God blessed them (humans) and god said to them, “Be fertile an increase, fill the earth and master it; and rule the fish of the sea the birds of the sky, and all of the living things that creep on earth.”
On earth day, I invite us to consider whether “mastery” and “rule” over the Earth are really ideas with which we should be comfortable. For me, the answer is a resounding “Yes!” And I believe that my affirmative response is not at all inconsistent with being environmentally conscious and conscientious.
How does that work?
It starts by getting over the assumption that power is bad, rule is always abused and that green policies are not every bit as aggressive in their environmental impact as those they seek to overturn. Each side in the environmental debate seeks to alter the environment. The fact that one group has co-opted the language of preservation and conservation, does not make them any more correct than those who have co-opted the language of life in one side of the abortion debate.
Green and Jewish can go together quite nicely, but Green and arrogant do not.
I embrace God’s first blessing to humanity with no apologies. And I also embrace the equally ancient teachings that pare blessing with responsibility, accountability and obligation.
What do you think?
Author, radio and TV talk show host, and President of CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, Brad Hirschfield is the author of 
posted April 23, 2009 at 9:53 am
I do agree with you that the ideas of mastery and rule are completely consistent with an eco-friendly ethos. I’m a big Tolkien fan, and so I guess I’m thinking of his steward characters (Gandalf and the stewards of Gondor) whose job it was to see to things and fight to preserve what was good on behalf of the the king.
I would be interested in seeing how you would respond to the first half of this verse. If there is a danger of overcrowding and too many humans for the earth’s resources, how do we interpret the commandment to multiply?
As always, a pleasure reading your thoughts.
posted April 23, 2009 at 10:45 am
In Pollution and the Death of Man theologian Francis Schaeffer (along with his son-in-law Udo Middlemann in the current edition) address stewardship of creation in the context of the historic Fall of man into sin. What is environmentalism within a biblical worldview? This is the larger question addressed-contrasting a biblically informed understanding with the dominant Materialist world view.
Schaeffer writes that there are two categories of ecological sins: the sins of poor stewardship and the sins of idolizing creation in place of worshipping the creator. The Bible teaches that nature was radically changed due to the original sin of man. The bible teaches that this original environmental damage, as described in Genesis, extends beyond the borders of our planet in the places man has never been.
Many contemporary Christian books on environmentalism use the Bible to call for stewardship of creation in the context of finding common ground with environmentalist materialists. When Christian writers take this approach, they typically fail to explain the reason why things are the way they are because of the effects of original sin.
Schaeffer brings us back to the basics. This world is not the same as when God created it and said it was good. The sin of Adam changed the way nature functioned-the curse, the damage, the new ways of death in the world, radically changed the lives and behaviors of men and animals. Man’s sin introduced entropy, extinction of species, genetic degradation over time, and unnatural death to all living things-thousands of years before anyone ever littered any beach, paved over any land, or cut down any rainforest.
posted April 23, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Worries of the future worst outcoming is nonsense,worries means UNFAITH and it is a sin.When you worry,it is as if you are declaring
that God is not able to handle his creation.Consider the birds in
the sky,no one take care and feed them but God through his creations of trees,the birds can have their nest,and can eat fruits and vegetables free of charge because God is their Provider,why not put
your life under God’s hands we humans of little faith!Consider the lilies in the water how beautiful they were placed in our environment,yet not one of these lilies have cloth even the King Solomon with all of his wisdom and splendor!ALL we need is faith,a
good fight of faith,never wave our faith to a God who not only created
us but He created the Universe,what is Earth or World compared to His
Power and Majesty!He is able and by faith,all of God’s people shall
overcome!God is in control!because of the greatest gift of LOVE from our God and all His plans and purpose in our lives were made accomplished.Without love,you or me is bankrupt.Take courage and live
a life of love and be faithful to our God.Being a given a call and
responsibility of being God’s pro creator,means to be a good steward
of his wonderful creation,if you are not,God will vanish you from his land and disown you in no time!Natural calamities and disaster creeps in to destroy those who will neglect and harm the land He had perfectly planned and created because the land is His delight and
is created for a purpose all for His glory,sooo He is in control and we are just click away from Him if we plan to destroy His footstool,
the Earth!The choice is ours,and the choice of doing right is the best
life there is!For those who live otherwise,there’s a place prepared and it is not and never fun,a place called hell.Be fearful in this
sense!LOVE GOD above all things too!That is the First Commandment,and
God will take care of you and your worries!God is good all the time and all the time God is oh soooo goooooodddddddd!!!!That’s my simple
declaration of my FAITH.What’s yours????
posted May 6, 2009 at 3:24 am
We have fulfilled the required request to fill the Earth. Enough already. People are killing each other over food. Enough already!!