Page 24
Responsible use of the environment

The world in which we presently live is not the original pristine one which God originally created.  It has been under a curse since Adam and Eve's sin in the Garden of Eden, and it has also been totally 'rearranged' by a global flood in the days of Noah.

The Bible also teaches that this world is not destined to last for ever, but that there is coming a day of judgment in which this world will be destroyed by fire, after which there will be a new heaven and a new earth.

Until that day, the Bible gives the following guidelines:

(1)  Humans are to be regents of the environment, filling the earth and subduing it, having dominion over it & all the animal kingdom.  This also implies that we treat the environment with respect, and don't rape it.

(2)  Humans must not treat the environment romantically (as though trees or animals were our 'brothers', or the earth was our 'Mother') or reverentially (we do not worship the environment and becomes its devotees).  The earth was created for us.