“Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it” (Gen. 2:15, NKJV). What principles, if any, can we take from this text that should influence how we relate to our planet in terms of taking care of it? Before sin, Adam and Eve had … Continue reading –>
Does humanity’s dominion over “all the earth” (Gen. 1:26) indicate that there are no boundaries to our dominion? Biblical history indicates that dominion (which can also be understood as “stewardship”) must have boundaries. For example, God told Adam that the tree of knowledge of good and evil was off-limits (see Gen. 2:15-17). The first sin … Continue reading –>
What is the “dominion” that humans were to have over the earth, as expressed in Genesis 1:26-28? The biblical word dominion comes from the Hebrew verb radah. This word indicates a right and responsibility to rule. It implies, in this context, a hierarchy of power and authority in which the human race is positioned above … Continue reading –>
Someone recently wrote the following about a friend, an avowed atheist who said that she sometimes “wakes in the middle of the night, stressing over a bunch of deep questions: ‘Is this world truly the result of an accidental cosmic big bang? How could there be no design, no grand purpose to our existence and … Continue reading –>
Read for This Week’s Study: Gen. 1:26-28, Ps. 8:3-8, Gen. 2:15, Rom. 8:20-22, Exod. 20:1-17, Rom. 1:25, 2 Thess. 3:10. Memory Text: “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 … Continue reading –>
See other passages on restoring God’s image: Romans 8:29, Colossians 1:15, Colossians 3:9-11, 2 Corinthians 3:18, 2 Corinthians 5:17. Read Ellen G. White, “The Creation,” “The Temptation and Fall,” and “The Plan of Redemption,” pp. 44-70, in Patriarchs and Prophets. As a people, we have been called by God to work for others, for the … Continue reading –>
As we have seen, our world, though created perfect, had fallen, with devastating results. But God had not abandoned us to what would have been our fate, eternal destruction (the fate that science says awaits us). Instead, even before the world began, the plan of salvation was formulated (see 1 Pet. 1:2) and, at great … Continue reading –>
“My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you” (Gal. 4:19, NKJV). We were originally created as perfect and complete beings in a perfect and complete world. Unfortunately, this pre-Fall paradise was lost through sin, and the world as we know it is filled with death, violence, suffering, … Continue reading –>
Read Genesis 3:14-15. What does God mean when He says to Satan, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers” (Gen. 3:15, NIV)? What hope can we find here for ourselves? The word enmity in Hebrew shares its root with the Hebrew word hate and the word enemy.By … Continue reading –>
The Bible does not say how long a period of time existed between the finished Creation and the Fall. Days, weeks, years, we just don’t know. What we do know, however, was that there was a Fall, and the consequences were immediate and apparent. The first mentioned result of Adam and Eve eating of the … Continue reading –>
