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What do you think is meant when we are made in God image ???

Wills

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Arikay said:
just to point out, Animals can love too.

God also was able to walk at one point, as he walked through the garden of eden and talked to Adam and Eve like he was a normal living being.
He moved through Eden in the evening breeze, not as a human form..

They heard his voice and sensed his presence as the air rustled the garden plants

8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and

God can manifest Himself in many ways
 
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brewmama

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dlamberth said:
It's more than "appreciation", though I'm right with you, brewmana. When we Human Beings experience something in our being, like truth, beauty, holiness and other attributes of the Beloved, we are affected and changed and aquire wisdom and things that make us more human.

These are things of the mystic experience. That is why for me, what marks the Human Being different than the animals is that we are touched by the mystical experience.

..
Yes, of course, that is a much better way of putting it!
 
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evangelist

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Hezmasaveyour said:
"In the image of God created he them"

God made us in His image.When you look at the Hebrew version of the Bible,you will see that the use of the Hebrew word for God is plural.Thus leaving you with the Trinity.God is a spirit;However, Jesus is not. Jesus is God, thus , in the physical, we are created in the image of Jesus.We are created in the spiritual image of God.
Wasn`t Jesus created in flesh and bone???

So are we like Jesus ???
 
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SolomonVII

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dlamberth said:
The way I look at things, our true nature can be more apparent, even now in this life time. The thing is, we have to be much aware of our spiritual selves than we tend to be. The saints, mystics and prophets of all of the spiritual traditions talk about the opening of our soul to a higher awareness. I personally feel that there is much to be said there. Conversely, I also feel that we find ways to limit the possibilities of the spiritual aspect of or being. I think that the reason why has a lot to do with our attachments to our ego.


...
This relates quite well with a point that Rising_Sun was making on another post in which he stated that, throught the grace of God, we may prevail against sin and become perfect before the Lord, or something to that effect.
In a Christian sense, it would not just mean becoming aware of our spiritual self, but allowing the Holy Spirit that loves us to guide us in our thoughts and in our actions.
As the example of Jesus reveals, to become the unblemished image of God in this life is possible for us in this life.
*********************
 
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Jesus_freak16

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Unique Creation said:
Here's what I personally think is meant by we are created in God's image;
It does not mean that we look like God physically, but that we can show other people what God is like by our actions. God is love. He is the source of wisdom, knowledge, kindness, truth, beauty and all that is good. We can show love to others, make decisions, be kind, be forgiving, tell the difference between right and wrong and be honest. In all these different ways we can be the image of God.
:clap: I completely agree with you on this one... God made us all unique and different he doesn't want us to look like him.. but have his wisdom.. and to be like him in spirit.. Your COMPLETELY RIGHT!!!;)
 
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Rescued One

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evangelist said:
Can we really say that God`s Character is that we have His character in our spirit and this is the Image???

Did Jesus have flesh in heaven and this is why we are formed in the flesh and bone??

God Bless
No, Jesus did not have flesh until he came to earth.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth" (John 1:1,14). The Word became flesh.
 
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9Harmony

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evangelist said:
[font=verdana, arial, helvetica]What do you think is meant when we are made in God image ???
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I here so many other people say that God has a body and bones, and has a form of a ahuman being.

What do you think about this , and what is meant in the likeness of God???

[/font]

Dear evangelist,

Good question.

From a Baha'i Perspective this is explained as man has the potential to develop all of the divine attributes of God. this is what is meant by Man is created in God's image. Not physical image, but the potential to acquire the spiritual attributes. The spiritual image.

Here are a couple quotes which explain this concept.

Loving Greetings, Harmony

"First of all, he is made in the image of God, in the likeness of the Supernal Light, even as the Torah saith, `Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.' [1] This divine image betokeneth all the qualities of perfection whose lights, emanating from the Sun of Truth, illumine the realities of men. And among the greatest of these attributes of perfection are wisdom and knowledge. Ye must therefore put forth a mighty effort, striving by night and day and resting not for a moment, to acquire an abundant share of all the sciences and arts, that the Divine Image, which shineth out from the Sun of Truth, may illumine the mirror of the hearts of men." Promulgation of Universal Peace, p 140

"...it is said that man has been created in the image and likeness of God.
Let us now discover more specifically how he is the image and likeness of God and what is the standard or criterion by which he can be measured and estimated. This standard can be no other than the divine virtues which are revealed in him. Therefore, every man imbued with divine qualities, who reflects heavenly moralities and perfections, who is the expression of ideal and praiseworthy attributes, is, verily, in the image and likeness of God. If a man possesses wealth, can we call him an image and likeness of God? Or is human honor and notoriety the criterion of divine nearness? Can we apply the test of racial color and say that man of a certain hue--white, black, brown, yellow, red--is the true image of his Creator? We must conclude that color is not the standard and estimate of judgment and that it is of no importance, for color is accidental in nature. The spirit and intelligence of man is essential, and that is the manifestation of divine virtues, the merciful bestowals of God, the eternal life and baptism through the Holy Spirit. Therefore, be it known that color or race is of no importance. He who is the image and likeness of God, who is the manifestation of the bestowals of God, is acceptable at the threshold of God-- whether his color be white, black or brown; it matters not. Man is not man simply because of bodily attributes. The standard of divine measure and judgment is his intelligence and spirit.
Therefore, let this be the only criterion and estimate, for this is the image and likeness of God. A man's heart may be pure and white though his outer skin be black; or his heart be dark and sinful though his racial color is white. The character and purity of the heart is of all importance. The heart illumined by the light of God is nearest and dearest to God, and inasmuch as God has endowed man with such favor that he is called the image of God, this is truly a supreme perfection of attainment, a divine station which is not to be sacrificed by the mere accident of color." -Promulgation of Universal Peace, p 69-70
 
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When we die our body returns to the earth and when we go to heaven our bodys will be made christ like. (Sorry do not have referrence to the scriptures here right now).

I think that God made us in his image according to our spirit. He also said that we are his vessel and not to damages it. I believe the vessel he is talking about is our bodies. So like a can of pop. We are nothing God like on the outside(our bodies). Our bodies are just the vessel that holds our spirits. I believe that when we go to heavn we will be pure in our spirits that the devil will not longer be able to inferaltrate our spirit and make us unclean.

I hope you are kind of understanding what I am meaning here.
 
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Qyöt27

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evangelist said:
What do you think is meant when we are made in God image ???
God is pure spirit. Humans have the capacity for spirituality, and to connect with others in ways that cannot be explained by chemical means. We have the ability to love unconditionally, feel guilt, feel spiritual pain and seperation, and on an opposite level, to feel hate and maliciousness that while it isn't Godly, it is spiritual in that it comes from something other than reason or instinct and can have the brute intensity of righteous feelings(correct me if I'm wrong, but I've never seen evidence stating hate was caused by chemicals in the brain). Spirituality doesn't necessarily have to be good or holy; the fallen angels are still spiritual in nature, but by no means godly or holy. The ability to have the capacity of spirit is the one we inherited directly from God, but when the sin nature entered into us before the expulsion from Eden, our spirit attained the possibility of leaning one way or the other, which seperates us from God and makes us search for what we're missing.

What do you think about this , and what is meant in the likeness of God???
Even though this would seem to conflict with the pure spirit idea, physically, the human form of a head, torso, legs, arms, and facial features. Basically, yes, God is spirit, but spirit could have a form, since there is no evidence against spirit not having some sort of form. I've read in several sources that one of the Hebrew words for God, Elohim, while being plural in form but used in the singular, is also constructed of masculine and feminine pairings (prefix/suffix, but I can't remember which was which). Taking from that, God is neither male nor female, which makes sense to some degree, since pure spirit wouldn't need to have sexual differentiation (besides, the purpose of being male or female is for reproduction; the sexes were differentiated so reproduction would be possible). It may have implications when referring to God as Father, but that terminology may be one out of familiarity (the rule of 'if unknown, assume male', for example), since God portrays both typically masculine traits and typically feminine traits in one being, leading to the idea that men and women have sets of attributes that corrolate to God, but not each other (I personally have some conflict with this, as I myself am far less masculine than most other guys; so the ability for understanding and empathy with the opposite sex is there, regardless of your own physical sex).

Matt4:4 , and does God have a mouth like we do , and fingers, and eyes , and ears like we human have?????
Interestingly, many Jewish legends talk of angels with multitudes of hands, eyes, mouths, and other physical attributes. God would probably assume the form of a human being with facial structures that would be familiar to us, as humans have these features and we were formed in His image. Christ was God incarnate, so by logic, He would have to look like a human to walk among us. Once again, spirit takes form, serves as model for human beings; Christ was made flesh in the image of God as well, so He would look just as humans do, since we were also made in the image of God. It is the degree of the image that seperates us from Christ. We are inherently flawed with sin nature and thus not a perfect image; He was not flawed, therefore being a true image of God in flesh.

John 1:18 no man has seen God at anytime so how can some prophets and people say they seen God and lived to tell what He looks like???
Most prophets or people that claimed/claim to have seen God were either having a vision (in which case they could live to tell about it) or were having a delusion. Of course, the out-of-body experiences many talk about that include a meeting with God and Him telling them it's not time for them and sending them back to Earth are probably more along the lines of God assuming a form (albeit human) that the person would be comfortable with, since He is limitless. This concept has been touched upon in various entertainment mediums such as movies and TV, but it is one which makes sense and doesn't seem to hold any conflict with Scripture.
 
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Individual-KesTrel

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I think god is a disturbance in the nothingness, that has grown/evolved into something unique. Even learning how to create disturbances in nothing to create materail like atoms iniatiate the big bang imagening the creation of entire planets. ( Can you imagen creating a planet? Especailly earth its so dynamic really something we can appreciate. )

I think god is an individual intellect. We are other intelligent individual intellects just like him. However as the great intellects children, why would he want us to learn in the dark? We have need for a material exsistance, to develop spiritually.
 
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