Dominion Versus Domination

God Created Men And Women To Dominate The Earth, Not One Another.

     Both males and females were create in God's image. The basis of their equality before God is that man, the spirit, resides within both of them. As physical beings they were created of the same essence, but differently because each has been designed with specific purposes to fulfill. The different ways in which their dominion assignment is carried out does not affect their equality; it only reflects their distinct purposes, designs, and needs.

      The male was created to exercise dominion over the earth through his priority, position, and assignment. The female was created to help the male fulfill God's dominion purposes for mankind in both the earthly and spiritual realms. It is God's intention that, together, their individual strengths would combine to produce exponential results outcomes much greater than either could accomplish alone. The woman adds to the man's power in living and working, so that the sum is far greater than its parts.

       If males and females were created with perfectly complementary designs, why do men and women experience conflict and competition rather than cooperation? Why does the purpose of dominion over the earth seem more like a quest for domination of one sex over the other?

      The third  chapter of Genesis explain the source of the conflict. Sometime after God had instructed Adam that he could eat from any tree in the Garden except the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and Adam had passed this information along to Eve, the devil, in the form of a serpent, tempted Eve to eat from the tree.

The Purpose and Nature of Humanity

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. - Genesis 1:27

When God created humanity, He had two overarching purpose in mind: relation and vacation. The first purpose is God's personal reason for creating us for relationship with Himself. The second is His executive reason for creating us for the lifework He designed us to carry our for Him in the earth.

Why Did God Create Man?

The ultimate purpose behind the creation of man was and is- love. 1 John 4:8, 16 tells us that God doesn't just give love, He doesn't just show love, He is love. He desires to share His love with us because love is His essential quality.

God ha many other qualities besides love that we could list. He is righteous, holy, omnipotent, almighty. He is all of these wonderful things. Yet God could be all of these attributes and still exist by Himself in isolation. He doesn't need anyone else in order to be holy. He doesn't need anyone else to be righteous. He doesn't need anyone to be almighty. He can be omnipotent, omnipresent, and all the rest of His qualities by Himself. However, it is the nature of love to give of itself, and it cannot give in isolation. In order for love to be fulfilled, it has to have someone to love, and it has to give to its beloved.

God's Purpose For The Male

Many men are still wondering why they exist. Yet the Creator of man did not leave us guessing about who the male is supposed to be and what he is designed to do.

What we will be looking at is the male's ideal purpose. This is not where we are right now. Yet God's ideal is what we should be moving toward; and by his grace, we will.

The Creation of The Male-Man

We first need to remember that God creates according to the requirements of His purposes. i would like to point out here that since the spirit-man dwells in both male and female, we may refer to the male as a "male-man" and to the female as a "female-man." This will remind us that men and women are both "man." The distinctions between men and women are physical and functional, rather than of their essence.

The purpose of man the spirit and the purpose of the male are two different things, although they are related. Male was made to serve the needs of man on earth and to enable him to fulfill his purpose.

Genesis 2 gives us a more detailed explanation of the "formed the male: "The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being" (Gen. 2:7). The male was made first, and there was an interlude of time before the female was made. There is much we can learn about God's purpose for the male by what the male saw, heard, and learned during this interlude.

Remember that the purpose of something determines its nature, its design, and its features. This means that the nature, design, and qualities of males were decided upon by God and created by him according to what he determined was best for the sake of his purposes.

What Is A Real Man?

Imagine that you are watching a television show similar to To Tell the Truth. Several contestants try to convince you that they are the Real Man.  You have to guess which one is authentic and which ones are the imposters.

Contestant #1 tell you he is the Real Man because he fills the traditional male role: he supports his family financially while his wife cares for the children and the home. As long as he provides a roof over their heads and food for them to eat, he's fulfilling his duty as a husband and father. This man doesn't consider his wife to be his true equal.

Contestant #2 says he is the Real Man because he has a culturally progressive role: he shares household and child-rearing responsibilities with his wife while they both pursue careers. He thinks of his wife as his equal.

Contestant #3 explains that he is the Real Man because he has been freed from male stereotypes and has decided to take on the nurturer role of caring for the children and home while his wife goes to work. He consider his wife equal to himself or maybe even better, since she has a more compassionate, sensitive nature than he does.

These are some of the images of manhood that are competing for men's acceptance today. Many men feel as if they're being asked to guess what a real man is by determining which "contestant" has the most convincing facial expressions and answers. Yet there seems to be no clear-cut winner. In addition, society keeps mixing and matching these images until men don't know what's expected of them anymore. They are confused and frustrated as they try to sort through their own expectations for manhood while feeling pressure from the various segments of society that are promoting these images or an impossible combination of them. Meanwhile, Hollywood is flooding society with intriguing icons of masculinity, such as James Bond and Rambo. Even though these images are superheroes rather than real men, it's sometimes hard to escape their allure. It's difficult not to start thinking that a real man should some how imitate the power and resourcefulness they exhibit. 

A Universal Problem

For thousands of years, in nearly every culture and tradition in the world, women have been devalued and therefore mistreated in some way. What accounts for this outlook? Why is this problem so universal? The fact that the devaluing of women is so widespread across the globe points to a cause that goes much deeper than mere culture or tradition.

One of the reasons that plight of the woman has been such a difficult issue to remedy is that it's not easy to change a man's mind about a woman's place in the world. The idea that this is a man's world is very deeply entrenched. Even though legislation might be passed or public policy might change, you can't easily change a man's mindset. This internalized  devaluing of women is the reason why women generally continue to be discounted and exploited in almost every society in the  world, regardless of certain social and political advances. In industrial nations as well as developing nations, the plight of the female is still very real. Is it tragic to have to admit this is true in our modern society.

In the neighborhood where I grew up, it was common for me to hear men saying, "Woman, do you know who I am? I'm the one who wears the pants around here!" That statement was supposed to imply who was in charge. These days, both men and women wear the pants, so who is that statement talking about now? This spirit of male dominance, this attitude of, "Stay in your place. You have no say in this; you have no contribution to make. You have no sense, anyway," has pervaded our societies for thousands of years, and it is a spirit that still has a hold on many nations.

This prevailing attitude is the reason why the social and political advances of women which on the surface seem to be victories can become burdens to women because they are in reality only one-sided victories. For example, women can declare that they are equal with men, and society can try to enforce this equality, but the attitudes of men (and also other women) may not necessary be in agreement with this change in status. This can cause perplexity, stress, and conflict. Thus, much confusion about the role of the woman still exists today.

A Woman's Place

     In the mid- 1960s, James Brown came out with a song that exposed the spirit of the age, entitled, "It's a Man's World." The song sold a million copies. (I wonder who bought it?) James was singing about an attitude that pervades the nations and culture of the world. That attitude is, in effect, "Even though women are here, this world was made for men. It's designed for males. Women are just filling in where needed. You women stay in your place; this is a man's world."
     Does the world belong to men? If so, what place do women hold in it?

    One of the most controversial issues of our modern times; a topic that has been debated with much discussion and dissension is the role, position, and rights of the woman. Historically, in nearly every nation and culture, women have been regarded as inferior to men, holding a secondary place in the world. The following are traditional perceptions of women that still persist today. Women are considered:

• Inferior to men, second-class citizens.
• objects for sensual gratification alone.
• weak; incapable of real strength.
• lacking in intelligence and therefore having nothing to contribute to society.
• the personal servants, whose only purpose is to meet the needs of their masters.
• domestic slaves, to be used as desired.
• objects to be passed around until finished with, and then discarded.
• subhuman.
• deserving of abuse.

  Depending on where you live in the world, your past experiences, and whether you are a woman or man, the items on this list might shock you, offend you, be discounted by you, or serve as a painful reminder of what you are currently enduring.

   If you live in an industrial nation that has seen significant improvements in the status of women and the opportunities open to her, you may not think these negative perceptions of women are relevant to your relationship or the interactions between males and females in your society. Yet the underlying assumptions behind them persist in every nation because they are not so much influenced by legislative and societal changes as they are by ingrained attitudes in the hearts and minds of men and women. Women are misunderstood and degraded around the world, and it is causing them emotional, physical, and spiritual distress.

Myles Munroe on Relationship

How Can I Build Better Relationships?

Can you fulfill your purpose in life and have harmonious, thriving relationships?

Are Males and females really compatible?

What is God's plan for men and women?

How can I make my relationships work?

These are questions many of us never or may ask ourselves before we get into a relationship.