Integration Paper
I find myself constantly ruminating on the following questions, “What does it actually mean for man and woman to be created in the image of God?” Why was the image of God tarnished by the fall, and lastly how is God significant to mankind today? This paper will focus on the first three questions as well as my own personal biography describing my experiences with God images, and how they positively and negatively affected me throughout my own life.
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, {a} and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created mankind in his
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This list is in no way comprehensive. However, the seven characteristics reflect the Image of God and in some way help us as human beings better understand ourselves as true beings.
• We are spiritual beings. Being a spiritual being simply means we are created to symbolize and worship our God who is the Spirit. Human beings are not material beings. When God created the first man in (Genesis 2:7), God made man a living soul by giving him spiritual life. Only humans are capable of this type of relation to God through worship and communication and this relational piece is a vital component of the spiritual nature as we talk about immortality because human beings never cease to exist but will live
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It is no secret the holiness of God. When God created humanity, he created us with a moral compass that would allow each of us to consciously differentiate between right and wrong internally. The moral responsibility of humans is what makes him/her accountable to God for their actions. We saw this in Genesis when Adam and Even ate from the tree of Knowledge. I believe it is safe to say that the conscience mind is definitely rapped by sin throughout life, but it remains hardwired in the human psyche. A question that both atheist and evolutionists continue to struggle with is how to adequately explain the moral nature within humans, cultures, and every
In the first chapter of God Behaving Badly, David Lamb argues that God is unfairly given a bad reputation. He claims these negative perceptions are fueled by pop culture and lead many to believe the lie that the God of the Old Testament is angry, sexist, racist, violent, legalistic, rigid, and distant. These negative perceptions, in turn, affect our faith. Ultimately, Lamb seeks to demonstrate that historical context disproves the presumptuous aforementioned. In addition, he defends his position by citing patterns of descriptions that characterize God throughout the Old Testament. “Our image of God will directly affect how we either pursue or avoid God. If we believe that the God of the Old Testament is really harsh, unfair and cruel, we won’t want anything to do with him” (Lamb 22). Clearly, they way Christians choose to see God will shape their relationship with Him.
In placing humankind within this world, it is the intent of God that humans enjoy this world and flourish in it through a continuing relationship with Him. And God said, “Let us make a human in our image, by our likeness, to hold sway over the fish of the sea and the fowl of the heavens and the cattle and the wild beasts and all the crawling things that crawl upon the earth” (Genesis 158-159). Therefore, He creates a human in His image, the image of God. God did not want man to be alone and decides to fashion a companion from the rib of man. “And the Lord God cast a deep slumber on the human, and he slept, and He took one of his ribs and closed over the flesh where it had been, and the Lord God built the rib He had taken from the human into a woman” (Genesis 160). Upon learning of this the human said, “This one at last, bone of my bones / and flesh of my flesh, / This one shall be called Woman, / for from man was this one taken” (Genesis 160). Human beings occupy center stage in this account of the world’s origin, but are held in low regard in Mesopotamian and Greek creation stories. In Enuma Elish, Marduk spoke to Ea of his idea for the creation of humankind, but Ea was the actual creator who devised how it should come about. In the Sixth Tablet, Marduk says, “My blood will I take and bone will I fashion / I will make man, that man may… / I will create man who shall
Similarly, the Bible says, “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).
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis1:1.) God’s perfect wisdom created everything. In Genesis 1 and 2 we can see that God has loving and gentile nature when He created the earth and heavens. God created man in his image and we are the only creation that God breathed in the breath of life for human beings (Genesis 2:7). God did not do this for any of other creations but only for humans. The Bible has many scriptures that tell us how creative God is. Genesis 1;26 states “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created all of this for us to have fellowship with him.
2 Corinthians 3:18 states, “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” God transforms Christians into His likeness. Genesis 1:27 reveals that, in the Garden, we were completely in His likeness: “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” To the artist, in the image of God means something different than what is often taught in Sunday schools. According to Sayers, “Is it his immortal soul, his rationality, his self-consciousness, his free will, or what, that gives him a claim to this rather startling distinction? . . . Looking at man, he sees in him something essentially divine, but when we turn back to see what he says about the original upon which the ‘image’ of God was modeled, we find only the single assertion, ‘God created’. The characteristic common to God and man is that: the desire and the ability to make things” (Sayers 17). The artist, like God, creates something out of nothing. But, there is an important distinction between something beautiful and poetic and something shoddy and cheap.
Throughout the Bible God can be represented in a number of different ways. In some chapters of the Bible God can be found to be a compassionate, loving God, who would do anything for his people. To contradict this, in other chapters of the Bible God can be found trying to instill fear into people so that they believe in him, or do what he wants of them. In both instances it shows how different God can be seen and why believers can have doubts about how God really is.
In conclusion, the understanding of God in Roman civilization provided the cause of the society’s decline. The concept of the gods provided no moral template for the Roman people, while the Caesars unsuccessfully tried to establish peace around the worship of their emperorship. While the story of Rome is one of great success and tragic loss, the civilization’s history highlights the importance of God in one’s worldview. With a basis of who God is, a person articulates morality, reality, and humanity’s role in history.
The myths which prove the contradictory behavior of the gods, acting as both benefactors and tormentors of man, can readily be explained when viewed in light of the prime directive for man, to worship the gods and not “overstep,” and the ensuing “Deus ex Mahina” which served to coerce man to fulfill his destiny as evidenced by the myths: “Pandora,” “Arachne, and “Odysseus.” Humankind and it’s range of vision over the gods beauty and power portrayed them to be benefactors but unseemingly it depicted their affliction towards humans.
One more thing about G-d: both man and woman were created in the image of this level, G-d, but according to most Jewish scholars, “man” was created in Gen. 1:27 with both men and women genitalia, whom was later separated into male and female.
What is the human spirit? As defined by Wikipedia, the human spirit is defined as, “…the spiritual or mental part of humanity.” Further, “The human
“26 Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness...27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.’” Genesis 1:26a, 1:27
God created man in His image for the purpose of glorifying Him. Mankind are sinners and are equal before the God’s law. Men and women are equal, yet have different roles. God is righteous, yet he allowed for sim to enter the world. All creation is guilty of Adam’s sin, and have inherited a sinful nature.
In the Islamic view of God, Allah is the term used by Muslims and Arabic speaking Christians and Jews meaning one God. Other non-Arab Muslims may or may not use a different name such as Allah. The Islamic concept of God is formulated from the Quran which is believed to be by Muslims to be the direct word given from God to the prophet Mohammad. A lot of other Christian religions around the world disagree with the saying of the Quran. Still to this day Muslim faith is the fastest growing religion in the world today. This is a fact that I haven't been able get my head around neither. The question that I find myself asking is the popularity of the religion or is it the strong base following that people are attracted to? I just find myself simply not sure at what it is and how to put my finger on it. So I decided why don't we learn together and the best way to do that is to read and discuss and get the understanding that we need. The Islamic Image of God.
“Most Christians would rather die than think; in fact they do” (White, 17). This quote from Bertrand Russel is thought provoking and a most appropriate way to start a book on using your mind for God. A Mind for God by James Emery White is a fantastic piece of literature that delves deep into what it means to truly follow God with your mind. In just under one hundred pages White explains why, how, and what we need to follow God with all of our mind. “And he answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27, ESV).
In the beginning of the Bible in the Book of Genesis, it is revealed to use in 1:26-27 that God has created man in his image. The text verbatim states “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” From this distinct text we can clearly conclude that when ad created man and woman, they were destined to be in God’s image and carry his image throughout his creation. Today we can see that many of us do not live in God’s image due to society becoming more secularized as it progresses through the years, however as Christians we can verse this by living in God’s image in our chosen vocations, churches, and even in the secular world.