What I’m Thinking: Dominion

In Genesis 1, God gives the newly created human beings (male and female) dominion over the rest of the created order. Yet God had already engaged in partnership with earth, water, and sky when creating living beings earlier. What if we engaged in “dominion” as God does? In partnership?

Here’s a transcript:

It’s the second Sunday in the Season of Creation this coming week, so I am thinking about humanity, the creation of humanity as described in the first chapter of Genesis (Genesis 1:26-28).

It’s not a long passage, but three very important things happen. First, we’re told that God created humanity in God’s own image, “male and female” God created them. Second, God addresses human beings directly, which has not happened in the rest of the Creation account. And God gives “dominion” over the other parts of Creation to these newly formed human beings.

It’s that last part that intrigues me: Dominion. It is undeniable that we as human beings have an inordinate ability to affect this planet, an ability, in fact, to make it unlivable if we were so to choose. And even without choosing, we are well on our way to making larger and larger parts of it unlivable.

But we do not have to do that. The example is right there in the earlier portions of Genesis, where God became a partner in Creation with the Earth itself: calling forth from the Earth the plants, calling forth from the Earth the animals. Human beings could also be partners with the other parts of the created order.

Would that we would do so. Oh, what a joyful world it could be.

That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear about what you’re thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below; I’d love to hear from you.