Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth,” (Gen. 1:26, NASB).
In the Image and Likeness of God, He made them. Man and Woman He made them.—Genesis 1:27
"Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever," (Gen. 3:22, NASB).
In part one, we traced the origin and instance of man’s quest for resource control. An understanding of this quest lies rooted in man’s origin, psychological make-up and mandate. From the above citations, human are not ordinary creature; they are made in the image and likeness of the living God. To this end, human have similarities with God. The most important difference between man and God is that: God is immortal whereas man can die.
Mathematically, (God – x) – Immortality = MAN (or god) where x = some things only God knows.
Like their creator, man has power; indeed dominion over everything God created (on earth?). “Dominion”! In dominion lies one of the keys to understanding man and his quest for resource control. Man was born to rule; to dominate. In order to exercise this mandate, man set off to take charge of everything he sets his eyes upon – plants, animasl, lands, water, sky, nature, and even me! Yes me, in form of human resources!
Man is greedy, an insatiable creature. Man is territorial, apportioning resources (and matter) to himself. Man is domineering; conquering everything no matter how long it takes. Man is also fearful and feel threatened when his authority is challenged; he feels vulnerable when his mandate to rule is being contested by another of God creature – man or beast. But then man is also very intelligent and he expounds reasons for his action.
Provided the action or activity of man goes unchallenged and unquestioned by other beings (or man), it is welcomed and it generates no conflict. But man is man and every now and then, one man may decide not just to be MAN but the MAN. When man meets man at the opposing end of any resources, the battle for resource control is not only probable but also inevitable; it is not a matter of “if” but of “when”. The scarcer and more beneficial the resource(s), the fiercer and more prolong will the quest to control it be, provided man remains man and a man wants to be the MAN.
The quest for control of resources remains unabated even now in post biblical times. It has permeated into every segment of human live. Like God, man is a natural born (made) controller. Hence, the quest for resource control whether in the Middle East, Far East, Caribbean, Asia, U.S. , Central Africa , Sub Sahara Africa, West Africa etc, and indeed our Niger Delta is not an anomaly. It is an exercise of the mandate given to man by God to dominate. As far as human exists and there are benefits to be acquired from natural or artificial “matter”, there must be quest to control such. The methods and techniques may only vary from the subtle to the obvious.
As it was in the beginning is now, ever it shall be world without end – sorry, I mean till the end of time as we know it on planet earth.
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