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Virtually all religions teach us God has been at the center of the creation, or the organization of the biological systems mankind
acts upon. In the Judaic- Christian world, the first commandment mankind received was to:
- be fruitful,
- multiply,
- replenish the earth,
- subdue it,
- have dominion over the fish of the sea,
- have dominion over the fowl of the air, and
- have dominion over every living thing that moves up on the earth.3.232
So far mankind has done an outstanding job at accomplishing each part of this commandment, except for part 3, to replenish the earth. If scientists and the religious can work together on ecological issues, mankind can yet fulfill this part of the commandment to replenish the earth.
As discussed earlier (page 116), besides a proper name, the Hebrew word "Adam" translates more accurately as "mankind" or "human beings."3.93 Given this context, note that about 6,000 years ago (Genesis 2:19-20 quoted above), a thousand years before Cuneiform script,
the earliest known writing, God brought every beast of the field and every fowl
of the air to Adam "to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field." Isn't it fascinating how - as the world is falling apart on numerous fronts, mostly driven by the consumption, waste, destruction, and other negative actions of humans which are diametrically opposed to replenishment - mankind is now completing the task of naming all of the life God formed.
A group of biologists unveiled the "Encyclopedia of Life" project (see http://www.eol.org starting in the summer of 2008) on the 9th of May, 2007. This ambition, $100 million effort, is scheduled to create a digital catalog of all 1.8 million known species. The encyclopedia will be modeled after Wikipedia. The goal is to complete this project in a decade, although it will be continually updated and edited and reviewed by scientists. Having a standard reference will make it easier
to identify unknown species, particularly bacteria and fungi. The article announcing this initiative goes on to say scientists have only cataloged 60,000 of an estimated 1.5 million species.3.233
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paradoxes