Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - DOMINION OR DOMINANCE?

DOMINION OR DOMINANCE?

In the book of Genesis, it is written that God said:

“…Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; 

let them have dominion over…all the earth…" 

(Genesis 1:26)

So, God made us in His image and since it is also stated that:

 

…God is love… 

(1 John 4:8,16)

…then we must be made in the image of love: to love and be loved. Thus, when man became a living creature as a result of God having:

…breathed into his nostrils the breath of life… 

(Genesis 2:7)

…it was in the context of love that we were to have dominion:

 

…over all the earth… 

(Genesis 1:26)

But we were also given the freedom to make our own decisions about how we run our lives. In Deuteronomy 30:19 God says:

…I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; 

therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live…

Unfortunately, we have for the most part chosen death over life, dominance over the earth instead of dominion, and lives not based on the love that was originally intended for us. This has caused us to lose the life based on love [God] and for us to have the life most of us now lead, so that the aspects of life are vastly different from what was originally intended.

The laughter of life that was meant to give us happiness and joy when we laugh with others is often changed to discomfort and embarrassment especially when the laughter is at the expense of others.

The labor of life which is really meant to give us propose and fulfillment when it is done in and with love becomes tedious and drudgery when love is no longer involved.

And when love is involved, just listening is informative and meant to be pleasant. But sounds which are intended to be informative and satisfying can be irritating and boring without the aspect of love being involved.

Love is really the all encompassing aspect which makes life what it should be. If you love your life, your work, to listen to nature, to people, to the world then, regardless of circumstances, most of the time you, in essence, love God because after all:

God is love 

(1 John 4:8,16)

And this might be much more obvious and true if we were still in dominion over the earth rather than trying to dominate the world as seems to be the case now. Dominion with love [God] or domination without; which is better?

Something for everyone to think about.

Adapted from a YouTube presentation by Dr. Gladys McGarey