God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Genesis 1:28)
This is the so-called “Dominion Mandate,” the very first command of God to Adam and Eve.
This mandate has never been withdrawn by God and was expanded to Noah in Genesis 9:1-7 where we read, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.”
The most honorable human activities such as development and application of science and technology, commerce, and education all stem from this mandate given directly from God for our collective good. Man is to subdue the earth which was a very difficult goal until recently. But, clearly we are not to exploit or despoil it but rather to be a steward of it. On the other hand, this does not mean animals are equal to people as certain evolutionary philosophies indicate, and we are not to worship the earth according to the dictates of those in the radical environmentalist and various pantheistic movements.
