Welcome to Science, Scripture, and Salvation, a radio ministry of the Institute for Creation Research. In this program, we want to encourage you in your Christian faith by showing how scientific evidence supports the Bible, particularly the Genesis account. The book of Genesis lays the foundation for all matters addressed in the rest of the Bible. The nature of God, His sovereignty in creation, man's purpose, sin, marriage, family, and why we need a Savior are all introduced and explained in Genesis. When we see that the first and most foundational book of the Bible can be trusted in all matters, including science, it builds confidence in the rest of the inspired word all the way to Revelation.
I'm Frank Sherwin, zoologist and research associate with the Institute for Creation Research. Join me for today's show of Science, Scripture, and Salvation. In today's show, we're going to talk about the Christian conservation and the Dominion Mandate. In the beginning, God has given man a dominion mandate, stating, And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it. And have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Genesis 1:28. This was God's first commandment to the man and woman He had created. In the Biblical text the Hebrew word for dominion is rada that means dominion, reign, to prevail against, and rule. Man and woman were to exercise this dominion over all the earth, verse twenty six, not a tyrannical dominion, as some have implied, but a responsible stewardship. This dominion was to be over the earth, including all the living creatures.
Man was to care for the earth and its creatures, developing and utilizing earth's resources, not to despoil and deplete them for selfish pleasure. The dominion mandate was reaffirmed to Noah after the flood. We read in Genesis chapter 9, And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea. Into your hands are they delivered.
Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you, even as the green herb I have given you all things. but flesh with the life thereof, which is of the blood thereof, ye shall not eat. And surely your blood of your lives will I require at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man, at the hand of every man's brother, will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed for in the image of God made he man. And you.
Be ye fruitful, and multiply, bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein. And God spake unto Noah, and said to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you. and with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you, from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. As ICR's founder Henry Morris has said, in order to subdue the earth we must first understand its processes. Thus research is the foundational occupation for fulfilling the divine mandate.
Then this knowledge must be applied in technology such as engineering, medicine, agricultural, etc. Indeed, as with scientific research, factual and quantitative data in all areas of study is most accurate and useful in technological development. It must be implemented for use by, for example, business and commerce, and transmitted to future generations by way of education. All the occupations we now call the social sciences, such as law, civics, counseling, etcetera., have been added to God's authorized vocations. The creation can also be described and praised in the humanities and the fine arts.
The Dominion Mandate thus authorizes all honorable human occupations as a stewardship under God. The interpretive and philosophical applications, however, are either tainted or enhanced by one's spiritual condition, that is, their world view. If the Apostle Paul is right and God's creation is clearly seen, then we should also see it manifest in the previously mentioned biotic, that is, animals and plants, and abiotic, or non-living areas of God's creation. These two basic areas interact in a sophisticated ecological web. Disturbance of one facet, that is, a species of animal or plant, may reverberate throughout the biological system.
Now it's time for a short break. I'll return with some final words on this topic in a moment. From sharks to butterflies, bats to orangutans, we can't help but marvel at the stunning and amusing creatures God has made. If you and your kids enjoy learning about animals, then you'll love our book, Guide to Animals, with its beautiful full-color images and fascinating facts. Published by the Institute for Creation Research, Guide to Animals provides answers to many popular questions about the animal kingdom.
How do chameleons change colors? How do jellyfish live without a brain? And what happened to the dinosaurs and other extinct animals? Guide to Animals shows how everything that can slither, crawl, soar, or swim displays the handiwork of God. Order your copy of Guide to Animals from the Institute for Creation Research by calling 800-628-7640 or visiting icr.org.
That's 800-628-7640 or visiting icr.org. We have been talking about the Christian conservation and the Dominion Mandate.
So we are to respect and care for the created environment, but but not to worship it. As was mentioned, God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. Notice nothing was said to ransack or overwhelm or trash our planet. we should be good and wise stewards of what God has created for us. Christians can care for God's environment by recycling material such as plastics and glass.
They can carpool, saving hundreds of dollars per year on gasoline and wear and tear on vehicles. And we can teach our children, at an early age, not to litter. Through the centuries natural man has either ignored or corrupted this dominion mandate and has exchanged the creation for the creator. As a result, a creation is worshipped and today militant environmentalism is becoming a religion. This is ironic because the accusation of mixing Christianity with science is regularly leveled at the creationist.
However, one finds plenty of religion and even emotion in the secular scientific community. For example, ornithologists and biologists in general were overjoyed recently to discover a woodpecker that was thought to be extinct, but has been found alive in the Big Woods region of Arkansas. For six decades the ivory billed woodpecker was reported as probably extinct by bird scientists until eight sightings and even videotape of the creature was compiled over the years two thousand four and two thousand five. Even though this bird is merely a variety of woodpecker, it's caused quite a stir.
Some biologists and their reports of the rediscovery of the bird were quite emotional. In regard to trekking in the Arkansas woods, audio archivist Martha Fisher said, The place really is like being in a cathedral. One report said many who searched the woods for the creature were changed by their experience. Indeed, an associate professor of biology put his face in his hands and began to sob, and another was too choked with emotion. after citing the elusive bird, saying that it rose Lazarus like from the grave.
Now rediscovered plants receive the same reverent accolades. Two evolutionists wrote a poem about a conifer that was thought to be extinct since the alleged Jurassic times many millions of years ago, but was found to be alive in Australia in nineteen ninety four. Here's what they wrote There is a tree that so rare Grows deep in the gorges out there, Deep in my heart will I sing Of the Woollami pine. No preaching words, no angry tones, The Woollami stands, all alone, one hundred million years of passing time.
So we can see that man is inherently religious and must worship something during his sojourn on earth. If he rejects the Creator, he or she will very likely worship the Creation and those creatures that inhabit it. The Apostle Paul warned in Romans chapter one and verse twenty five that there would be those who changed the truth of God into a lie. and worshiped and served the creature, literally the creation, more than the creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
Creation scientists certainly share the joy of finding a creature or plant alive that was thought to be gone forever. But as the Apostle Paul said to the unbelievers who had no knowledge of the one true God, That all living things are from the living God, which made heaven. And earth, and the sea, and all things therein, Acts chapter fourteen and verse fifteen. Paul took these people back to Genesis, back to the beginning where all the major doctrines of the Bible have their roots, and this, of course, includes the critical Dominion mandate.
Now we are commanded not to worship the creature, but to bow down and worship the one who created them. We are to care and be responsible for our world, but not to worship it. Call it mother. or treat it as though it was a living organism to be revered. The tragedy is that leadership in practically all these fields has been taken over by secularists so God's primeval commission has largely been subverted or ignored.
The great majority of people are oblivious to the Dominion mandate and live their lives utterly without concern for the will and purpose of their Creator. Christians to day need a renewed vision and a commitment to Christ's second great commission of evangelism, found at the end of Matthew, chapter twenty eight. To those who love God trusting Him as both Creator and Saviour and this also involves the whole world. Jesus said to his disciples, I have chosen you, and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit. and that your fruit should remain, John fifteen and verse sixteen.
That is, we who are His disciples are also to be fruitful and multiply spiritually as well as physically. Then, in the age to come, the first great mandate will also finally be fulfilled. As it says in Isaiah chapter 11 and verse 9, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Thank you for joining us on Science, Scripture, and Salvation, a radio ministry of the Institute for Creation Research. That's all the time we have for our program today, but we would love to connect with you through our website at icr.org.
For over 45 years, ICR has equipped believers with evidence of the Bible's accuracy and authority by showing how science supports the Genesis creation account. Our scientists research the evidence for creation and communicate their findings through books, articles, DVD series, and conferences. Please visit our website at icr.org for more information about the latest scientific discoveries, to subscribe to our free magazine and devotional, and to locate our next creation conference at a venue near you. All of this and more at icr.org. If you've enjoyed this podcast, subscribe to Science, Scripture, and Salvation on iTunes.
Also, do us a favor and rate and review the show so that more listeners can find us. Thanks for listening and God bless.
