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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
MAN'S DOMINION
If we consider the tremendous amount of pollution that we have unleashed upon the air, the
water, and the land, it would be difficult to argue that we have not acted brashly and
foolishly in our obligation. Land has been raped for its mineral wealth. Forests have been
burned and cleared for roads and housing. We have senselessly slaughtered entire species of
animals to the brink of extinction. Factory smokestacks and gas emissions from fossil-fuel
engines continue to pollute the air. Oil tanker accidents release tons of poisonous crude
oil into the seas. We continually produce toxic waste, nuclear waste, and other garbage -
often without any concern for their safe disposal.
Mankind has fared little better acting upon its own kind. Slavery and caste systems
have existed since the beginning of civilization. Civil wars and world wars are marking
points on our historical record. Technological advancements have led to machine guns, tanks,
fighter jets, submarines, battle ships, and guided missiles - all of which have contributed
to our increasing ability to rapidly and effectively annihilate each other. Nuclear
weapons and chemical weapons have already been unleashed upon humanity, and the future
holds "promise" for even greater and more impressive technological weapons of mass
destruction.
We have virtually failed in our duty as custodians or guardians of the planet
Earth. We have acted imprudently and selfishly, and ignored our responsibilities, which
were graciously granted to us by God. Far too often we have used the technology that we
have developed in a negative or detrimental manner.
Technology itself possesses no moral inclination; technology is a morally neutral
commodity. It is not nature, which was created by God, nor the technology developed by
mankind, that has led us down this path of persistent historical destruction, and the
future ecological disasters that are being predicted. The problem lies exclusively in
the disobedient and avarice nature of mankind.
And that is something we must change if we are ever to fulfill the sacred
responsibilities entrusted to us by God.
(These are selected paragraphs within this chapter. This is not the entire chapter.)
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