The environmentalists also have a point. Our responsibility to rule over the natural world is one that we have not taken very seriously up until now. We overfish our oceans and rivers, pour toxic waste into them, and then bemoan the fact that we are losing species every day. Recently, I read that the Chinese baiji, a pink freshwater dolphin that lived in the Yangtze River, is now thought to be extinct. Usually a ruler does not erase his subjects from existence, so I am wondering how this will look on our annual report......
Genesis 1:28-2:3
"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." 29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground--everything that has the breath of life in it--I give every green plant for food." And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the sixth day. 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. 2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done."
When God had finished creating this existence, He set aside a day as sacred, or set apart. This is the origin of shabbatt, or the Sabbath. The Jews were commanded to honor the Sabbath and keep it holy, which meant you were supposed to refrain from your everyday activities and spend time with your family and your God. But like so many other responsibilities we humans have messed up, the Sabbath was either so protected that it became cocooned in ridiculous man-made rules, or it was treated like any other day of the week.
Nowadays, in our own post-Christian society, we tend to lean toward the latter, rather than the former. Most people treat Sunday as just another Saturday – a day they can sleep in, or mow the lawn. Sunday mornings have also become a favorite time for sporting events like soccer and baseball games. Every Sunday, the park near my house is filled with people whose only association with the word Holy is to put it in front of an expletive referring to what goes into the sewer.
I don’t condemn the people, aware as I am that I am no better at being holy than they at times. It just saddens me that we have taken the gifts God has given us and misused them so badly. Regardless of the endless debate over climate change, it is plain to see that we have poisoned this planet with our irresponsibility. Recently, we’ve been warned not to eat too much tuna or shark because their food contains too much mercury. Mercury does not occur like that in nature, it is a result of human industry. Can the planet recover from the mess we have made? Probably, given enough time.
We fall so short of God’s intentions for His creation. In our own blind selfishness, we make impure what we received as pure. During our harsh rule over the rest of creation we have been narcissistic tyrants, in everything from fish and dolphins to soccer on Sundays.
God forgive us.
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