Mike D Posted November 11, 2006 Share Posted November 11, 2006 Just wondering what excuses Christians have given as to what exactly is meant by man was created in God's image? God is invisible so I guess we're not made in his image there. God is perfect and doesn't sin, so we're not made in his image there. We don't have any of his magical powers so we're not made in his image here. The most common answers i've heard is either we have intellect although much lower than god's (gee guess dolphins are made in god's image too? what about satan who is supposedly smarter than us?), or the other one I hear is that we have a soul and so does god. That's all fine and good, but nobody really seems to know exactly what a soul is other than some vague entity that "lives" inside us and goes on forever after we "die". Personally I think this line is one of main hints in the Bible that reveals what a crock it is. If "god" created us in his image, there's got to be some common trait that we share with him, although there really doesn't seem to be any that I can see. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I Broke Free Posted November 11, 2006 Share Posted November 11, 2006 “Man was created in God’s image!” What a terrible insult to humanity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jun Posted November 11, 2006 Share Posted November 11, 2006 The origin of religion lies in man's fear, suspicion and insecurity. Religion is nothing more than the fusion of (culturally accepted) moral behaviour and belief in the supernatural. Man created religion and created God out of his own insecurities. For the weak, such as Christians, a divine power is necessary to allay their fears, worries, anxiety, and craving. Rather than avoid problems and sort them out for themselves, they depend on external fictional supernatural powers to give them solace. A comfort blanket when things go wrong and they have no control over them. MAN CREATED GOD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lycorth Posted November 11, 2006 Share Posted November 11, 2006 "Man was created in God's image!" What a terrible insult to humanity. Tell me about it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willybilly30 Posted November 11, 2006 Share Posted November 11, 2006 I guess that's is why Adam needed the "dust body", and eve needed the "rib body" cause they were invisible like god. Oh, god couldn't let them have his powers, and all the good stuff they might take over then. I want to know how you make a dirt image come alive, and make a woman from a rib? I want to make me a woman from my rib, and have a army of dirt people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurari Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 Just off beat thoughts in my head about this, but the Bible seems to support this claim very well. YHWH seems to be subject to all the same emotions, mistakes, and foibles we are. So YHWH is not really omniescent, He's just a big human in the sky with a lot of power you really shouldn't grant a human being. Another thought is that humans have a lot of power to master their own destinys. The stuff we invent and create on our own alone is awe inspiring. We really don't need a god to tell us what to do because we have everything we need to do it here and now. So it could be supposed that we were made in god's image in the idea that we could be totally self sufficient without one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mythra Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 Let's see. Jealous. Fits of rage. Murderous. Self-seeking. Superiority complex. Always looking for the approval of others. Cruel. Conceited. Indifferent. Yeah, lots of people resemble yahweh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartyGibbans Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 Man was created in God's image, but at the same time we were given free-will. This is what causes us to sin - because we choose to. What would the point be if we didn't have free-will? We'd have no choices in life. No higher being may interfere with this free-will. It's God's law. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willybilly30 Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 Freewill? Choose me live in heaven, or disobey me burn in hell. That's freewill,and God just loves us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
white_raven23 Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 Man was created in God's image, but at the same time we were given free-will. This is what causes us to sin - because we choose to. What would the point be if we didn't have free-will? We'd have no choices in life. No higher being may interfere with this free-will. It's God's law. OH NO YOU DON'T!!! Don't even try to turn this subject into one of free will! This is about man being made in biblegod's image. What part of us is "god's image"? Free-will and the image part are two seperate things! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image In common usage, an image (from Latin imago) or picture is an artifact that reproduces the likeness of some subject—usually a physical object or a person. Images may be two dimensional, such as a photograph, or three dimensional such as in a statue. They are typically produced by optical devices—such as a cameras, mirrors, lenses, telescopes, microscopes, etc. and natural objects and phenomena, such as the human eye or water surfaces. The word image is also used in the broader sense of any two-dimensional figure or illustration, such as a map, a graph, a pie chart, or an abstract painting. In this wider sense, images can also be produced manually, such as by drawing, painting, carving, by computer graphics technology, or a combination of the two, especially in a pseudo-photograph. A volatile image is one that exists only for a short period of time. This may be a reflection of an object by a mirror, a projection of the sun on a wall by a pinhole camera, or a scene displayed on a cathode ray tube. A fixed image, also called hardcopy, is one that has been recorded on a material object, such as paper or textile. A mental image exists in someone's mind: something one remembers or imagines. The subject of an image need not be real; it may be an abstract concept, such as a graph or function—or an imaginary entity or being. You trying to say that my "free-will" keeps me and everyone else from physically looking literally or figuratively like god? This is not about free-will at all. Don't even go there. Answer Mike's question: If "god" created us in his image, there's got to be some common trait that we share with him, although there really doesn't seem to be any that I can see. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike D Posted November 12, 2006 Author Share Posted November 12, 2006 Man was created in God's image, but at the same time we were given free-will. I have to agree with White Raven, what does free will have to do with whatever about us is created in god's image? Also you say we were created in god's image, but you give no details as to what this alleged "image" is referring to. What do you have to say about this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jun Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 Man was created in God's image, but at the same time we were given free-will. This is what causes us to sin - because we choose to. What would the point be if we didn't have free-will? We'd have no choices in life. No higher being may interfere with this free-will. It's God's law. "God" was created by man. ALL "gods" of ALL religions are mans "comfort blanket," an excuse for things that can't be explained or understood. And someone to blame when things go wrong. And what has free will got to do with image? There is NO SUCH THING AS SIN and certainly NO SUCH THING AS "GODS LAW." Why does "God" leave it to fallible, "sinful" humans to deliver an endless plethora of confused and contradictory messages through his "holy bible?" Why can't he do it himself? BECAUSE GOD DOESN'T EXIST. Oh and Marty, what happened to our discussion in "Ask The Real Jesus," are you going to get around to continuing it? Still waiting for your answers there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartyGibbans Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 Haha, you guys absolutely crack me up. I've never met such skeptical people in my life. I think you're taking the word "image" a tad too seriously. God created every human with the potential to be him. The majority of humans don't understand how limitless out subconscious is. Basically, without the bounds of our human ego, we can do anything. We can even be God. And this is what he intended. God said that everything is God. Therefore we are God. The Church would have us believe that we were born into sin. Untrue - we can defeat sin if we want to. We can do just as Jesus did - if only we believed we could. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jun Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 Marty, you should join together with IG in the post about Isaiah 13 - you two make a beautiful pair of nuts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartyGibbans Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 Marty, you should join together with IG in the post about Isaiah 13 - you two make a beautiful pair of nuts. Nah. I won't be making a habit of coming here. I respect your decisions to not follow the Lord. I'm not going to try and preach his word when there's no point. Peace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jun Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 Nah. I won't be making a habit of coming here. I respect your decisions to not follow the Lord. I'm not going to try and preach his word when there's no point. Peace. Wow! You gave in rather easily. I guess you aren't one of "Gods" soldiers after all. Seriously, all the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godlessgrrl Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 Probably the most prominent reason I got for how we're "made in God's image" when I was Xian was that we share with God what the Greeks called eros - i.e. the drive to create (or procreate - and if you think God didn't procreate, then you've forgotten the story of the Virgin Birth). It wasn't particularly Scriptural though. Plus it could just as easily be said that we describe God as creating things, because we create things. Fwiw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartyGibbans Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 Nah. I won't be making a habit of coming here. I respect your decisions to not follow the Lord. I'm not going to try and preach his word when there's no point. Peace. Wow! You gave in rather easily. I guess you aren't one of "Gods" soldiers after all. Seriously, all the best. I'll probably pop back from time to time and share my knowledge. But what is the point of trying to teach people that are so convinced that God is not the way? Everyone has their own truths, and I respect that. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
white_raven23 Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 Haha, you guys absolutely crack me up. I've never met such skeptical people in my life. I think you're taking the word "image" a tad too seriously. Really? You mean we aren't supposed to take words as their literal meaning? And by extension therefore the BIBLE is not to be taken literally or "seriously"? I would LOVE to see you get into a discussion with Inspectogeneral!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StewartP Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 MartyGibbans - good on you mate. If churches were filled with folk like you there might be fewer people here. Back to man and God's image. I was thinking about this yesterday. After Adam & Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:8) God said "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." (Genesis 3:22) So, not only was man in God's image, but the act of eating from the tree of knowledge made him MORE like God. The only missing ingredient now seems to be eating from the tree of eternal life. God gets so shit scared about this he does the banishment thing and guards the trees with angels. Here's what I was thinking. What if Adam & Eve had eaten from the tree of life FIRST? That wasn't forbidden, it would have been OK with God. And what if THEN they had eaten from the tree of knowledge. God would have been screwed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartyGibbans Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 Haha, you guys absolutely crack me up. I've never met such skeptical people in my life. I think you're taking the word "image" a tad too seriously. Really? You mean we aren't supposed to take words as their literal meaning? And by extension therefore the BIBLE is not to be taken literally or "seriously"? I would LOVE to see you get into a discussion with Inspectogeneral!! Erm, how does the word "literal" have anything to do with the word serious? I didn't say the whole Bible. There you go jumping to conclusions again. I said the Book of Genesis should not be taken literally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
white_raven23 Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 Erm, how does the word "literal" have anything to do with the word serious? I didn't say the whole Bible. There you go jumping to conclusions again. I said the Book of Genesis should not be taken literally. So which books of the bible are supposed to be interpreted literally and which ones aren't then? How do you know which are which? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike D Posted November 12, 2006 Author Share Posted November 12, 2006 God created every human with the potential to be him. The majority of humans don't understand how limitless out subconscious is. Basically, without the bounds of our human ego, we can do anything. We can even be God. And this is what he intended. God said that everything is God. Therefore we are God. The Church would have us believe that we were born into sin. Untrue - we can defeat sin if we want to. We can do just as Jesus did - if only we believed we could. You apparently have a very non-traditional non-fundamentalist Christian interpretation of the Bible, as i've never heard this before. In my old pentecostal church they probably would have accused you of being a heretic and a blasphemer for making statements like this, or at minimum they would believe you had been tricked by Satan into believing lies and had been given over to the devil. As for god's image, most Christians take this literally (at least most fundies), not figuratively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piprus Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 For what it's worth, I was involved in a short discussion of this topic a couple of years ago, focusing on Gen. 1:26. "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:" Image, in this case can refer to a picture, depiction, or concept. So, God conceptualized what man would look like. And "after our likeness" would suggest, how would this creature be like us? By possessing certain attributes in common with God, such as, power, thought, reason, creativity, discernment, wisdom, etc. (I should point out this was not a religious-type discussion, but rather one of interpretation of a piece of literature. The person I was speaking with is a psychologist and a jewish agnostic.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jun Posted November 13, 2006 Share Posted November 13, 2006 God created every human with the potential to be him. The majority of humans don't understand how limitless out subconscious is. Basically, without the bounds of our human ego, we can do anything. We can even be God. And this is what he intended. God said that everything is God. Therefore we are God. Sounds like this is from the "Jesus speaks to a man on a website" stuff. I would point out that this is reworded from the teachings of Buddha - "Through our delusion and reliance upon ego, man does not understand his true potential. The objective of mindfulness practice is to achieve ultimate wisdom. Shattering through the boundaries of ego anything is possible. We realise our intrinsic nature. Truth can be found through diligence. We can become that truth as truth is everything." Truth has been substituted for "God." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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