In one of the dumbest, buck-passing ideas ever foisted on the public, USA-TODAY newspaper last week ran a story with the hot headline, “Global warming risk: Rising temperatures from climate change linked to rise in suicides.” They’re kidding, right? Wrong. Next, they’ll somehow link climate change to teen pregnancy and autism. The basic point of the article is this: a study found that, according to researchers at Stanford University, “. . . suicide rates rise 0.7% for each 1.8-degree increase in monthly average temperature.” So, hotter weather makes people more depressed and prone to suicide. Hey, I live in Phoenix, and I can confess that days on end of 100+ temperatures is depressing. But to link self-murder to climate change is a stretch.
I suggest that the real agenda here isn’t combating suicide, but to provide more ammo to get the American public on the human-causes-climate-change-bandwagon. The ultimate goal is political subordination of our national interests to an international elite. Also included in this article is a quote from a National Academy of Sciences study that claims 59,000 people in India have committed suicide in India over the last three decades, all due to, you guessed it, climate change. Never mind the tormenting factors of crushing poverty and the Hindu caste system of fateful discrimination. Why blame demon gods or corrupt governments for people’s misery? Let’s blame climate change.
I would assert that in America, the increase of drug abuse, sexual promiscuity, alcoholism and the loss of religious faith have resulted in the deaths of far more people than a hot summer day. It’s a cop-out to avoid blaming sin and moral failure for the increase in people killing themselves. Some people do commit suicide for mental health reasons, but far more individuals end their lives because they have no faith in a loving God who can save them from their emotional misery. Judas didn’t kill himself because of the air quality of Palestine. He hung himself because he had betrayed his hope of a Savior. The climate may be changing, but that’s no excuse to avoid Christ’s message of salvation that gives people a reason to live.
An encouraging word: LOOK TO THE CROSS
“The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness,” Paul told the Corinthians (1 Cor. 1:18). Sadly, today the cross sometime adorns the bling of gutter-language rap artists and the cleavage of erotic Hollywood starlets. But such demeaning of the cross never takes away what it really represents. Thousands of cathedrals place it at their apex and stained-glass windows glow with its hope. The cross is truly, as Paul says, “the power of Christ.” In His crucifixion there is hope. In His death there is life. And in His resurrection, there is immortality. Thank God for the cross.
