The Biblical account of creation includes these lines, God said “Let us make mankind in our image, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
God’s intention was that we should be good stewards of His creation, following the example of the One who created it all as an expression of His love in the first place. As just one example Shark Fin Soup reveals quite how disastrously we have gone astray.
God’s commission to ‘rule over’ animals is intimately connected to our reflecting His image as loving creator. But that image is only sustained when we live in relationship with Him. Break the relationship and the image starts to fade and instead of ruling wisely as good stewards we selfishly exploit and destroy. So it is that sharks are slaughtered for their fins which, while tasteless, act as a thickening agent in a soup that suggests the diner has made something of themselves.When we care about the natural world it is a sign that we are reflecting something of the image of God in which we are made. It should also remind us that He still longs for relationship with us.
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