Getting Humanity Under Control

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

- Genesis 1:27-28

When we think of "subduing the earth" or "having dominion," we tend to think in aggressive terms. We think in terms of domination rather than dominion, as one writer puts it. After all, sinful human beings become very domineering, using what authority they are given to self-promote and self-gratify. This relates to how we care for creation (or not), how we care for our relationships (or not), even how we care for ourselves (or not).

Many people today believe that humans have done a lousy job of caring for the planet. A recent book entitled The World Without Us speculates on what life would be like if humanity was diminished on the planet. Would the planet be better off? The author thinks so! Others, such those associated with the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement go further... much further! (Check here and here for more.)


It is interesting that the website for the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement makes this point about the origins of its ideas that humans stop breeding: "The true origins of The Movement can be found in the natural abundance of love and logic within each one of us. Our in-born sense of justice guides us to make the responsible choice."

Based on this statement, human beings are born with "an abundance of love and logic." Perhaps this is what it means to be made in God's image? Yet wait a minute... the same website also uses adjectives like these to describe humanity: greedy, amoral (!), and callous.

The truth is, "Voluntary" gets it more right than we may realize. On the one hand, we human beings are born glorious -- with "love and logic." On the other hand, we are a fairly destructive lot. If we're not cutting down the trees, we're busy cutting down one another. This paradox makes sense according to Genesis: we were made in God's image (Genesis 1-2), and yet fell into sin (Genesis 3). We are made in God's glorious image, yet we think and act all too often like animals.

If we stop at Genesis 3, voluntary extinction is not a bad solution to the problem we've caused the planet - except that it would be adding further disobedience to God, who said "be fruitful and multiply"! Yet God has given us much more than Genesis 1-3. God so loved the world that he gave us his Son, Jesus Christ, in order that the image of God in mankind might be properly understood and lived once again. God's creation of the world is actually confirmed by His insistence that it be redeemed; but he doesn't start by trying to save "the planet" as by saving human beings, the caretakers of the planet and his prized creation.

Apart from Jesus, getting humanity under control is an impossible task. Every generation learns through fresh disillusionments that there is an explosive arsenal of evil in humanity - and those who are most wise realize it's not just "out there" but "in here."

Yet through Jesus Christ, men and women can once again be subdued by their Creator, even learn to love their Creator. And then we will learn what it means to rightly "subdue" the earth - not in self-interest but in service to others.

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NOTE: Does any of what is said above lead you to think that humans should NOT be concerned about the environment? I hope not.