“Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in numbers and fill the earth…. Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.” – Gen. 9:1,3.
God created a breathtakingly beautiful world, teeming with plants and animals, and all agree we must care for God’s creation. But lost in today’s discussion regarding the environment, even among Christians, is any understanding of why we care for the earth. God answers these questions in Genesis: the earth – its beauty, its plants, its sources of nourishment — exist for us, as humans, to have “dominion” over. Created in the image of God, we humans are the only living beings whose purpose includes experiencing and enjoying the earth and preserving it for our descendants – future humans. This Scriptural teaching has not been revoked or repealed. Environmental activism that attacks childbearing or places the interests of plants and animals above or outside the interests of human beings, is not scriptural, and risks worshiping the creation rather than the Creator. (Romans 1:25).