Is a climate change agreement possible?
A Christian Science perspective: Resolving disputes through prayer.
Throughout this year, negotiators are trying to build a worldwide consensus among governments to lower greenhouse gas emissions enough to keep Earth’s temperature within acceptable limits and climate change in check. Not everyone is on board. Resistance to a climate change agreement is strong in many places.
As I prayed about this issue I turned to the story of Nehemiah in the Bible for guidance (see the book of Nehemiah). Nehemiah learned that the wall of Jerusalem had fallen into disrepair, putting the city in danger. To rebuild the wall he needed broad support, and he quickly got the king’s approval and proceeded to gather workers.
However, some people saw a wall as not in their interest and fought Nehemiah at every turn. They demeaned his motives, exaggerated dangers, and made threats to get him to abandon his cause. But Nehemiah kept praying to God, relying on Him to keep the team strong and alert to their opponents’ ruses, and the wall was rebuilt.
Centuries later God sent His Son, Christ Jesus, to teach and demonstrate God’s power to save not just one city and one people but all humanity. This saving power has been explained in this age by Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science and founder of the Monitor. She showed how the healing power of the Christ can be demonstrated today, even to address problems requiring the cooperation of large numbers of people and institutions. “You have simply to preserve a scientific, positive sense of unity with your divine source, and daily demonstrate this,” she wrote. “Then you will find that one is as important a factor as duodecillions in being and doing right, and thus demonstrating deific Principle.” (“Pulpit and Press,” p. 4).
Demonstrating our unity with God, as His spiritual creation, we can bring harmony to discordant situations because God, the divine Principle of all real being, is the supreme power governing man and the universe.
I’ve seen this power in my own life. I recently had a disagreement with a company in another country that seemed uninterested in finding a solution to a difficult problem. I prayed to see that divine Principle, God, is the only true governing power, and God’s offspring express His government. This meant there was no other mind, personality, nor authority that could interfere with God’s harmonious government. My prayer brought me a clearer understanding that, in reality, that one harmonious source, God, holds us in harmony with one another. A day later the woman I was dealing with proposed a compromise. The problem was solved.
Through an ever-increasing understanding of man’s spiritual unity with God, each of us can help prove this unity for the world as humanity searches for the best way to deal with a changing climate.