In This Post:
Where do we get the idea that human life is precious? It is in the concept that man is created in the image of God. When we remove that value, atrocious things are done to humanity.
And the Lord God formed man
[1] of the dust (base element - apar) of the ground (adamah),
[2] and breathed into his nostrils the breath (n’shama- spirit) of life;
[3] and man became a living being (soul-nepes).
Genesis 2:7
There are some weird ideas about humanity.
Some says that mankind is the polluter of the world, while others go farther and say he is a virus.
On the other hand some say that mankind is able to perform higher reasoning while counter opinions tell us that whales and dolphins are at our intelligence level.
It is almost like we have been involved in an identity crisis hit and run.
One religion says man must be better, another says man must be saved whose either yet another seeks to kill or corrupt humanity to the core.
Where can we get a true evaluation of who we are?
.
The Bible is the only source of the true nature of the creation of man.
According to Scripture, man was created in three parts:
body (apar),
spirit (n’shama), and
soul (nepes).
The verse of his creation (Genesis 2:7) is even written in the parts:
The dust of the ground (body)
The breath of life (spirit)
A living being (soul)
This understanding is rooted in biblical teachings and has been explored by various theologians and spiritual leaders throughout history.
Man is a Threefold being, meaning three parts working as one, the body, the soul, and the spirit.
The Body - the part of man which deals with the physical realm
The Soul - the part of man which deals with the mental realm: his reasoning and intellectual powers
The Spirit - the part of man which deals with the spiritual realm
Your spirit is born-again.
Your soul is in the process of being born-again.
Your body is not born-again, and in its current state, it never will be for it will be transformed at the rapture.
This is the three-fold nature of man.
…I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body
be preserved blameless
unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:23
Man was created with a higher purpose than any other creature that God made. Our created intent was to be the one who has a reach into both earth and heaven.
No other creature can do that.
Our bodies are made out of the dust from the ground, but our spirits are from God Himself. When these these two elements (dust and spirit) are fused together, they form a living being. This is why life is sacred, because this dust has been touched by the divine nature of God.
Some have mistakenly thought that man's spirit and soul are the same thing.
However, the Bible says,
"For the word of God is quick, and powerful,
and sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit…"
Hebrews 4:12
The image of God in man, or imago Dei, is a theological concept in Christianity and Judaism that is a fundamental part of our belief.
It is based on the Genesis 1:27 passage, which states, "So God created man in his own image."
The Hebrew phrase for “image of God” is Tzelem Elohim.
Tzelem is most likely from the root meaning “shadow” and so we are like the shadows God casts on the world.
The idea is clear enough: there is something uniquely sacred about human life.
How can there be a holocaust of the Jews?
A genocide of Armenia, the first nation to adopt Christianity?
The 'Killing Fields' of Cambodia, the murder of un-birthed human children all represent vile acts of evil that can occur when human life is devalued.
How can the Image of God be so devalued?
What began as a simple boycott of Jewish shops and ended in the gas chambers of Auschwitz as Hitler. (1)
When the Islamic "Young Turks" came to power, they removed and murdered all Armenian males, then drove all women and children or months over mountains and desert, often tortured, raped or mutilated. (2)
Then today we have aborted (murdered) of 63 million babies since 1953.
What mindset could allow such an atrocities to occur?
When the truth of the nature of man - that we are made in the image of God - is denied, then the lie that man is an animal, that we evolved from the primordial goo, and that we are an offshoot of the primate tree of Darwin's confusion, we can do such acts. All these redefinitions of our nature work to undermine our divine attachment that we have as a special and direct creation of the Creator.
We will take a more in depth look at each of these aspects of God's human creation.
Next Post:#3: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
Other Posts in the Series:
Main: Blog Main Page
Content Trademark TM - STORM SHELTER PRESS
contact: stormshelterproductions@gmail.com
Comments