Dominion
We're in the world for a reason, and it isn't to cower and lament over ourselves as some kind of invasive species.
do•min•ion
/dəˈminyən/
noun
1. sovereignty or control
"Man's attempt to establish dominion over nature."
If you Google the word dominion right now, the first results you will see are movie times for the current installment of the Jurassic World series. But after results for the movie comes the definition you see above, taken from an online service provided by Oxford Languages, publishers of The Oxford English Dictionary which is widely regarded as the foremost authority on the English language.
Dominion is a hot topic in the culture right now.
In the trailer to the current movie Ian Malcolm, the character played by Jeff Goldblum, articulates the underlying philosophical - even theological - issues at play in the movie.
We not only lack dominion over nature, we're subordinate to it.
Humanity's place and purpose in the world is ground zero of the culturally contentious issues of our time. It lurks within all of our disputes over identity, sexuality, gender, marriage, abortion, environmentalism, and climate change. And central to the question of our place, is the question of human dominion.
The Bible teaches in the creation story of Genesis chapter 1 that human beings were given a place of dominion in the world and the task of ruling over it. Human beings are not, as environmentalist David Attenborough suggested, a virus on the planet. We not only belong here, we rule here. We are stewards of God's world, given authority to rule over the created order, and everything God has made is to be received for our benefit with thanksgiving. (I Tim. 4:4)
This is a deeply subversive point of view in our current moment. The dominant mythology of modern western culture is that human beings are usurpers and interlopers. We are told we must conceive of ourselves as a lethal threat to the planet. Young people are being taught to restrain their ambition and optimism and to feel guilty about their very existence as human beings in the world. When we are tempted to look down our noses at the lack of competence in younger generations, we should remind ourselves that they have been victimized by years of public education, during which they have been indoctrinated into thinking of themselves as a pox upon the world.
Jordan Peterson has been described at times as someone who is "not far from the kingdom of God". He is someone who understands the crushing damage being done to young people by keeping the truth from them about their place in creation. When asked what redemptive message he would have for incoming college freshmen, Peterson had this to say (watch to the very end):
The Bible casts a very different vision for the place of human beings than the one that bombards us on every side. The biblical vision is nothing like what we hear in contemporary movies, music, and social media. One of the overarching themes of the biblical creation story is fruitfulness. God paints a picture of a world of reproductive profusion, with human beings leading the reproductive parade, while acting as God's vice regents over the created order. God's intention is that human beings will alter, order, and improve the natural world. We are not to treat it as untouchable, or to worship it. We are to rule over it.
When Ian Malcolm declares, in Jurassic World, that we not only lack dominion but we're actually subordinate to nature, he's not telling the truth. We have the God-given power and the authority we need. We only need to be willing to exercise the dominion God has given us. Many of our current troubles are directly related to an unwillingness to recognize our own rightful dominion.
In the first letter the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, in chapter 4 he described a time in the future in which "some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons".
What are the things taught by demons you ask?
Why, they are the undermining of the procreative covenant of marriage, along with the insistence that we should refrain from receiving the very things from the natural world that God has provided to sustain us.
Sound familiar?
We're in the world for a reason, and it isn't to cower and lament over ourselves as some kind of invasive species.
Don't listen to the lies.