In the book of Genesis (the book of beginnings), in the first chapter we have apparently missed the forest for the trees so to speak. This chapter is one that could not have been authored by anyone but God the Creator, the only one that was there and witnessed the entire process. Therefore, within this writing we can see the author’s purpose behind it all. Moses was credited by many scholars as being the writer but he was not the spiritual author or a witness.

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. (KJV)

In it we see a number of things that God has revealed to us if we’d only take the time to research the matter. Nevertheless, if we trust the author who is the witness, then we have to trust what was written by the witness, and in this case it was the Creator.

What we see here as the chapter progresses a chronology that appears to be deliberate and with a definite purpose. “A” must come before “B” and not the other way around. And when we get to verse 26 God does something extraordinary. The Creator of heaven and the earth creates mankind.

²⁶ Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ²⁸ Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (KJV)

What we see here is that God the Creator made mankind last in the order of creation. That is significant because now he was finished with the divine process of creation and even more significant was that up until that point God was the one who had active dominion over what he had created. Now God wanted his new creation (mankind) who was made to be a reflection of himself to the rest of creation to use that sameness to be a steward for him on the earth. Therefore, Creator God waited until he was finished with the creation process and then handed over the keys to the kingdom (earth) with all of the rights and privileges there unto appertaining to Adam who was the progenitor and representative all of mankind.

What is also important to note here is that Adam (mankind) was not the owner but only a steward of the earth. He was to maintain a fiduciary responsibility for God the Creator. Therefore, even though the earth belonged to God the Creator, in order to keep his word, he could not circumvent the authority that he gave Adam (mankind) to manager the earth. Moreover, mankind’s dominion was over the earth and the creatures that God had previously had made and not one another. Nowhere in the creation story did the Creator give mankind the power of dominion over one another. It wasn’t until after the fall of mankind do we see mankind extending their dominion over one another.

This is important because it clearly shows us that it was not God’s intention for mankind to dominate, enslave or persecute one another. However, as a result of sin we see issues of murder, racism, sexism, greed, lying, stealing, spiritual persecution, perversion and confusion. The pre and post fall of mankind juxtaposes the difference and our purpose.

We now find ourselves destroying one another and the primary tool or narrative that we use to justify our actions is that we dehumanize one another. If that person, place or thing is not human then it is okay to destroy it or them. We see it within the issue of abortion when the Left says the focus should be on the woman’s right and that the “thing” to be destroyed is not human, and we see on the Right the advocates say that that “thing” is a human baby because it has a heart beat and has a right to life regardless of how it was conceived.

We see it in religion when those on the “inside” of the faith objectify those who are on the “outside” of the faith. Therefore, it makes it easier for the insiders to do whatever they want to the outsiders. We see it in politics when those within one party band together to objectify those in the other party. We see it in race when we can easily paint “those people” with the same brush because “we all know that they’re animals anyway.” We see it in sexism when we can assume that all of those in the opposite gender has a fault which makes them second class citizens or inhuman. We can go on and on, with the point being that in our dehumanization of others, it cauterized our own consciousness and justifies how we treat each other. Our Creator wants us to know that this was not the original intention for us.

We can and must do better. What do you think?

EPILOGUE:

Most recently there has been a political back and forth between the Democrats and the POTUS regarding the President calling the members of the notorious street gang MS-13 “animals.” Although I do not personally call anyone an animal it goes without saying that although our Creator loves all of his creation, that he does not love the barbaric conduct of those who viciously brutalizes the innocent. Instead of denouncing the actions of this gang that clearly demonstrates animalistic behaviors, the Left wing media and the Democrats are apparently using this as an opportunity to attack the president for political reasons. When are we going to stand up and call evil for what it is? The people of American can see what’s going on for ourselves.