- One dictum holds that God has given dominion of His Creation to humanity. Consequently, the natural world has value only to the extent that it fulfills God’s instruction to mankind to “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the Earth and subdue it.” (Gen. 1:28)
- Another school rejects this long held template which, some argue, permits humanity’s indiscriminate, self-aggrandizement at the expense of nature. An evolving Christian ethic holds that God retains His sovereignty of the world, that He is passionate about His Creation, and that He invites mankind to join Him in creative stewardship. God has not abandoned a world that, in His first six days of recorded action, He declared “Good.”
For He founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.
with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that
was with you – the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, and all those
that came out of the arc with you – every living creature on earth. I establish
my covenant with you. Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a
flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.
the destruction of the original harmony of creation. If we examine carefully the social and environmental crisis which the world community is facing, we must conclude that we are still betraying the mandate God has given us: to be stewards called to collaborate with God in watching over creation in holiness and wisdom. God has not abandoned the world. (MG p. 52)