Are People Made in the Image of God?
What does it mean to be human?
Human beings are made in the image of God. Therefore, all human life is sacred, and every single person is important to God.
That is a foundational, core tenet of both Judaism and Christianity — though you will find differences between the religions (and even within each religion) regarding the nature of our relationship with God and what He expects of His creation. Nevertheless…
I want to keep our focus on foundations here.
Jews, Christians, many (most?) Muslims, many (most?) Deists, and many others will agree that all human beings are:
- Intentionally created by God
- Fashioned in God’s image
- Given value by God
- Accountable to God
It is on this basis that the Bible (I’m zeroing in on my faith perspective here) says we should be humble, seek wisdom and direction from God, and love our neighbor (even our enemies as Jesus says).
Anticipating that some may jump into the comments with predictable rants about “religion” or “Christians” or whatever… can we just pause and consider how much better our world would be if everyone agreed on and committed to the above?
Can we just take a moment and do that?
In today’s society, we are so quick to hate those we disagree with and denounce them with disdain. We are quick to “other” those who think and feel differently than we do.
More and more, people will value only the lives of those with whom they find common cause, who benefit them in some way, or who make them feel good about themselves.
It’s gotten to the point that people increasingly cheer or at least condone the murder of those they deem objectionable or worthy of contempt. Indeed, some will even justify acts of terrorism.
I understand that certain leaders aren’t helping matters, but what astonishes me is how callous or carefree so many have gotten about all this.
This is why I wrote my latest ebook — Thou Shalt Not Kill: The Ancient Commandment We Dare Not Break. (Forgive the plug, but I’d love for you to check it out — and give me your thoughts).
I realize that people can be annoying — in some cases, maddening. And I know there are real problems in our world. I know that the temptation can be to give up on “the system” or “the establishment” and want to resort to more drastic measures, but…
Civilization depends on us being…well…civilized. It is built on people cooperating, valuing order, and exercising self-restraint.
That means valuing each other, being patient with each other, humbling ourselves before each other, and being willing to sometimes lose (in disagreements, elections, etc.) or at least accept slow, incremental progress.
Unfortunately, when people jettison their belief in God and reject any possibility of the supernatural or the eternal, their perspective becomes much more desperate.
What’s more, when you reject the idea of a Creator and see everything (and everyone) around you as essentially a cosmic accident or random development, then…life becomes much less valuable. Indeed, nothing really (within that perspective) is sacred.
Nietzsche warned that once belief in God is gone, moral foundations begin to crumble, leaving only human will to define right and wrong. His concern was that society, once unmoored from divine morality, would drift toward meaninglessness or power struggles where the strongest impose their values on others.
Now, picture one of those big maps with the finger that says “You are Here.” That sums up 21st-century society — at least in the West.
Even if you have doubts about the existence of God (I don’t, but I know many of you do), there is strong utilitarian value in living your life — and ordering society — as if God is real and that we all derive our value from our Creator.
I’m not defending hypocrisy, corruption, hate, bigotry, power grabs or any of these things — things often seen (sadly) in organized religion. But…
A world in which we all see each other as inherently valuable because we’re made in the image of our Creator — and in which we all see ourselves as ultimately accountable to that Creator — is the kind of world I want to live in. Don’t you?
