that “each of these postulates had its origin in, or was consistent with, Christian theology.”2 That is, since the world was created by a divine Creator, and man was created in God’s image, therefore nature makes orderly sense, man is able to understand its operations, and true science becomes possible. If the world were merely the chance product of random forces, on the other hand, then our human brains would be meaningless jumbles of matter and electricity, and science would become nonsense.
Consequently, the great founding fathers of real science (Kepler, Galileo, Pascal, Newton, Boyle, Brewster, Faraday, Linnaeus, Ray, Maxwell, Pasteur, Kelvin, etc.) were almost all creationists, and they believed that they were glorifying God as they probed His works. Yet today such great scientists would not even be considered scientists at all, because they believed in the primeval special creation of all things by God!
In order then to utilize such research and development throughout the creation, all the business occupations would be involved (commerce, communication, marketing, transportation, etc., with all the “service” functions accompanying them). To transmit the information from one generation to another, the educational professions would be necessary. To interpret and enjoy the creation, the humanities and fine arts would be developed (music, art, literature, etc.). Indeed, all honorable vocations are subsumed under this primeval creation mandate.
2. Human Government
Initially, there would have been no need for men to exercise dominion over other men, so such functions were not included in the original dominion mandate. Sin came into the world, however, and the ultimate result was God’s cleansing judgment by the great Flood. When God started over, as it were, with Noah and his family, He not only in effect confirmed the original dominion mandate (Gen. 9:1–2), but also enlarged it with the basic governmental control of life and death over mankind.
“Whose sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man” (Gen. 9:6). With this authorization of capital punishment for murder, some kind of human government became necessary in order for man to be able to properly exercise his stewardship responsibilities over God’s creation. Here are implied all the governmental and social occupations of mankind (law, military, police, etc.).
In this original mandate, God did not ordain a particular form of government, but rather only the institution of government. No doubt the ideal form would have been the theocracy that He established later for His chosen nation Israel (note Deut. 4:5–8). Israel failed, however, at least for this present age, and God turned again to the Gentile nations — especially, it would seem, to Europe, and finally, in a distinctive way, to America.
Although not all of America’s great founding fathers were Bible-believing Christians, almost all of them were theists and true creationists, believing that God had created the world and man and all natural systems. The colonies had been settled and developed largely by Christian people who had come to this continent to gain freedom to believe and do what the Bible taught and to spread Christianity to the inhabitants, and they acknowledged that the foundational faith was belief in special creation. The historian Gilman Ostrander reminds us:
The American nation had been founded by intellectuals who had accepted a world view that was based upon biblical authority as well as Newtonian science. They had assumed that God created the earth and all upon it at the time of creation and had continued without change thereafter.3
Note that these great pioneers were intellectuals, not ignorant emotionalists. They placed great emphasis on education and science, founding many schools and colleges, in confidence that true learning in any field must be biblically grounded and governed. Christian historian Mary-Elaine Swanson, says:
In colonial times, the Bible was the primary tool in the educational process. In fact, according to Columbia University professor, Dr. Lawrence A. Cremin, the Bible was “the single most primary source for the intellectual history of colonial America.” From their knowledge of the Bible, a highly literate, creative people emerged.4
In a July 4 address in 1783, Dr. Elias Boudinot, then president of the Continental Congress, stated that his reason for advocating an annual Independence Day observance in America was the great precedent set by God himself.
No sooner had the great Creator of the heavens and the earth finished his almighty work, and pronounced all very good, but he set apart (not an anniversary, or one day in a year, but) one day in seven, for the commemoration of his inimitable power in producing all things out of nothing.5
The fact of creation was also clearly implied several times in the Declaration of Independence (“endowed by our Creator,” “created equal,” “Nature’s God,” etc.). Marshall Foster has pointed out that at least the first 24 state constitutions recognized biblical Christianity as the religion of their states.6 Yet today, the Bible, Christianity, and creationism have been banned from the schools of the states, which were founded to teach these very truths! All this has been done in the name of a gross distortion of the First Amendment to the Constitution. The amendment, which was intended to prevent the establishment of a particular national denomination (e.g., Catholic, Anglican), has instead been so twisted as to establish evolutionary humanism in the United States as the quasi-official religion of all our public institutions!
That the primeval dominion mandate is still in effect, with its implied responsibility of all men to their Creator for exercising careful and fruitful stewardship over His creation, is evident from various later passages of Scripture. The mandate itself is cited in such Scriptures as Psalm 8:6–8 and Hebrews 2:6–8. The Christian is not excused from his responsibilities under the dominion mandate just because he is now also under the missions’ mandate of Christ’s great commission (Matt. 28:18–20; Acts 1:8). Both of these are age-long, worldwide commissions, and, if anything, the Christian “ambassador for Christ” (2 Cor. 5:20) is under even a greater responsibility than the unbeliever to fulfill the first commission, as well as the second.
He is commanded, for example, to serve with enthusiasm in whatever legitimate vocation that he follows, and no calling is excluded if it is done in obedience to God and His Word. “Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men . . . for ye serve the Lord Christ” (Col. 3:23–24). Likewise, the Christian is commanded to be a good citizen of the secular government — and this also because he is thereby serving God. “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake. . . . as the servants of God” (1 Pet. 2:13–16). Effectiveness in witnessing for Christ under the second mandate, to a large degree is contingent upon our faithfulness under the first mandate — by being good stewards of God’s creation, good workers in our jobs, and good citizens of our countries.
Creation in All the Bible
A third indicator of the importance of the doctrine of creation is found in the emphasis that God has placed on it throughout the Bible. Not only is creation the theme of the first and foundational chapters of the Bible (Gen. 1 and 2), but the restored creation is the theme of the final, consummational chapters of the Bible (Rev. 21 and 22).
The longest divine monologue in the Bible is God’s response to the philosophical disputations of Job and his friends, as recorded in Job 38–41. This response does not deal at all with the issue of human suffering, which these men had been debating for 35 chapters, but solely with God’s creation and His providential concern therewith.
The New Testament has many references to creation, with the prologue to John’s evangelistic Gospel being of special significance. In fact, every book of the Bible (except the three one-chapter personal epistles of Philem., 2 John, and 3 John) contain one or more references to the people and/or the events of the first 11 chapters of Genesis.7
The