What does it mean to be created in the image of God?

What does it mean to be created in the image of God?

Is it our capacity to love, create, or forgive? Is it our form, face, hands, arms, and legs?

Let me share some of my thoughts with you and see if they stir some ideas.

How do you go from not existing to existing? I’m not speaking of the miracle of turning inanimate matter into living tissue. I’m talking about turning living tissue into a self aware sentient being. How is that possible? At what point in your development do your sensory perceptions coalesce into consciousness? How do you as an individual “know” that you exist?

For me, two words define what it means to be created in the image of God, “I Am.”

Please ponder this question deeply then share your best answer.

Thanks.

How do you know that you are not the product of my imagination?

All of your thoughts, memories - distant and recent, desires, and whatnot are the products of my imagination. How do you respond? How do you disprove this?

I watched a movie recently called Inception that I really enjoyed. The basic premise of the movie is that it is impossible to plant an idea into someone else’s mind without them knowing that it didn’t originate there. If I truly was the product of your imagination I would not be compelled to resist the notion or to prove you wrong.

In a way this topic kind of relates to the discussion of God and original sin. If everything that exists is a product of God’s mind, imagination, creation, etc., why would anything ever manifest that would be compelled to resist Him?

The word 'IMAGE' suggests some-thing we can see. Its up to the individual to decide if 'their' God.....is Infinite.

If God IS infinite then it is not an image that is seen with the human eye.

The 'see-d' of the poppy flower carries all the characteristics of the 'parent' seed. The image that we recognise, the smell, the colours etc.

The soul is the 'seed' of THE PARENT....'our Father' who is in the STATE OF HEAVEN. But He is formless. So what is within the seed / soul that is within all of us and IS ...essentially US?

The word that comes to mind is ......'LOVE'.....but NOT the love that we human beings know.

All 'things ' are within God. Itself 'NOTHING'. Therefore ALL things are within the SOUL..and WE ARE THAT SOUL. We carry in our soul (US) the 'Image' of INFINITE Love.

The soul/seed travels through time till it reaches its 'flowering' moment. The flower is the 'realisation' of 'The Meaning of Life'

God being aware of Himself in the Eternal Moment.

Resistance does not mean that you are not the product of my imagination. Frankly, I like the conflict. This is why I imagined you in the first place. Inception is an interesting movie. I had fun imagining the storyline.

The Jews pondered this very question for a long time. Much of the Old Testament is caught up in answering it's extent and implications. I have hastily drawn from different texts of the apostolic church to give you some insights - chiefly from Evangelium Vitae - an encyclical by the late Pope John Paul II.


The phrase "let us create man in our image" is a privileged glimpse that God gives us into the inner dialog of The Trinity (Father Creator ,Son and Holy Spirit). It is a first hint of the full revelation to come of "The Trinity" later fully revealed by Jesus and written in the New Testament Books. With the phrase "In the Image of God" is implied: a life eternal/immortal, with no corruption - a full and perfect existence worthy of all the dignity and honor due a member of God's family including intimate friendship, perfect love (to the capacity of the endowed finite human nature), beatitude, favor and blessings. "In the biblical narrative, the difference between man and other creatures is shown above all by the fact that only the creation of man is presented as the result of a special decision on the part of God, a deliberation to establish a particular and specific bond with the Creator... The life which God offers to man is a gift by which God shares something of himself with his creature.' (from Evangelium vitae Pope John Paul II).

The Old Testament Book of Sirach too recognizes that God, in creating human beings, "endowed them with strength like his own, and made them in his own image" (17:3). The biblical author sees as part of this image not only man's dominion over the world but also those spiritual faculties which are distinctively human, such as reason, discernment between good and evil, and free will: "He filled them with knowledge and understanding, and showed them good and evil" (Sir 17:7). The ability to attain truth and freedom are human prerogatives inasmuch as man is created in the image of his Creator, God who is true and just (cf. Dt 32:4). Man alone, among all visible creatures, is "capable of knowing and loving his Creator".24 The life which God bestows upon man is much more than mere existence in time. It is a drive towards fullness of life; it is the seed of an existence which transcends the very limits of time: "For God created man for incorruption, and made him in the image of his own eternity" (Wis 2:23).

We are made literally 'for God' and this is why we will always be restless and unsatisfied with anything here on earth until we are reunited with God and brought back into full beatitude. We are incomplete without an intimate relationship with God. Note that only the appearance of "the woman", a being who is flesh of his [Adam's] flesh and bone of his bones (cf. Gen 2:23), and in whom the spirit of God the Creator is also alive, can satisfy the need for interpersonal dialogue, so vital for human existence. In the other, whether man or woman, there is a reflection of God himself, the definitive goal and fulfillment of every person - why most are drawn to seek a mate and companion to dialog with until repatriated to God.

Created in God's image also carries with it an original mark of royalty and dominion over the world and its creatures and even over the life we are each given. The human race was intended for ruling in accord with God's Plan. God proclaims that he is absolute Lord of the life of man, who is formed in his image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:26-28). Human life is thus given a sacred and inviolable character, which reflects the inviolability of the Creator himself. Precisely for this reason God will severely judge every violation of the commandment "You shall not kill", the commandment which is at the basis of all life together in society.

Christ, God incarnate, was sent to restore the fallen nature of man and reinvigorate the divine image - in fact partnering with humankind and forming a new redeemed race through the new Adam and the new Eve (Mary). Those "in Christ" are spiritually reborn into a newly restored and super-elevated divine-human image - of much higher estate than even originally possessed by Adam. "God with us" (Emanuel) literally.