The Story of Beginnings 08-12-15

The Old Testament Scriptures begin with the story of Beginnings. God brings planetary life into existence, including human beings. And then God gives to humanity a very serious responsibility. “God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’” (Genesis 1:26-28, NIV)

Notice what God tells humans to do. One, fill the earth. Two, subdue the earth. And three, rule over the earth. The problem with these action words is that they have been interpreted by religious people through the centuries in ways that produced terrible injury to the environment by well-meaning people who in the name of God have exploited and destroyed His creation.

This has led secular historians and scientists to place the blame for today’s ecological crisis largely on the shoulders of Bible-believing religions. Dr. Lynn White, a historian at the University of California, in an article in Science magazine titled “The Historical Roots  of Our Ecological Crisis” puts it this way: “Christianity not only established a dualism of man and nature, but also insisted that it is God’s will that man exploit nature for his proper ends. So Christianity bears a huge burden of guilt.”

Even more outspoken is Ian L. McHarg. He’s a Scot who became a town planner, an ecologist, and the founder and chairman of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1969 he wrote that the Christian interpretation of the Genesis story “in its insistence upon dominion and subjugation of nature, encourages the most exploitative and destructive instincts in man rather than those that are deferential and creative … Indeed, God’s affirmation about man’s domination was a declaration of war on nature.”

The issue at stake in this Genesis story quoted earlier is how one interprets those responsibilities God gave to human beings. Words like “fill,” “subdue,” and “rule” certainly carry very negative connotations. People like Genghis Khan, Nebuchadnezzar, Julius Caesar, Atilla the Hun, Stalin, Hitler, Idi Amin, and Sadam Hussein provide a perspective on “ruling” that denotes violence, power, self-centeredness, control and exploitation. Is this what God had in mind when He gave humanity stewardship over the globe?