Wisdom's Rebuke

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I take you back today to the wisdom of Solomon—but imagining that he’s writing his proverbs in the time of climate change. The passage in my Bible is called “Wisdom’s Rebuke,” and I’ve taken the liberty of retelling the passage as if Wisdom is the science on climate change—plus giving a nod to Micah’s admonition to please God through the practice of justice, mercy and humility. 

So what follows is a paraphrase of Proverbs 1: 20-33. You can read the NIV Bible’s version of the passage by clicking here. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+1&version=NIV

Wisdom’s Rebuke
On radio, television, newspapers, books, the internet and on the street, those who have learned and understand the potential consequences of climate change warn people repeatedly, emphatically. They declare in detail what floods and storms, fires and drought will do to us all, but the question they begin to shout most loudly is this: “How long will you who just don’t get it cling to the status quo like Velcro? How long will you entertain yourselves by making fun of those who are doing their best to protect you? How long can you uninformed people continue your campaigns of hatred against the science that means to save you?

“Change your attitude, both for God’s sake and yours, and we’ll make it clear to you in words you’ll understand. As it is, you refuse to listen to the warnings; none of you seem to pay the slightest attention to the wisdom that’s being offered.

“Since you disregard all our advice and don’t accept our criticism of your habits of indifference and mocking, we’ll have our day laughing at you when the inevitable disaster overtakes you like a storm, when floods inundate your houses or hurricanes batter you and yours and you’re overwhelmed by terrible distress and sorrow.

Then you’ll come running to us but what answer will we possibly be able give you? You’ll look to us to find a remedy but you won’t find us, since your perennial indifference will by then have silenced us. Your hatred of knowledge and wisdom and your ignoring of the holy cry for justice and mercy plus your repeated rejection of the warnings mean that you’re going to have to lie in the bed you’ve made, eat the bitter fruit you planted. Your greed, your deafness, your ignorance will come back to bite you.

In other words, your sins could end up killing you.

But were you to listen to us now, we might together find the place of safety, of joy and comfort . . . and live without fear of harm.



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