I once read a newspaper story that recounted the tale of a Midwestern zoo's groundskeeper who had been arrested by the local police. It seems he was caught field-dressing one the the zoo's captive deer that he had shot and killed. When things were more closely investigated it was discovered that the groundskeeper had also set traps in certain areas of the zoo--and furthermore, had built a smokehouse next to the zoo's maintenance shed.
Unfortunately when some folks read in Genesis that God gave human beings dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:26), that's what they think it means--squeezing out of the planet everything we can for ourselves. Don't worry about the future--eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you shall die. We are in charge around here and we can do any damn thing we want. But that's not good stewardship--it's not even stewardship at all. It's blatant abuse. It's the kind of thinking that leads to zoo groundskeepers killing deer and building smokehouses--and it's the kind of thinking that leads to nations ignoring international environmental agreements.
We don't have to take the creation story in Genesis literally to learn from it the profound truth that we are called to take care of the earth. We are called to love the earth. And loving the earth means nurturing it, treating it respectfully, seeking to bring it to full flower. With the privilege of being God's stewards on earth comes responsibility, for the good steward protects that with which he or she has been entrusted.
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