TSoGS? The Story of God's Story - a fifteen week whirlwind tour of the Bible. If you missed Sunday, here's a link to week one's guide which has a five day reading plan. Why five days? If you are faithful, you can use the weekend to explore other readings or if you slip behind, you can use the weekend to catch up. Our readings are truly just skimming the surface of God's Story.
O Lord, may my soul rise up to meet you as the day rises to meet the sun.
We've really been focusing on world-view here - not science or history. Genesis 1 sets the tone for how we should view the world and this text on what to make of humans. I hope you understand how critical this is.
If you have a evolutionary understanding of the universe, you will see humans as just a higher reasoning animal on a planet of animals that arrived here quite by chance. This impacts everything including your ethics on how to treat others and the role of sexuality (hey - we're just animals).
If you have a pagan understanding of the world - that divine is behind and in everything, your ethic is about appeasing the gods and dividing your world into spheres for each god. This requires you to walk gently, especially in areas where two god-spheres overlap. It means you have to choose allegiance and in doing so, you will probably offend the god you didn't vote for. It means, since divine is in everything, you can carve a piece of wood into an image of anything and worship it, because you brought the divine essence to the surface. It will also include magic - if you do just the right thing, you can manipulate or make the god do what you want. Later on you'll see this play out in the biblical text. This was the prevailing world view that the Hebrew people were up against and what makes monotheism so unique. Hope all this makes sense.
Can you imagine how hard it is to shift your world view? It would rock your world - everything changes - you see the world differently. Everything you held dear is now a lie. To get to this, requires a paradigm shift of epic proportions. If you do believe in God, think how your world would shift if you didn't. Just as a new way of looking at God (angry to loving to holy and loving God) will shift your relationship with Him.
Okay deep breath. can we look at the text? What does this small set of verses teach us about God and ourselves? (This is the first God-story intersecting with our story.)
1. "Let US make humans in OUR image . . ." Oh my. I thought there was only one God? Well if this was the only text I had, I could conclude that there are multiple gods like the Greek/Roman pantheon of gods. But I will cheat (a little) - when we look at the whole canon, we can see this as an introduction to mind-blowing understanding of the Trinity - God in three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Okay that's a big rabbit trail . . .
2. Human beings have authority - free reign/dominion over the earth/created animals. We are stewards of creation. Sadly we've abused this power and/or used this verse to justify the manipulation of our world for our own benefit and the detriment of other species. (Realize, we are still vegetarians (vegans actually) at this point.) And compare this with the pagan notion that we are not the king of the hill on this planet.
3. Humans are created in the image of God (imago Dei). Okay, how to unpack this in three sentences or less? Let's just start with an understanding that we have a spiritual nature - a soul - unique from every other creature. And there's that word - "understanding." We have reasoning abilities that mirror God's though on a finite level. And we have the moral image of God stamped on us. We were created good. Body type? Doubtful that the image of God meant looking physically like God (though we do anthropomorphize God and God doesn't seem to mind (unless we carve images). I'm editorializing a lot here - the text simply says "the image of God" - "beTzellum Elohim." But the Judeo-Christian understanding of humanity is informed by more than this text.
4. God is not sexist - both male and female are created in the image of God. This is very important as we learn how God intended for men and women to relate to one another. Is hierarchical marriage biblical? Not in God's pre-Fall world. Okay getting ahead of myself - we haven't gotten to "The Fall" yet.
5. There's a blessing and this blessing is connected to multiplication. And that's a big subject. So sex is a gift from God? Later . . .
6. Remember the vegetarian part? It's here. Would God want us to go back to this to honor the world he made? It's also very clear in light of this that "govern" does not mean "hunt to extinction." (and I like to hunt.)
7. And now drum roll please . . . with the addition of humans to the creation scene, the world goes from being good to VERY GOOD (my emphasis). Think about that. God is pleased with humans and delighted in this world He has made.
So is your world view changing? This passage is so rich and speaks to the unique and special place we humans have on this planet and with God. we are not random accidents of evolution. We are stamped with the image of God - like an artist who signs his painting or a potter who initials her jar - God enjoys and holds special what He has made. The psalmist - "I will praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made!" I will live as a being that honors God - a spiritual, moral and rational being that is also (and more than) hormones and digestive systems . . . My life is more than sexual and hunger urges though God created me with both. And these things - under the domain of God - are good because God created everything good.
Can I stop now?
1 comment:
I am watching God on Trial on PBS. powerful. profound. the questions of suffering and evil, especially in the intimacy of a concentration camp. how did good go bad?
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