Can I wear pearls?

I’m alright with taking Genesis 1 seriously. Literally, I mean – as an historic account of how God created the world and the universe in six days. But when I get to verse 28 I get into trouble. God is speaking to Adam and Eve here:

“God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’” 

Now I have no problems with God’s blessing them, or with the challenge to increase in number and fill the earth. But then we get to the subduing and ruling part. We seem to have had some difficulties interpreting these words. Ruling over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air must mean that we clip chicken’s wings so they can’t run away from our rule, and to scrape the ocean floor to make sure no fish escapes. We have interpreted “subduing the earth” as “how to make it as profitable to us as possible”.

I am typing this blog on a laptop that probably cost quite some natural resources. I just ate three sandwiches with fried eggs. The bread came from a paper bag; I fried the eggs in a Teflon frying pan. They make me doubt what God meant the subduing of the earth to be like. The way we use natural resources and treat animals is quite beastly; but how did God want us to cultivate the earth? Didn’t God want us to discover gold is beautiful, oil is useful, cocoa beans are great provided we make them go through the right process? But mining is harmful to nature; same for winning oil.

So should I become a vegetarian? I don’t feel like it, and after all God killed the first animal (which is not a joke, it shows how big the curse on creation is). Should I throw away my laptop, which is made of plastic and other not particularly environmentally friendly materials? I’d lose half my life. Should I stop drinking wine (it comes in glass bottles)? Even less joy left.

I’m at a loss. Did God want us to wear gold necklaces? To kill oysters for the pearls? To use laptops and plastic bags? To wear glasses? To build ships? Well, at least we can be sure about the last one. After all, it wasn’t Noah’s idea to build the ark.