The Image of God

[Immortal4life]

A common expression is that human beings are "In the Image of God". So what exactly is that phrase saying?

 

Some people will say that human beings were created by a higher being in the Image of a God. Some people will say that it means human beings possess a soul, a fundamental spirit which gives the material body shape, and of which the material body is the manifestation. Some people say that a human body is a microcosm of the universe, and the universe is a macrocosm of the human body. Some people will say there is no meaning or purpose in the universe, no gods, no intelligence behind the formation of structure and shape, and the phrase is just saying that humans are programmed by evolution to see their own bodies as beautiful.

 

What does the saying "In the Image of God" mean to you?

 

Here is a cool Documentary about this issue, "Human Origins- The Image of God"

Edited May 5, 2011 by Immortal4life

[ralis]

Dr. Lubenow is a creationist and this thread is a creationist rant. All this leads back to a 6000 yr. old earth.

 

 

http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/bios/m_lubenow.asp

[Immortal4life]

Interesting. According to that link he has some credentials. I hadn't looked into that much, I just liked the documentary and found it interesting and educational about the subject of evolution theory and Human Origins.

Edited May 4, 2011 by Immortal4life

[ralis]

Interesting. According to that link he has some credentials. I hadn't looked into that much, I just liked the documentary and found it interesting and educational about the subject of evolution theory and Human Origins.

 

Credentials mean nothing if your work leads nowhere.

[Immortal4life]

Credentials should give someone the ability to see the bigger picture, to see things from many different perspectives, and from a broader perspective. However, often crendentials give scientists tunnel vision, and they end up only being able to see things from the perspective they were indoctrinated in, and only see things from the point of view that their textbooks give them.

[ralis]

Credentials should give someone the ability to see the bigger picture, to see things from many different perspectives, and from a broader perspective. However, often crendentials give scientists tunnel vision, and they end up only being able to see things from the perspective they were indoctrinated in, and only see things from the point of view that their textbooks give them.

 

Your premise is faulty. Dr. Lubenow is heavily influenced by his creationist biblical indoctrination and that skews any proposition he proposes. He only seeks to prove a mythological writing. That is not science.

[Birch]

What does that sentence mean to me?

 

Something of a microcosm/macrocosm thing. I happen not to believe in "God" "out there" - can you see where I'm going with this? As far as I can tell, religions that offer up personified deities are doing more to exemplify, justify and reinforce local social/cultural conditions than describe reality. Which the former end up being for people...but I think now the cat's out of the bag. So your next god "out there" has to be much more impressive, or come from outer-space or something...

[Immortal4life]

Your premise is faulty. Dr. Lubenow is heavily influenced by his creationist biblical indoctrination and that skews any proposition he proposes. He only seeks to prove a mythological writing. That is not science.

 

It can in fact go both ways. Believing in science or religion too much can send someone off track.

 

Mythology can and has been proven by science in the past. There are several cities in history that were mentioned in the bible, that archaeologists had never found. They considered the cities to be myths, but then they did find them. Another example would be the city of Troy, once thought to be myth, until it was discoved. Anghor Watt is another one.

 

Dr. Lubenow is also not the only researcher featured in the film, nor is he the subject of the film.

Edited May 5, 2011 by Immortal4life

[Immortal4life]

Something of a microcosm/macrocosm thing.

 

This idea rings true.

[ralis]

You have this idea that creationism i.e, intelligent design should be debated on the same footing as real science. Everything you have suggested so far indicates this is your agenda.

[Aaron]

Hello Imortal4life,

 

I didn't watch the youtube posts, sorry. What I can say is that after years of contemplation I believe that we make god in our image. I think that is inherently the problem with Western Spirituality, because in making it in our image, we oftentimes miss that perhaps we are not made in the image of God, but are actually God.

 

Manitou has pointed this out in another thread and I actually have made several mentions of this idea, which is not entirely original since it comes from Vendanta Hinduism and may be up to 10,000 years old. Essentially the idea is that everything in existence is God and that only when we become completely aware of it can we escape this existence (which is oftentimes compared to a dream) and return to what is actually real.

 

Anyways, again, we create god in our image because we cannot conceive of any type of intelligence or way of being that is alien to our own.

 

Aaron

[Immortal4life]

I like the idea that All is One, and All is God.

 

It's true that so often people make Gods in their own images, and even give them human-like attributes, and human-like emotions. In the end they are worshipping something that is only a figment of their imagination, or even worse, an evil being their own thoughts created and gave life to.

Edited May 5, 2011 by Immortal4life

[ShaktiMama]

Hello Imortal4life,

 

I didn't watch the youtube posts, sorry. What I can say is that after years of contemplation I believe that we make god in our image. I think that is inherently the problem with Western Spirituality, because in making it in our image, we oftentimes miss that perhaps we are not made in the image of God, but are actually God.

 

Manitou has pointed this out in another thread and I actually have made several mentions of this idea, which is not entirely original since it comes from Vendanta Hinduism and may be up to 10,000 years old. Essentially the idea is that everything in existence is God and that only when we become completely aware of it can we escape this existence (which is oftentimes compared to a dream) and return to what is actually real.

 

Anyways, again, we create god in our image because we cannot conceive of any type of intelligence or way of being that is alien to our own.

 

Aaron

 

Excellent point.

"The god of the cannibals will be a cannibal, of the crusaders a crusader, and of the merchants a merchant." Ralph Waldo Emerson

[Immortal4life]

There's also the fact that many God's borrow traits from previous Gods that came before them

[Encephalon]

There's also the fact that many God's borrow traits from previous Gods that came before them

 

Don't forget about the "fact" that gods borrow each other's lawn furniture.

[Immortal4life]

There's actually a lot of depth to that issue. Interesting facts like similarities between gods across different ancient cultures, or myths from different cultures around the world of a huge flood or catastrophe. Maybe some of these so called Gods were actual people, or actual beings of some kind.

Edited May 8, 2011 by Immortal4life

[Encephalon]

There's actually a lot of depth to that issue. Interesting facts like similarities between gods across different ancient cultures, or myths from different cultures around the world of a huge flood or catastrophe. Maybe some of these so called Gods were actual people, or actual beings of some kind.

 

It's called comparative mythology and it has more to do with the universal themes of the human psyche than supernatural beings sharing their notes with each other. It's a subject in the Humanities that you can actually study instead of remaining in a perpetual state of intellectual infancy. The process takes place at colleges and universities, although public libraries have been known to facilitate the escape from ignorance. You should check them out sometime. The practice of spinning fairytales typically loses its luster by the age of 22.

[Immortal4life]

Textbooks and schools have as much potential to limit one's thinking and send someone off course, as they do to expand one's thinking.

 

An example is Anthropology. Anthropologists are trained to automatically assign a ritualistic meaning to any ancient artifact they find. They are taught to assume all ancient people were primitive and superstitous simpletons, who understood nothing but primitive rituals.

Edited May 8, 2011 by Immortal4life

[Encephalon]

Textbooks and schools have as much potential to limit one's thinking and send someone off course, as they do to expand one's thinking.

 

An example is Anthropology. Anthropologists are trained to automatically assign a ritualistic meaning to any ancient artifact they find. They are taught to assume all ancient people were primitive and superstitous simpletons, who understood nothing but primitive rituals.

 

 

There's no question that you are very talented in the art of cutting and pasting irrelevent talking points but the most credible authorities to discuss the fissures in higher education are those who've actually experienced it firsthand, and it's pretty clear that your intellectual fortitude renders you unfit for such an enterprise. You've truly distinguished yourself in this forum with your unwavering brand of aggressive ignorance. That's an awfully boring way to live.

[Apech]

Excellent point.

"The god of the cannibals will be a cannibal, of the crusaders a crusader, and of the merchants a merchant." Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Then my God is a TaoBum.

[ShaktiMama]

Don't forget about the "fact" that gods borrow each other's lawn furniture.

not my lawn furniture, dammit. the cats have domain over that.

s

[manitou]

I don't think there's anything out there at all.

 

I think somehow the manifestation is done through us. We are God.

[Immortal4life]

Absolutely, a human being is one of the highest forms of physical matter that can exist, and one of the highest concentrations of Universal Life Energy that exists in the material plane. Human beings have the potential and capacity for very high level abiities, and god-like qualities.

[doc benway]

A common expression is that human beings are "In the Image of God". So what exactly is that phrase saying?

That is simply a euphemism propagated by people who have not yet experienced God. They feel separate from God. They view God as something outside of themselves. They acknowledge God as omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent and yet they somehow exclude themselves. Usually it is associated with a tendency for anthropomorphism, monarchism, and paternalism - it implies God as a father, maker, creator, king, lord, etc...

 

What does the saying "In the Image of God" mean to you?

 

Nothing at all. Too many of us confuse the "Image of God" with God, the reality. The image is never the thing, particularly when referring to something ineffable and unfathomable by human thought. We don't even understand the mind of a dog, a flea; we don't understand the nature of a virus or gravity, let alone whatever is meant by the letters God which certainly encompasses those trivial examples.

So "the Image of God" is meaningless.

The experience of God is what is worth focusing on.

[Immortal4life]

That is simply a euphemism propagated by people who have not yet experienced God. They feel separate from God. They view God as something outside of themselves. They acknowledge God as omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent and yet they somehow exclude themselves. Usually it is associated with a tendency for anthropomorphism, monarchism, and paternalism - it implies God as a father, maker, creator, king, lord, etc...

 

 

Nothing at all. Too many of us confuse the "Image of God" with God, the reality. The image is never the thing, particularly when referring to something ineffable and unfathomable by human thought. We don't even understand the mind of a dog, a flea; we don't understand the nature of a virus or gravity, let alone whatever is meant by the letters God which certainly encompasses those trivial examples.

So "the Image of God" is meaningless.

The experience of God is what is worth focusing on.

 

You seem to be falling into the trap so many spiritual seekers throughout history have fallen into. The inability to reconcile the mind and matter paradox. You are bordering on denying matter, and only accepting "experience" and phenomena of the mental plane.

 

I would say that God is the principle, the original first causeless cause, and the soul back of the Image. Yes, the Image is the Thing. The Universe is the only begotten son, matter is the only begotten son. God is the principle back of the Uinverse. God is the Way.

Edited May 9, 2011 by Immortal4life