries. The cooling of the mid nineteenth century less than 40 years and was barely mentionable in tropical and subtropical areas. The current warming will probably be the subject of much study, some questionable, but that too is likely to be affected by sunspot cycles and future earth “wobble” as it always has.
Thank you, Deacon Lambert. Finally a reasonable unpolitical article about climate change that puts God in His proper place. Everything we hear about climate change either leaves God out or is a thinly veiled or blatant political weapon. Bergoglio’s encyclicals are not excepted. No one can call themselves Catholic who does not put Divine Providence first, be he pope or layman. As the tired old 60s song says: “He’s got the whole world in His hands.”
Thank you, Fr. Bailey. The whole world is indeed in His hands!
Hello Deacon Lambert.
I thoroughly enjoyed this article. Thanks for sharing. I’ve never considered how climate change occurred in the past. The quote below from NASA has got me thinking!
“Most of these climate changes are attributed to very small variations in Earth’s orbit that change the amount of solar energy our planet receives.”
Have a blessed day/
There is no such quote from NASA.
Looked it up. The quote is out of context. NASA was referring to climate changes before humans came onto the scene. This is hardly helpful to our present predicament.
Thank you, Ida. I’m glad you found the article thought provoking!
This is not a Catholic viewpoint. It is a right-wing crank viewpoint and at odds with established science.
That climate change is caused by greenhouse gases is accepted everywhere and the nations of the world are undertaking the modest measures needed to hopefully stem it. Except in certain right wing corners (like here) which have an aversion to expertise and which somehow always reflect the views of the Republican Party. It is no coincidence that Trump and his newly picked V.P. candidate both think that man made climate change is a “hoax”.
It’s called geo engineering by the deep state. Do your research