Was the planet made for us? Or were we made for the planet?

Pretty simple.

Did God make the universe for us?

Or did God make the universe, and then put us in it as sort of care-takers, guardians, or whatever?

I was having a discussion with a religious person. And they were under the impression that Environmental activism is "doing God's work", or whatever you call it.

So is nature something to be exploited to our benefit, as we see fit?

Or is human expansion that is wiping out thousands of species and "dirtying" the Earth something fundamentally anti-Christian/against God?

The argument that they gave was something like, God created humans "last", after the Earth, the plants and the animals (can't remember if that's true but I take their word for it) and so we are supposed to "protect" the work of God? That is, protect the "natural" world.

From the ways I've seen it explained before I got the impression that God created the world for humans and we are superior to everything in it. Like, it's basically just a vessel for us to exist and we can do whatever we like to it. God seems to only be concerned with what we do to other people, not to the Earth itself. Like, Open Cut mines are not blasphemous for "defacing" the work of God. Species are only valuable as far as they are valuable to humans, they don't have any inherent value just because God created them, etc, etc.

So which is it?

Was the Universe created for us?

Or were we created to "protect" God's other creations?

Are we the greatest creation? Or are we secondary to the universe itself?

 

Anthropic principle.

We are here because of the conditions of the universe and the world that we live in.

Those conditions do not exist because we are here. To say so is rather arrogant.

 

That's nice but it's irrelevant to my question.

I'm interested in the interpretation of the scripture.

 

Perhaps you should striving for the truth, not scripture.

The truth is, we are perfectly suited to the Earths environment, not the other way around.

 

don't waste your time..
we're nothing but a bunch of worthless little chitheads..

 

I am not religious.

This is a question specifically about scripture.

I'm simply not interested in any answers that aren't concerned with scripture.

 

I've been to heaven. I had an out of body experience when I was a child and I can tell you two things. There is a god. He created what he calls, "Creation Enery" it's basically energy with its own mind and it creates things. whatever it may choose. God told me this:


"A long ago I created the universe, but I messed up. I had too much creation energy on this side and I had to flush it out into the darkness. That's how you were created and you are here to be re-charged and sent back"

 

And I'm quoting GOD directly, so there is no confusion ok?

 

What does he look like?

 

So then why do you consider yourself a Christian? If God "messed up", then Christianity's version of God cannot possibly be correct. This is contradictory.

 

You won't find those answer in scripture. Only in science.

 

He's immaterial.

 

It was definitely made for us. We're an experiment that requires we be quarantined. That's why we're on the outskirts of an insignificant galaxy. There's probably a force field around our solar system to keep us from escaping.

 

did she speak to via your watch?

 

We are here to use the Earth to our best advantage in order to LEAVE and go on to populate other planets. This could have already occurred once or many times and we may be what they left behind....

 

I am not looking for answers for myself, I just want to understand someone else's point of view.

Again it's quite simple.

It seems to me that the more "religious" someone is the more politically conservative they are.

Then I get this person saying that the scripture of the bible makes it "obvious" that God wants people to protect the environment. Because he made us "last" and therefore as caretakers of nature. I want to know more about this "link" between scripture and environmental activism.

To me it sounds like a bullocks interpretation of the Bible.

Really the way the bible is written, humans are at the centre and everything else is basically incidental. It exists for us, not the other way around.

That is not what I believe, just what I think the Bible suggests.

And I want to know what other peoples interpretation is.

Again I really don't care about any answers not relating to scripture.

Not sure if JediMiller is trolling, but even if you're serious, I don't care what God supposedly said to you, I want your interpretation of the scripture.

Bout to give up on this thread anyway.

 

Personally, I take a literal view of what scripture says on that matter.

"Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."

IMHO, it cannot be stated much simpler. Notice however, it speaks only of the earth and the inhabitants of the earth... not the "universe" with regard to that keyword 'dominion'.

 

The bible says something about having dominion or something over the animals of the earth and freely offers the resources the earth provides.

This seems pretty in line with the religious rights opinion on climate change, drill baby drill etc.

 

I would probably have to consult with the spiders from Mars before I could attempt answering this one.

 

The universe was made for man.......human beings were made to rule......we are lords. In Genesis, when God made man(Adam and Eve) He said let us make man in our image, and let them have dominion over the Earth and everything on the Earth. But being lords over the Earth does not mean we are to abuse and destroy the Earth.....we are to improve it; make it better than it was. This also applies to the universe.

God intends for His glorified children make the universe like Heaven.....a place of love and ever increasing peace and beauty. This is what the true gospel is about……it is about the kingdom of God and man’s place in it……it is what Christians should be telling the world. It is why the Word had to come as a man, and be born.....Jesus came to restore the kingdom of God on the Earth, and put human beings back into the kingdom of God.

 

he doesnt look like anything you ever seen. Its kinda like looking into smoke and seeing shapes and forms you want to see..or how people see things in clouds...he is made of pure energy, oxygen and has no form. He basically looks like a giant cloud.

 

Thanks guys, Dominionism was what I was after.

@BFSmith@764: How can you "improve" something that God created? Why are Christian's against cloning and genetic modification if we're supposed to "improve" what God created? Having dominion surely means, we do as we see fit.

@Bow To The Robots: And I'll ask Weird and Gilly.

 

The smoke monster from lost?

 

There is a theory that different dimensions exist right next to each other as 'membranes.' Higher dimensions may be capable of at least observing lower dimensions. An example would be you viewing a video. You can perceive 3 dimensions whereas a video is only 2 dimensional. You can see the video but the video has no perception of you.

It may be possible, from time to time, under unique circumstances to peer into a higher dimension which is what your experience reminds me of. I am not saying there is no God however.

 

If you don't tend and care what God created it will get out of hand. That was what Adam and Eve was to do in the garden of Eden. Creation must be sustained as well as that one can add one's own personal touch to it.