WEBVTT - Generated by https://sindresorhus.com/aiko 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.880 As I record this, it is a little after 3 o'clock here. 00:00:06.880 --> 00:00:14.480 Now I am decidedly a night owl, but that is not actually the reason that I am awake tonight. 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:19.920 I am awake tonight because I had to go down to the barn to deal with a pest. 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:25.720 But before I get to that pest, the reason that I was checking my camera, which I have 00:00:25.720 --> 00:00:30.740 a camera in the chicken coop for, well, obvious reasons. 00:00:30.740 --> 00:00:37.680 But the reason that I was checking it specifically tonight is that last night a raccoon managed 00:00:37.680 --> 00:00:40.840 to get into the coop and killed one of my chickens. 00:00:40.840 --> 00:00:45.280 And so of course I took some countermeasures and improved some things and buttoned things 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:47.420 up a little more tightly. 00:00:47.420 --> 00:00:52.680 But I also decided to stay up and watch the camera a bit just in case the raccoon attempted 00:00:52.680 --> 00:00:55.960 to make another entrance. 00:00:55.960 --> 00:01:02.320 This particular raccoon seems to come around at about 2 o'clock, so I assume the raccoon 00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:04.240 is not going to show up tonight. 00:01:04.240 --> 00:01:05.720 Did not show up earlier. 00:01:05.720 --> 00:01:11.580 However, when I checked the camera, there was a skunk in the chicken coop. 00:01:11.580 --> 00:01:14.560 And so I went down there to deal with that skunk. 00:01:14.560 --> 00:01:20.800 Now it's most likely one of the, I believe there are two, or were, would be more accurate 00:01:20.800 --> 00:01:25.120 now, two skunks in my garden and I had no problem with them living there. 00:01:25.120 --> 00:01:28.480 I've even given them food and some water. 00:01:28.480 --> 00:01:35.160 However, at least one of them has decided that he wants to spend some time looking for 00:01:35.160 --> 00:01:37.400 things to eat in the chicken coop. 00:01:37.400 --> 00:01:42.040 And of course that's not ideal because he could eat eggs or he could harass or even 00:01:42.040 --> 00:01:45.000 harm the chickens. 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:51.920 And so, not so long story short, I went down there and killed that skunk. 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:55.840 The reason that I did that, of course, is to protect the chickens. 00:01:55.840 --> 00:02:02.040 And that is the topic that I want to discuss in this episode. 00:02:02.040 --> 00:02:05.320 And that topic is stewardship. 00:02:05.320 --> 00:02:09.480 What is the scope of man's stewardship of creation? 00:02:09.480 --> 00:02:13.640 What does it mean to be a steward? 00:02:13.640 --> 00:02:16.480 And so I would like to start off with two examples. 00:02:16.480 --> 00:02:20.880 One, I really gave already, taking care of one's pets. 00:02:20.880 --> 00:02:25.360 In this case, chickens are more livestock than pets, but nonetheless it's the same sort 00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:27.960 of concept. 00:02:27.960 --> 00:02:34.040 When you acquire a pet or an animal of any kind, you have duties that come along with 00:02:34.040 --> 00:02:35.040 that. 00:02:35.040 --> 00:02:40.120 You have to feed the animal, you have to water the animal, provide a warm place to sleep 00:02:40.120 --> 00:02:46.000 when it is cold, provide somewhere to get out of the heat when it is hot, etc. 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:52.120 We know what these requirements are, what these duties are that one undertakes in acquiring 00:02:52.120 --> 00:02:56.440 a pet or some other animal. 00:02:56.440 --> 00:03:02.520 And then the other example is indeed stewardship, even though many people don't necessarily 00:03:02.520 --> 00:03:05.680 think of it as such, at least not immediately. 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:11.280 And that would be the plant life on your property, when you garden, when you do your landscaping. 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:14.840 You are engaging in stewardship of creation. 00:03:14.840 --> 00:03:16.940 You are choosing between things. 00:03:16.940 --> 00:03:21.920 You are selecting the plants you want, you are removing the plants you do not. 00:03:21.920 --> 00:03:28.960 And that of course is really the distinction between a weed and a plant. 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:33.480 A weed is something we do not want, a plant is something that we do. 00:03:33.480 --> 00:03:41.700 We may be more specific with regard to plants, calling them a crop or landscaping, whatever 00:03:41.700 --> 00:03:43.500 it may be. 00:03:43.500 --> 00:03:45.460 But that is still stewardship. 00:03:45.460 --> 00:03:49.760 And so we have these two clear types of stewardship. 00:03:49.760 --> 00:03:57.200 And of course, if you think of the Genesis narrative, man is placed in creation as God's 00:03:57.200 --> 00:03:59.060 representative, as it were. 00:03:59.060 --> 00:04:03.620 That is part of what it means to be the image of God. 00:04:03.620 --> 00:04:09.220 Now I'm not getting into that deeply in this episode because that's not the central topic, 00:04:09.220 --> 00:04:14.880 but man is steward of creation. 00:04:14.880 --> 00:04:21.660 In the scriptural narrative, there is actually no limitation placed on that stewardship. 00:04:21.660 --> 00:04:30.220 Now some will argue that stewardship extends to everything except to other men. 00:04:30.220 --> 00:04:33.820 But of course we know that is not the case. 00:04:33.820 --> 00:04:40.380 For instance, if you owned slaves, you would have stewardship of those slaves. 00:04:40.380 --> 00:04:45.180 You would have duties with regard to those slaves. 00:04:45.180 --> 00:04:54.820 But perhaps a better example, because this one exists in almost everyone's life, children. 00:04:54.820 --> 00:04:58.520 You are steward of your children. 00:04:58.520 --> 00:05:05.980 Now to a different and lesser degree, you are also steward of the children in your family, 00:05:05.980 --> 00:05:09.140 even if they are not directly your children. 00:05:09.140 --> 00:05:16.340 So for instance, your nieces and nephews or your grandsons and granddaughters, you still 00:05:16.340 --> 00:05:19.340 have duties with regard to those children. 00:05:19.340 --> 00:05:25.780 You are still a steward in a sense with regard to those children. 00:05:25.780 --> 00:05:31.900 And so really you can see that this scales directly up all the way to man. 00:05:31.900 --> 00:05:36.580 So it scales up from the dirt all the way up to man, who is of course of the earth, 00:05:36.580 --> 00:05:41.220 of the dirt, of the dust. 00:05:41.220 --> 00:05:47.940 But God gave man stewardship of all of creation. 00:05:47.940 --> 00:05:53.980 You can try to find a restriction on that stewardship in scripture, and you will not 00:05:53.980 --> 00:05:57.940 find it because it is not there. 00:05:57.940 --> 00:06:04.620 Insofar as restrictions on man's stewardship of creation are concerned, the only ones that 00:06:04.620 --> 00:06:10.580 actually exist are the general restrictions on man's behavior. 00:06:10.580 --> 00:06:12.620 And so that would be the Ten Commandments. 00:06:12.620 --> 00:06:18.900 You are not permitted to murder in pursuit of your duties as a steward. 00:06:18.900 --> 00:06:24.100 You would be violating your duties as a steward, in fact. 00:06:24.100 --> 00:06:31.980 But man does have stewardship of the soil, of the plants, of the animals, of his fellow 00:06:31.980 --> 00:06:33.200 man. 00:06:33.200 --> 00:06:39.260 And we see that on a grander scale, perhaps, in the kingdom of the left hand, because those 00:06:39.260 --> 00:06:47.300 who are in positions of authority, the leaders of a nation, they have stewardship over those 00:06:47.300 --> 00:06:51.900 men God has placed under them. 00:06:51.900 --> 00:06:58.940 And of course that is simply a larger scale of the fundamental unit of stewardship when 00:06:58.940 --> 00:07:02.120 it comes to man. 00:07:02.120 --> 00:07:06.260 That fundamental unit of stewardship would be the family. 00:07:06.260 --> 00:07:10.040 The father is steward of his household. 00:07:10.040 --> 00:07:11.620 He is steward of his wife. 00:07:11.620 --> 00:07:13.480 He is steward of his children. 00:07:13.480 --> 00:07:18.560 He is steward of his pets, his land, etc. 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:28.100 That stewardship is not limited with regard to being of just the plants or of just the 00:07:28.100 --> 00:07:29.100 animals. 00:07:29.100 --> 00:07:35.040 Again, it includes the people in his household. 00:07:35.040 --> 00:07:43.380 Man is steward of creation, and creation most certainly includes man. 00:07:43.380 --> 00:07:46.100 But what does it mean to be a steward? 00:07:46.100 --> 00:07:50.440 I already mentioned that being a steward comes with certain duties. 00:07:50.440 --> 00:07:57.240 And just to be clear, when I am speaking of what we owe, as it were, to animals, I am 00:07:57.240 --> 00:08:00.520 not speaking of animal rights, so-called. 00:08:00.520 --> 00:08:03.320 Animals do not have rights. 00:08:03.320 --> 00:08:09.000 Man has duties with regard to the animals entrusted to his care. 00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:12.160 So calling them rights is looking at it in the wrong way. 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:15.340 It's not that the animals make demands upon man. 00:08:15.340 --> 00:08:21.360 It is that God has placed demands on man with regard to the things God has entrusted to 00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:26.080 man's care, in this case, animals. 00:08:26.080 --> 00:08:31.400 But stewardship fundamentally is a fiduciary relationship. 00:08:31.400 --> 00:08:37.100 Now for those who are perhaps not familiar with that term, a fiduciary relationship is 00:08:37.100 --> 00:08:42.040 fundamentally a relationship of trust. 00:08:42.040 --> 00:08:49.620 And it is a relationship of trust in which one party acts on behalf of and in the interest 00:08:49.620 --> 00:08:52.880 of another party. 00:08:52.880 --> 00:08:59.120 And so you have the trustee, the one acting in the interest of the beneficiary, being 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:02.440 the other party. 00:09:02.440 --> 00:09:05.440 That fundamentally is what stewardship is. 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:14.160 Now you may be wondering, well, if man is the trustee, who is the beneficiary? 00:09:14.160 --> 00:09:18.160 And the answer to that, of course, is future generations, fundamentally. 00:09:18.160 --> 00:09:26.740 Yes, other living men as well, but fundamentally, future generations are those for whom we hold 00:09:26.740 --> 00:09:28.760 everything in trust. 00:09:28.760 --> 00:09:30.780 And that is a key point. 00:09:30.780 --> 00:09:38.060 Everything we hold, everything we have, everything of which we are stewards, ultimately, we hold 00:09:38.060 --> 00:09:39.640 in trust. 00:09:39.640 --> 00:09:47.420 It was given us by God to take care of it and to pass it on to future generations. 00:09:47.420 --> 00:09:53.880 And so we are not entitled, for instance, to destroy the principle as it were. 00:09:53.880 --> 00:09:56.640 A good example would be the natural environment. 00:09:56.640 --> 00:10:01.260 We are not free to simply pollute it however much we wish. 00:10:01.260 --> 00:10:04.900 That would be a violation of our stewardship. 00:10:04.900 --> 00:10:06.620 That would be inappropriate. 00:10:06.620 --> 00:10:09.680 That would be sin, in fact. 00:10:09.680 --> 00:10:15.840 Similarly, if we fail to care for the natural world, because that is part of our duty as 00:10:15.840 --> 00:10:23.380 a steward, but if we fail to exercise that duty of care, then we are guilty at least 00:10:23.380 --> 00:10:24.800 of sloth. 00:10:24.800 --> 00:10:26.760 And again, we are guilty of sin. 00:10:26.760 --> 00:10:32.460 We are failing to uphold our duties as stewards. 00:10:32.460 --> 00:10:36.280 And we see this readily when it comes to the natural world. 00:10:36.280 --> 00:10:43.260 We have so many invasive species running amok, and we're doing an insufficient amount to 00:10:43.260 --> 00:10:45.080 address that problem. 00:10:45.080 --> 00:10:48.220 As part of our stewardship, we should be doing something about it. 00:10:48.220 --> 00:10:51.460 The same with regard to animals. 00:10:51.460 --> 00:10:57.660 However, it also holds for humans. 00:10:57.660 --> 00:11:02.580 When we have a garden, we have plants that we want. 00:11:02.580 --> 00:11:05.240 We have plants that we do not want. 00:11:05.240 --> 00:11:10.220 And so if you're growing lettuce, you don't want weeds in your lettuce bed. 00:11:10.220 --> 00:11:17.400 You may want some other plants that you co-planted with the lettuce to keep away pests, or maybe 00:11:17.400 --> 00:11:21.320 it's clover to help with nitrogen fixation. 00:11:21.320 --> 00:11:23.900 Whatever it happens to be. 00:11:23.900 --> 00:11:28.220 But there are going to be things you do want, and things you do not want. 00:11:28.220 --> 00:11:33.240 And if you are being a good steward of your lettuce patch, then you are going to protect 00:11:33.240 --> 00:11:39.040 the things that should be there, and remove the things that should not be there. 00:11:39.040 --> 00:11:43.640 That is exactly what I did with regard to that skunk and my chickens. 00:11:43.640 --> 00:11:46.720 The chickens are supposed to be in the coop at night. 00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:48.760 The skunk is not. 00:11:48.760 --> 00:11:54.360 And so the skunk did receive two warnings previously, and third strike you're out as 00:11:54.360 --> 00:11:58.520 it were. 00:11:58.520 --> 00:12:03.540 We recognize this stewardship when it comes to plants, even if initially some will not 00:12:03.540 --> 00:12:05.800 recognize it as stewardship. 00:12:05.800 --> 00:12:08.520 That term will not pop into their minds. 00:12:08.520 --> 00:12:16.840 But when it is explained, it is readily understood that what you are doing when you garden, landscape, 00:12:16.840 --> 00:12:22.040 etc., you are engaging in stewardship of the natural world. 00:12:22.040 --> 00:12:28.720 The same is true when you are raising livestock, training your pet, whatever it happens to 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:29.720 be. 00:12:29.720 --> 00:12:36.920 When you are dealing with animals in a proper way, you are a steward of those natural resources, 00:12:36.920 --> 00:12:44.400 really, if we want to use the more expansive sense of that term. 00:12:44.400 --> 00:12:51.680 But the part where modern thinkers, and in particular modern Christians, fall flat is 00:12:51.680 --> 00:12:59.520 failing to recognize that man also has duties with regard to the stewardship of man himself, 00:12:59.520 --> 00:13:02.840 of mankind. 00:13:02.840 --> 00:13:09.840 Now we do recognize some of these, of course, because we recognize that at least as Christians, 00:13:09.840 --> 00:13:13.760 certainly, you must train up your child in the faith. 00:13:13.760 --> 00:13:20.200 You must instruct your child in the basics of the faith and in more complicated matters 00:13:20.200 --> 00:13:23.480 as he is capable. 00:13:23.480 --> 00:13:28.720 If your children are old enough to have done so, and you have not had them memorize the 00:13:28.720 --> 00:13:33.480 Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed, and quite frankly, they should know 00:13:33.480 --> 00:13:40.840 some other things as well, but at least those core bits, if they do not know those, you 00:13:40.840 --> 00:13:50.440 have failed thus far in your duty as a steward of your children in this case. 00:13:50.440 --> 00:13:55.440 Now that is the duty of the father, the father of the household. 00:13:55.440 --> 00:14:00.800 Of course he has other duties as well, because he has duties to train his wife properly, 00:14:00.800 --> 00:14:06.080 and if you have household servants, you also have a duty with regard to them. 00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:11.620 That's less of a thing today, although still present in some places, particularly some 00:14:11.620 --> 00:14:17.280 cultures outside the Western context. 00:14:17.280 --> 00:14:21.760 Although one could argue that employees fall into that role in some cases, but that is 00:14:21.760 --> 00:14:26.560 made significantly more complicated by existing law. 00:14:26.560 --> 00:14:27.600 We'll leave that aside. 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:33.200 That's a topic for another day. 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:38.840 But I think the more interesting question and the more interesting thought, the more 00:14:38.840 --> 00:14:47.440 interesting sub-part of this topic, as it were, is what should man be doing as a steward 00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:53.840 of his fellow man on the grander scale, as it were, in the political realm, really, is 00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:59.400 what I mean, in the kingdom of the left hand. 00:14:59.400 --> 00:15:06.000 And the answer to that is, we should certainly be doing something, and not what we're currently 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:12.640 doing, because what we are currently doing is harmful, most certainly. 00:15:12.640 --> 00:15:20.480 A proper government, a proper sovereign, a proper prince, in this case, I mean prince 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:29.080 in the generic sense of political ruler, not necessarily exactly a prince, but one who 00:15:29.080 --> 00:15:39.160 is fulfilling that role properly is going to seek to preserve the quality of the national 00:15:39.160 --> 00:15:45.040 stock that was entrusted to his care by God. 00:15:45.040 --> 00:15:50.300 Because of course scripture is clear, rulers are given their power by God. 00:15:50.300 --> 00:15:53.680 They derive that power from God. 00:15:53.680 --> 00:15:58.800 If they abuse that power, of course, then they no longer hold it rightly, and that again 00:15:58.800 --> 00:16:03.760 is a topic for another day. 00:16:03.760 --> 00:16:10.080 But we do not see modern leaders, at least in the western context, there are some few 00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:17.520 exceptions in some parts of the world, but we do not see modern leaders doing what they 00:16:17.520 --> 00:16:24.540 are supposed to do with regard to the nations entrusted to their care. 00:16:24.540 --> 00:16:30.480 If you destroy the nation that God has entrusted to your care, then you are not acting as a 00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:35.560 rightful sovereign, you are not acting as a good steward. 00:16:35.560 --> 00:16:40.640 In fact, you are acting malevolently, you are acting maliciously, you are acting sinfully, 00:16:40.640 --> 00:16:45.720 and you of course, if you are that prince, that leader, you will answer to God for what 00:16:45.720 --> 00:16:52.820 you failed to do, and also for what you did that you should not have done. 00:16:52.820 --> 00:17:00.640 And so that really is the central point that I wanted to raise with this episode, that 00:17:00.640 --> 00:17:09.600 the stewardship of creation that was entrusted to man by God does not have restrictions with 00:17:09.600 --> 00:17:12.160 regard to its scope. 00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:17.440 Scripture does not speak of those restrictions, except again insofar as there are things that 00:17:17.440 --> 00:17:24.800 are impermissible, so you may not murder, you may not commit adultery, various things 00:17:24.800 --> 00:17:30.840 that are very clearly delineated in scripture as part of the moral law. 00:17:30.840 --> 00:17:35.560 You may not transgress that in pursuit of your stewardship, and in fact, if you are 00:17:35.560 --> 00:17:43.320 transgressing that, again, you would not be pursuing your stewardship. 00:17:43.320 --> 00:17:50.480 But we fail to recognize that in the modern context, and many Christians would argue vehemently 00:17:50.480 --> 00:17:56.600 against it, because if you tell someone, if you tell a Christian, well, we have stewardship 00:17:56.600 --> 00:18:01.000 over the plants, he will say, of course. 00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:05.800 If you say we have stewardship over the animals, he will say, of course. 00:18:05.800 --> 00:18:14.440 If you say we have stewardship over our fellow man, he will not say, of course. 00:18:14.440 --> 00:18:20.280 Now he may very well agree, and I would certainly hope that he would agree, that man has stewardship 00:18:20.280 --> 00:18:30.720 with regard to his own children, but you are going to have trouble arguing with most modern 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:38.440 men that man, that a leader, that a prince, has stewardship over the people entrusted 00:18:38.440 --> 00:18:46.000 to his care, and that that stewardship is akin to the sort of stewardship that man has 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:53.040 over the plants and the animals, because the stewardship, again, is of all of creation, 00:18:53.040 --> 00:18:57.520 and man is part of creation. 00:18:57.520 --> 00:19:03.920 This is something that we cannot simply neglect, because if we simply neglect it, then we are 00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:06.640 faithless stewards. 00:19:06.640 --> 00:19:13.960 Now of course, probably no one listening to this has been entrusted with the sort of power 00:19:13.960 --> 00:19:16.600 of which I am now speaking. 00:19:16.600 --> 00:19:24.280 However, as Christians, most certainly, it is incumbent on us not to speak falsely about 00:19:24.280 --> 00:19:31.480 what God has said in Scripture, or about the role of man in creation, and so I would contend 00:19:31.480 --> 00:19:38.760 that we have to, in order to fulfill that, speak truthfully about the scope of man's 00:19:38.760 --> 00:19:49.360 stewardship, and that includes the dirt, the plants, the animals, and the people, because 00:19:49.360 --> 00:19:58.280 man's stewardship of creation is of creation, not just some small part of creation, not 00:19:58.280 --> 00:20:05.220 of this little corner over here, or this bit here, or these things accepted. 00:20:05.220 --> 00:20:07.120 That is not what God said. 00:20:07.120 --> 00:20:11.320 That is not the nature of man. 00:20:11.320 --> 00:20:14.400 Man named all of the animals. 00:20:14.400 --> 00:20:16.400 That was an exercise of dominion. 00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:20.560 Well, man also named his wife. 00:20:20.560 --> 00:20:26.600 Now if you are married, you most likely did not name your wife, but that is because her 00:20:26.600 --> 00:20:35.440 father rightly named her, because that is an exercise of dominion by the father. 00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:41.880 Of course, you name your own children, because again, that is an exercise of dominion. 00:20:41.880 --> 00:20:47.520 The scope of stewardship includes mankind. 00:20:47.520 --> 00:20:53.160 That is the fundamental point that I wish to make with this episode, and I think that 00:20:53.160 --> 00:20:57.240 it is abundantly clear that that is the case. 00:20:57.240 --> 00:21:05.160 I do not see any way that one could argue that man is not included in the scope of man's 00:21:05.160 --> 00:21:12.120 stewardship of creation, because it seems like that would be a failure to recognize 00:21:12.120 --> 00:21:15.200 the set. 00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:22.160 And by that I mean that if man is given stewardship of creation, and man is part of creation, 00:21:22.160 --> 00:21:25.880 then man is necessarily also given stewardship of man. 00:21:25.880 --> 00:21:30.200 That just follows. 00:21:30.200 --> 00:21:39.640 And so in order to argue that man does not have stewardship of man, you have to reject 00:21:39.640 --> 00:21:46.040 one of those two points, because the conclusion necessarily follows from those premises if 00:21:46.040 --> 00:21:49.460 you agree with them, if they are true. 00:21:49.460 --> 00:21:51.800 You can disagree with them if they are true. 00:21:51.800 --> 00:21:55.180 It still flows necessarily. 00:21:55.180 --> 00:22:01.480 And so I would ask anyone who says that man does not have stewardship of man, which one 00:22:01.480 --> 00:22:04.600 of those he rejects? 00:22:04.600 --> 00:22:11.040 Does he reject that man was given stewardship of creation, or does he reject that man is 00:22:11.040 --> 00:22:13.520 part of creation? 00:22:13.520 --> 00:22:16.120 I think scripture is very clear on this. 00:22:16.120 --> 00:22:22.380 I think the answer is that very clearly, man is part of creation, man was given stewardship 00:22:22.380 --> 00:22:26.120 of creation. 00:22:26.120 --> 00:22:32.700 And as a more practical matter, perhaps a more practical argument, a tree is known by 00:22:32.700 --> 00:22:34.620 its fruits. 00:22:34.620 --> 00:22:42.000 And I would say that we are living at the tail end of a number of decades of society 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:48.100 generally believing that man does not have stewardship of his fellow man, in the sense 00:22:48.100 --> 00:22:54.640 that I mean in this episode, in the sense that I am using it. 00:22:54.640 --> 00:23:02.880 And I highly doubt that anyone would be able to mount a serious, compelling argument, moral 00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:13.040 argument, that what we have today as a result of that sort of belief, of that sort of mindset, 00:23:13.040 --> 00:23:20.400 of that change in the way we govern, that change in the way that we run our societies, 00:23:20.400 --> 00:23:26.680 I do not think that anyone could seriously argue that the outcome has been good, that 00:23:26.680 --> 00:23:33.200 the results have been beneficial, that we are better off than those who lived in prior 00:23:33.200 --> 00:23:44.720 eras when man exercised a more vigorous and a more active stewardship of his fellow man. 00:23:44.720 --> 00:23:48.120 And this is also a fundamental issue. 00:23:48.120 --> 00:23:54.720 This is one of those matters that if it is not addressed, then it really does not matter 00:23:54.720 --> 00:24:01.640 what else we fix, what else we get right, because all of it will fall apart if this 00:24:01.640 --> 00:24:05.080 issue is not addressed. 00:24:05.080 --> 00:24:12.880 Because it does not matter how grand the institution, how impressive the edifice, how great the 00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:20.800 structure you build is, if you entrust it to those who are incapable of maintaining 00:24:20.800 --> 00:24:22.320 it. 00:24:22.320 --> 00:24:27.720 The same holds for civilizations. 00:24:27.720 --> 00:24:35.600 If a nation does not maintain the quality of its national stock, if the people are not 00:24:35.600 --> 00:24:43.720 properly stewarded, ultimately the result will be catastrophe, because the result will 00:24:43.720 --> 00:24:46.260 be complete collapse. 00:24:46.260 --> 00:24:52.460 Those things that were constructed in a bygone era by a more capable people and have now 00:24:52.460 --> 00:24:59.280 been entrusted in our era, in this present era, or perhaps in some future era, to a less 00:24:59.280 --> 00:25:06.040 capable people, those things will not stand the test of time, because those less capable 00:25:06.040 --> 00:25:11.160 people will not be able to maintain them. 00:25:11.160 --> 00:25:19.600 And so my fundamental contention, and my conclusion as it were, is that a faithful prince, a faithful 00:25:19.600 --> 00:25:29.460 ruler must steward the human resources that have been entrusted to his care, the national 00:25:29.460 --> 00:25:38.960 resources in the fullest sense of nation and national that have been entrusted to his care, 00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:46.560 in the same sort of way as one would care for his garden or for his livestock. 00:25:46.560 --> 00:25:53.680 Yes, with the restrictions already mentioned with regard to the moral law, there are certain 00:25:53.680 --> 00:26:00.240 things that a leader may not do with regard to people, with regard to men, that you are 00:26:00.240 --> 00:26:06.240 permitted to do with regard to your livestock or your plants. 00:26:06.240 --> 00:26:13.720 However, simply because some of the methods are permissible in one place and not in another 00:26:13.720 --> 00:26:19.480 does not mean that the nature of the stewardship is different. 00:26:19.480 --> 00:26:26.660 Not different in kind, perhaps different in degree, insofar as the means are concerned. 00:26:26.660 --> 00:26:34.200 The same sort of ends, however, are being pursued top to bottom with regard to stewardship, 00:26:34.200 --> 00:26:42.040 because again, it is preservation and enhancement, if possible, of that principle. 00:26:42.040 --> 00:26:51.760 That is the duty, the core duty of the fiduciary, of the trustee, with regard to the beneficiaries. 00:26:51.760 --> 00:26:58.560 In this case, in the case of the prince, in the case of the ruler, what has been entrusted 00:26:58.560 --> 00:27:09.520 to his care, the principle, is the national stock, the people over whom he rules at God's 00:27:09.520 --> 00:27:11.620 good pleasure. 00:27:11.620 --> 00:27:18.800 And if he fails to maintain that, then he will have nothing to pass on to future generations, 00:27:18.800 --> 00:27:24.560 which is to say, to the beneficiaries. 00:27:24.560 --> 00:27:31.280 A good gardener plants good plants in his garden and removes noxious weeds. 00:27:31.280 --> 00:27:40.320 A good farmer takes care that his crops and his livestock are fit, healthy, and strong, 00:27:40.320 --> 00:27:47.640 and that those attributes are passed on to future generations, and that unwelcome, harmful, 00:27:47.640 --> 00:27:53.600 or unwanted attributes are not passed on to future generations. 00:27:53.600 --> 00:28:02.260 A prince, a ruler of the people, is fundamentally in that same sort of role. 00:28:02.260 --> 00:28:12.220 The gardener cares for plants, the farmer cares for crops and livestock, the ruler cares 00:28:12.220 --> 00:28:20.880 for his people, and caring for his people means acting as a steward in the same sort 00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:27.740 of way as the gardener cares for his plants and the farmer cares for his crops and his 00:28:27.740 --> 00:28:28.500 livestock.