bilbo baggins
New member
...glimmering Icon for God? There’s something special about people and we all know it.The death of a person is simply a different category than the death of an ivy vine, an insect, or even an idea.
So what makes humans different than anything else?
The Bible provides a clue when it says that humans were made in the image and likeness of God .
But what exactly does this mean? How are humans made in God’s image?
The Greek word for image, eikon, where we get our word icon. Consider how an icon on a computer screen works. It’s a small picture that represents and points to another file or program when functioning properly. In the same way, human beings or Eikons, are people who somehow represent and reflect God himself when
functioning as designed.
People who may be tempted to think they are less valuable according to the world’s standards – the chronically ill, poor, immigrants, orphans, outcasts, or socially marginalized – are often highlighted in the Bible as especially significant to God.Sin itself doesn’t destroy the image of God in us. Sin seems to corrupt, corrode or distort the image, but does not eradicate it completely. Surely, we are all cracked Eikons beyond the abilities of self-repair. Nevertheless, there remains a glimmer of God’s image in all of us.
When God originally made humans uniquely in his image, he made beings with an unmatched ability to relate to each other and to himself. And though sin brings brokenness into our
relationships, it does not remove the relating ability altogether. Even people at odds with one another have a relationship, albeit a fractured one.
So, which is it?
A quality we have been given, an ability to be in relationship,..... or a purpose we serve?
.
In Jesus Christ, we see the only perfect and complete example of one who fully bore God's
image.
John 10:33-36
33 "For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou being a man, makest thyself God.
34 "Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said Ye are gods?
35 "If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
36 "Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?"
If God is omni-present , then God is within humans. If God is within man then his kingdom can also be found there, for where the kingdom is there also abides the king.
So what makes humans different than anything else?
The Bible provides a clue when it says that humans were made in the image and likeness of God .
But what exactly does this mean? How are humans made in God’s image?
The Greek word for image, eikon, where we get our word icon. Consider how an icon on a computer screen works. It’s a small picture that represents and points to another file or program when functioning properly. In the same way, human beings or Eikons, are people who somehow represent and reflect God himself when
functioning as designed.
People who may be tempted to think they are less valuable according to the world’s standards – the chronically ill, poor, immigrants, orphans, outcasts, or socially marginalized – are often highlighted in the Bible as especially significant to God.Sin itself doesn’t destroy the image of God in us. Sin seems to corrupt, corrode or distort the image, but does not eradicate it completely. Surely, we are all cracked Eikons beyond the abilities of self-repair. Nevertheless, there remains a glimmer of God’s image in all of us.
When God originally made humans uniquely in his image, he made beings with an unmatched ability to relate to each other and to himself. And though sin brings brokenness into our
relationships, it does not remove the relating ability altogether. Even people at odds with one another have a relationship, albeit a fractured one.
So, which is it?
A quality we have been given, an ability to be in relationship,..... or a purpose we serve?
.
In Jesus Christ, we see the only perfect and complete example of one who fully bore God's
image.
John 10:33-36
33 "For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou being a man, makest thyself God.
34 "Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said Ye are gods?
35 "If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
36 "Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?"
If God is omni-present , then God is within humans. If God is within man then his kingdom can also be found there, for where the kingdom is there also abides the king.