Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Thoughts on the personhood of God


Increasingly, I find myself meditating on the 27th verse of Genesis 1.   In the English Standard Version translation, that verse very simply reads:

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
Male and female he created them.

We've all read that verse, of course, and we've all heard the sentiment expressed.  "We are made in the image of God," they say.

But, to begin at the very beginning, what does God look like?

Dr. Frank Turek, in his presentation "I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist" (based on his book of the same name), builds a logical case for God being a timeless, space less, immaterial, powerful, personal being who is the origin of all things.  He says that, according to Einstein, space, time, and matter are all co-relative.  That is, you cannot have one without the other two.  If you had matter but no space, where would you put it?  If you had space but no time, WHEN would you put it?

Dr. Stephen Hawking agrees, as does most of modern science.  The Universe had a beginning, because all of these things came into being at the same time. Dr. Turek says "I believe in the Big Bang, I just know who banged it."
If time, space, and matter all came into being together, then whatever created them must be timeless, space less, and immaterial.

That is, God.

Ok, so let's ask again... What does God look like?

Certainly, He does not look like I do.  I am 5'8'', 260 lbs of out of shape mess.  God does not look like that.  My best friend is 6'2'', 280 LBS of Irish Awesomeness.  But God does not look like that either.  And I have another friend who is a beautiful young woman, probably 130 lbs of smiles and sunshine... But God does not look like her either.

So how is it that we are created in the Image of God?

simply, we are in God's moral and spiritual image.  Think about this... Animals cannot be guilty of sin.  When Praying Mantises mate, the female literally kills the male in the process of their mating.  Male lions who rise to the top of their pride will sometimes kill off the young of the previous leader, so they do not grow up and challenge his position.  Some species of monkey use sex as a common greeting, the way we would use a handshake, and they're not particular about gender.

But in all of these things, monkies do not sin.  Lions do not sin.  Mantises do not sin.  Why?

Because they are not made in the image of God.  They do not have the capacity to sin.

We do.  We are, and we do.

What do we do with that, then?

We learn from it.  The essential thing that separates us from the animals is the Image of God... The Imago Dei... that is on each one of us.  Animals are not people, but we are.  From whence does our person-hood come?  From the Imago Dei.

Thus, God is a person.

What does it mean to be a person?  It means to have preferences.  Likes and dislikes.  A sense of humor.  The ability to be happy or sad.

I have friends who insist that God is bigger than that... But I think they misunderstand emotion.  I think that God is a person (not a human being, but a person) and that personhood is the ultimate state of being.

Now, before this blog becomes unwieldy, I think I'll stop there.  Please comment below if this line of thought interests you and if so, I'll continue with it.  Because there are some fascinating implications, I think, to this idea.

Peace of Christ,
AJ

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