<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><b>Every living thing, keep them alive</b></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;">Lance Olsen</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><font color="#ff2600">\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014</font></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><font color="#ff2600"><br></font></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;">Gen. 7. [17] Bring forth with thee <b>every living thing</b> <b>that is with thee, of all flesh,</b> \u2026. ; that <b>they</b> may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and <b>multiply upon the earth.</b></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><br></b></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><font color="#ff2600">------------------------------<wbr>------------------------------<wbr>------------------------------<wbr>-------------</font></b></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><br></b></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><b>Preface</b>: Lynn White\u2019s piece in Science argued that Judaeo-Christian religion is at the roots of contemporary ecological crises, and that a new Christianity would have to be invented in order to solve the crisis. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;">White\u2019s piece prompted me to see what was actually in the <span class="il">Bible</span>. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;">Of several possible versions of the <span class="il">Bible</span>, the one I happened to get was the King James version. Diving into King James, I wasn\u2019t expecting to find much consistency with, let alone support of, contemporary conservation theory. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;">LO</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><b>Reference:</b> Genesis, <span class="il">Bible</span>, King James Version</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;">Edited below, including with <b>bold emphasis</b> added re 5 topics given repeated emphasis in the 17<sup>th</sup> Century <span class="il">Bible</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="il"><br></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;">1-Life\u2019s physical origins in \u201cthe earth\u201d and \u201cthe waters\u201d</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;">2-Pre-human species\u2019 diversity, population trends</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;">3-Pre-human species\u2019 role in the \u201cmaking\u201d of humans</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;">4-Once made, a human population growth trend</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;">5-The task of human dominion defined as conservation for a most-broad diversity of the other species </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><br></b></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><br></b></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><b>1-Life\u2019s physical origins in \u201cthe earth\u201d and \u201cthe waters\u201d</b></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;">Gen.1</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"> 3. [11] And God said, <b>Let the earth </b>bring forth<b> </b>grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"> 4. [12] And <b>the earth </b>brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;">[[ the wording of 3 and 4 above suggest that the creation of life was subcontracted, a command performance. The same scenario appears in the first section quoted immediately below, about water\u2019s role in creation, but adds that be \u201cbrought forth\u201d <b>in abundance</b>.]]</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><b>2-Pre-human species\u2019 diversity, population trends</b></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"> 7. [20] And God said, <b>Let</b> <b>the waters bring forth</b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 251, 0);"><b>abundantly</b> </span>the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"> 8. [22] <b>And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply</b> in the earth.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><b>3-Pre-human species\u2019 role in the \u201cmaking\u201d of humans</b></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"> 11. [26] And God said,<b> Let</b> <b>us</b> <b>make man</b> in <b>our</b> image, after <b>our</b> likeness\u2026...</div><p style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;"> <br></p><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><b>4-Once made, a human population growth trend</b></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;">Gen.6 [1. [1] And it came to pass,<b> when men began to multiply on the face of the earth,</b> and daughters were born unto them,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"> 2. [4] There were <b>giants in the earth in those days</b>; and also after that, <b>when </b>the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, <b>and they bare children</b> to them, <span style="background-color: rgb(0, 253, 255);"><b>the same became mighty</b> <b>men which were of old, men of renown.</b></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgb(0, 253, 255);"> 3. [5] And GOD saw that <b>the wickedness of man was great in the earth,</b> and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><b> 4. </b>[6]<span style="background-color: rgb(0, 253, 255);"> And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgb(0, 253, 255);"> <b>5. [7] </b>And the LORD said, <b>I will destroy</b> man whom I<b> </b>have<b> created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.</b></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgb(0, 253, 255);"> </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 251, 0);">[[At this point, God doen\u2019t take his word literally, and reversed his decision to destroy all he created, now giving Noah what may have been the first commandments.]]</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;">Gen.7</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"> 1. [3] Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to <b>keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.</b></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"> 2.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"> 3. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"> 4. [8] Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of <b>every thing that creepeth upon the earth</b>,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"> 5. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"> 6. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"> 7. [14] They, and <b>every beast after his kind</b>, and all the cattle after their kind, and <b>every creeping thing that creepeth</b> upon the earth after his kind, and <b>every fowl after his kind, <span style="background-color: rgb(0, 253, 255);">every bird of every sort.</span></b></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;">Gen.8</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"> 1. [1] <b>And God remembered Noah,<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 251, 0);"> and every living thing</span>,</b> and <b>all </b>the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged;</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"> </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"> 7. [17] <b>Bring forth</b> <b>with thee</b> <b>every living thing that is with thee</b>, of <b>all flesh</b>, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of <b>every</b> creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that<b> they </b>may breed <b>abundantly </b>in the earth, and be fruitful, <b>and multiply </b>upon the earth<b>.</b></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;">Gen.9</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"> 1. [1] <b>And God blessed</b> <b>Noah and his sons, and said unto them</b>, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"> 2. [2] <b>And </b>the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; <b>into your hand are they delivered. </b></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><br></b></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;"><b></b><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;">[[\u201cInto your hand they are delivered\u201d seems explicit assignment of responsibility, and offers another definition of \u201cdominion.\u201d]]</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;"><b></b><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: center; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><b>#</b></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;"><b></b><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><b>Endnote:</b> It might be possible to argue that the covenant covering biodiversity was limited to Noah and his sons, with little or no relevance to human responsibility today, but King James makes makes it clear that the imperative for conservation of biodiversity was to be a perpetual covenant, an everlasting one: </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;">\u201c\u2026the covenant which I <b>make between me and you, and every living creature</b> that is with you, for <b>perpetual generations</b>.\u201d</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;">God then adds that this <b>perpetual </b>obligation is \u201c\u2026the <b>everlasting </b>covenant <b>between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.\u201d </b></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;">King James explicitly refers to consequences when humans have broken the covenant. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 251, 0);">And there\u2019s also this: <span style="text-align: center;">\u201c\u2026a man hath no preeminence above a beast; for all is vanity.\u201d</span><span style="text-align: right;">Ecclesiastes 3:19 (King James version)</span></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-width: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;"><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"></div><div><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">=-----------------</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><br>\u201cOne can quibble with with some assumptions or tweak Smil's calculations, but the bottom line will not change, <br>only the time it may take humanity to reach a crisis point.\u201d<br><br>Stephen Running. \u201cApproaching the Limits\u201d Science 15 March 2013.<br><br>Book review. Harvesting the Biosphere: What we have taken from Nature. by Vaclav Smil . <br>MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2012. 315 pp. $29, £19.95. ISBN 9780262018562.</div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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