Bible Studies

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Environment
God gave mankind dominion over all the earth and every living thing. In Genesis 9, He reiterated dominion over all living things. Do we have a duty of care for our environment? If so, how well has mankind carried out its duty?
The inherent value of our environment can be traced back to creation when God said that it was “good”. As creatures made from the dust of the earth, humans are inseparably linked to creation. The fall of man affected humans and the entire earth as well. The prophet Isaiah explains: “The earth lies polluted under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt.” (Isaiah 24)
Dominion is defined as: “1. the power or right of governing and controlling; sovereign authority. 2. rule; control; domination.” Nothing in the definition either allows or prohibits squandering the resources over which we have dominion, but because they are gifts from God, who proclaimed them “good,” it is self-evident that we should use care and restraint in the use of these gifts. Our record through the millennia is spotty at best. In Noah’s time, with the earth’s population at 25 million or less, carelessness in the use of plants and animals was easily repaired by natural processes. As the population grew to 200 million in Jesus’ time, 310 million in 1000 A.D, and 6.5 billion today, species and ecosystems are under extreme and sometimes fatal pressure. Habitat degradation, overexploitation, agricultural monocultures, human-borne invasive species, and human-induced climate-change have brought one in four mammals, one in eight birds, one in three amphibians, one in three conifers and other gymnosperms to the brink of extinction. The prosperity of the industrialized nations in the 20th and 21st centuries has financed a substantial environmental movement, but the challenges are monumental. It’s no wonder that many look ahead to the ultimate answer in Revelation 21: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea… He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!"”
Until that time, Christians have an obligation to conserve what is “good.” Many have distanced themselves from environmentalists whom they fear uphold belief systems which value the creation and ignore the Creator, or advocate population control methods we find abhorrent. We need to remind them that God is distinct from creation and it is He who has given it value. Christians should be leaders in conserving what God has made for us, for He told us it is “good.”

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