Salty Booger
Royal Crown Cola (RC)
What is meant by the term Image of God? Does God have an image in your opinion? Is the term more comprehensive than we can imagine? What are your thoughts?
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The Image Of God
- Thread starter Salty Booger
- Start date
Hermit Philosopher
Selflessly here for you
That Man is created in the “image of God”, means 2 things to me:
- That Man lives/dwells/is in God, and
- That, like God, Man cannot but attempt to comprehend what is experienced.
Hermit
It was referring to our natures (having a rational mind, free will, ability to love and pursue justice, etc.), not anything to do with appearance.
Katzpur
Not your average Mormon
If the Bible is to be believed, He does. Since human beings are said to have been created in His image, I believe that answers the question. Do you have an image? What is it?
Katzpur
Not your average Mormon
Since when?
MNoBody
Well-Known Member
since always
Salty Booger
Royal Crown Cola (RC)
I am of the opinion that God can be seen in everything.
Since God is Not physical, then Adam (people) being created in the image of God would mean in God's qualities such as: Love, Justice, Wisdom and Mercy.
In other words, we can reflect God's main attributes or qualities to varying degrees.
When we look into a mirror we see an image or a reflection of who we are: physically.
So, in a 'spiritual sense' when we read what Jesus taught we can see an image or reflection of what kind of person we should be.
A self-sacrificing person in showing Christ-like love as Jesus said to be at John 13:34-35.
If you're referring to my post, that's just the normative interpretation. The only group I know of who thinks God the Father has a physical body are Mormons and they have a bunch of other beliefs that set them apart from any other Abrahamic religion (like their polytheism, which they're loathe to admit to outsiders).
Bird123
Well-Known Member
We are all Spiritual beings in our true natures just as God is. Our true image has nothing to do with our physical appearance. Perhaps image is no more than a reflection of who one really is.
Now, one can picture an image of what one believes God is, based on all their knowledge and beliefs of God, however this image is lacking in truth and pales in comparison to an actual encounter.
That's what I see. It's very clear!!
samtonga43
Well-Known Member
I don't think that everything in the Bible is spiritualized.
Katzpur
Not your average Mormon
I would agree that evidence of His existence certainly can be. But that doesn't really address the question of whether He has an image.
Katzpur
Not your average Mormon
Okay, then why are the two terms not listed as synonyms for one another in any dictionary you can name? You look at yourself in the mirror; what do you see? An image or an idea? Your camera captures a beautiful sunset. When you look at the picture, what do you see? An image or an idea? That little boy looks just like his dad did at his age. Is the child in the image or the idea of his father? Michaelangelo sculpted the statue of David. Was that piece of art an image or merely an idea?since always
osgart
Nothing my eye, Something for sure
Maybe not everything! But I have heard things interpreted spiritually when it's very easy to see it as literal and physical.
MNoBody
Well-Known Member
an artifact is art, in fact, to turn a phrase.
one forms an idealization in the mind then makes the image imagined,
people thing before they think,
in that one gets a feeling, and then fleshes it out with imagery [things], then words....
school tends to educate the visualizing of images out of people and get them to think in text,
which is one layer deeper into the inception like experience we are all engaged in for that individual so afflicted with this aberrant thinking which takes little account for the primal formative relevance of their now sub-conscious processing of information...selective bias, cognitive dissonance ensues.
Katzpur
Not your average Mormon
Yes, but the idealization is a picture, so to speak. It's a concept of what the finished product will look like. An image is a mental picture, but it's still based upon more than a vague notion. If someone is said to be "the picture of health," or that he presents "a healthy image," you'd know that the person appears healthy. Looking at someone, you would say that he either appears to be healthy or not. That is the image he portrays. An image is not the person, place or thing itself, but the representation of what that person, place or thing looks like.
Please understand that I am using the word "image" as it is typically used in daily conversation. The following examples are taken from the Your Dictionary website:
1. At no time were the images blurred or fuzzy.
2. Most diverse thoughts and images occupied him simultaneously.
3. Images of landmark buildings, of the seven greatest wonders of the ancient world, and city scenes from around the world.
4. Images of him sliding it south, towards the part of her that ached, filled her mind
5. These in the middle, I'm guessing about, Tamer said, circling half the images he'd drawn.
It's very straightforward. In each of these cases, the word "image" is used to describe the physical appearance of something -- not an idea.
People want to insist that the use of the word "image" in Genesis means something entirely different from the way they would typically use the word in everyday conversation. I don't get why this is.
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