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"Humans and the Image of God" A response by John of AllFaith, Aug. 2006 |
Name: alenka
Question: hello :) i would like to give you a question...
Subject: humans and the image of God :)The account in Genesis says that humans were created in the image of God. How do you think that we bear this image? or how do you think we do not???
please help me in my doubting...
thanks a lot!
Alenka (18, Europe)
John of AllFaith's reply: Hi Alenka,
The Torah clearly states that God has no conceivable form or image. Yet it also refers to God's "hands," "feet," "backside," and so on.It also says that no one can see God and yet live, which suggests that there is "something" to see, even if that Something is beyond us.
The 'nature,' 'form,' and 'image' of the invisible God is hence utterly transcendental to human perception and conception by natural means. It is suggested that the purpose of spirituality is to transcend all material conceptions and to enter into this blessed state of be-ing.
Jewish philosophers sometimes refer to this higher plane of existence as the En-Soph, the plane of No-Thing (not "nothing" but "no-thing").
This is the very definition of "Christian" or "Christ-like." It is to be so completely at-one with the Christ-Consciousness that we become, as Jesus said, "One with the Father;" and again, "If you have seen me, you have seen the Father also." Like Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, such people transcend mortal reality and enter into a higher consciousness, a Christ-Consciousness.
It is therefore my understanding that "we are the image of God" in our attributes, rather than in our forms. We are God's "hands," "feet," and so on in the materially manifested creation and beyond it, although of that realm, "eye has not seen, ear has not heard," and so on.
- God IS love
We can manifest love- God IS Creativity
We can manifest creativity- God IS Justice
We can show justice- God Creates
We can pro-createand so on.
The "nature" or "image" of God is made manifest to the world through the things made (Rom. 1:19,20). The highest of these "things" that we have direct knowledge of is the human intellect or soul. We are empowered as the "Image of God" to use our god-like intellects for the furtherance of the Kingdom of God in all humility. To the degree that we live spiritually harmonious lives, to that degree we reflect the image of God and promote the establishment of the "Kingdom."
This, in a nutshell, is my belief on this.
~Peace,
~John of AllFaith
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