Welcome to the Genesis Stewards Blog. My name is Scott Simmons though my friends use my nickname and call me Pete. It actually makes a pretty good screening tool. For over sixteen years now I have been involved in the battle to protect property rights from government encroachment . For eight of those years, all I and others managed to do was to slow the process down. Then in 2002-2003 I came to an understanding that transformed the way I do battle (and it is a battle). I slowly began (emphasis on began) to understand the sovereignty of God and realize that it was not simply limited to church on Sunday. The purpose of this blog is to explore how and why our understanding of God influences our actions or lack thereof and argue for application of biblical principles in areas often considered taboo by many. Because my experience and interests lay chiefly in the areas of politics, law, and land use, those will be the primary focus . I encourage comments, criticism and suggestion.
I choose the name Genesis Stewards for this site, because it is in the book of Genesis at 1:28 that we see the first commandment of God to Man.
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.(KJV)
While called by some the dominion mandate and others the cultural mandate, I don't believe either is actually a good term for describing the full intent of the command.
Dominion is often confused with domination which has, in the modern vernacular, taken on overtones that offer an incorrect meaning and thus understanding of the commandment. To many, it infers an arrogant exercising of power through the use of force. While the commandment obviously directs mankind to exercise dominion over everything there is absolutely no support for the type of arrogance that has come to be associated with the word and some of those who employ it. In our "free" society where everyone tends to think they are responsible to no one, people start to throw up defensive mind blocks upon hearing the word dominion without ever thinking about it true meaning.
Replacing dominion with cultural is an improvement of sorts in that it carries a broader implication and is not as offensive culturally. However it tends to carry overtones of aloofness and cerebral contemplation rather then personal action and responsibility. Besides that, it is just wimpy.
I believe calling this very first commandment from God to mankind the Stewardship mandate is preferable to using either dominion or cultural. God was speaking to Adam and Eve as individuals. The commandment to take dominion was clearly given to both of them indicating personal responsibility for each of them to carry out. Because they were our progenitors, we inherit that same personal responsibility. Each of us is to exercise personal responsibility for our own actions in all areas of life and existence. Lets explore in future posts what this may mean in the areas of politics, law, and land use.
