The great thing about having a blog named composting words is that I can write about anything. That is a good thing for someone with a wandering mind. My mind wanders about and explores beauty, ideas, relationships and feelings as well as giant human questions. It analyzes what it notices, picks up on similarities and dissonance, asks a lot of questions and draws its own conclusions. I can be completely entertained without ever leaving my head.

One of the things my mind has been considering and circling back to now and then is the thought that the whole idea of man’s dominion over the earth is nothing but a typo or perhaps an intentional mark made by a particular human who thought his particular edits or interpretation could more clearly clarify the “Word of God”. Or maybe the change came first in spoken word reflecting a particular religious leaders philosophy and was then updated in writing.

Let’s take the leap and say the original Bible somehow contained the Word of God. How do we know that the words in the books read today contain the same meaning? After all, copies were hand scribed for hundreds of years given that the first printing press was not even invented until 1041-1048 and those were hand set character by character not copies of text. Even the Bibles I read as a child have been replaced my new modern versions.   Human language is constantly changing shifting the meanings and usage of words with one person’s understanding of the meaning of a combination of words being different from another’s.

My mind observes the environmental tragedy that is unfolding as we press forward with our dominion of the earth and thinks, “If there is a God, there is no way that God ever intended for man to do this to ‘his’ creation.” I think of the stories told by the native cultures around the world and their agreement on the emphasis on balance and respect toward all of God’s creations. I think if the Bible did contain the words of God than surely someone along the way made a typo whether accidentally or intentionally for God certainly would have expected us to steward the amazing planet we were born to not destroy it.

“And God blessed [ Adam and Eve ], 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.” Genesis 1:28

Maybe it really said something like

And God blessed Adam and Eve and said unto them, “Be fruitful, and multiply and teach your children to live in balance with the other creatures of the earth. Steward the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air and every living thing that growth upon the earth and you shall be blessed with abundance.

What say you?

Great North Woods Conservation area. This area is in the heart of the working forest. The river was once filled with trees being harvested for paper and floated down to the mills. All of the wild lands were heavily sprayed with DDT. Eagles, osprey and other animals have begun to flourish here once again.