God made man in his own image?

Question

For the sake of argument, let's assume this occurred.

Since God can take on any image he wants (burning bush, tower of smoke, etc) Why would God assume an image identical to man?

No need for arms or legs.
No need for eyes, ears, or head.
No need for internal structures.
No need for bone, muscle, etc.
No need for DNA or penis, no need for facial hair like a beard (ergo, how do you determine God is a "he")

If you subscribe to creationist beliefs, you believe God created more single-celled organisms that multi-celled organisms, and that the vast majority of multi-celled organisms look nothing like humans. Why claim God created man in his image when he spent so much time making life forms that look nothing like us?

Really, what practical sense does it make for God to assume a human form?

whynotaskdon: you're an imposter, child. I've seen WNAD's profile and he's not at level 1 ;-)...reported.

To those who claim man made god in his image: not implausible, but how do you explain Hindu imagery (multiple-armed deities) or Egyptian imagery (Anubis, Horus, et al)?

To those who argue "image" doesn't mean appearance: interesting, care to quote scripture to support your view?

To those who claim I should read the book: haven't looked at my profile much, or you'd see I've read quite a bit of it.

Bebop ("No mirrors in the garden right?") : think of a pond of water ;-)

Answer 1

If God can take any form, maybe he appeared to all creatures in forms like themselves? So that they could understand themselves. (No mirrors in the garden right?) Maybe we all think we were made in His image. Perhaps amebos think of God as this really old amebo with long flowing beard and white mitochondria.

Answer 2

God did not assume an image identical to man. The Scriptures say that God caused man to assume an image identical to God. Since God is a spirit without a physical form He has no need for arms, legs, eyes, ears, head, internal structures, bone, muscle, etc. When He created us we also were spirit but was given a sentence of death for eating the fruit of both the knowledge of good and evil. Contaminated with evil as we were we could not remain in the land of the living so we were cast down to the world of the dead. In other words, we are God's son and offspring. We're gods ourselves, but we are dead gods. And because we're dead we know nothing. We don't know who we are or where we came from or why we're here.

Answer 3

This is going to be a long one.

I don't understand the second line of this post.

God is fully spirit. He does not have a physical form, so he does not have any of these. As to the "he" (I'm gonna get flamed for this) God is described as this because he fills the traditional role of males in the relationship of God and his bride (the Church).

God does not assume human form. He created us in his image because we are spirit as well as the flesh we see every day. God created us to love good, hate evil, and know the difference.

Answer 4

Boy, have you ever missed the boat on this one.

This has nothing to do with our physical human form. Its allogorical in "HOW' he put us together.

He said, "Let US make man in OUR image" The "image" of GOD is the triune Holy Trinity. 1God consisting of 3 parts.

Man is 1 being consisting of 3 parts. Body, Souls and spirit. When God made man, he also "Breathed Life" into him. This was imparting the animating eternal soul and the Holy Spirit, which literally translates from "breath of God".

Simply meaning....all this is much much deeper in meaning than simply what we look like.

P.S. Dear DON:

Lighten up buddy....pray for him, don't wish a beating on him. Good grief...... its no wonder we're always having to defend Christianity.

Answer 5

Allah (God)

Islam is the complete submission and obedience to Allah (God).
The name Allah (God) in Islam never refers to Muhammad (pbuh), as many Christians may think; Allah is the personal name of God.



What do Muslims believe about Allah?



1. He is the one God, Who has no partner.
2. Nothing is like Him. He is the Creator, not created, nor a part of His creation.
3. He is All-Powerful, absolutely Just.
4. There is no other entity in the entire universe worthy of worship besides Him.
5. He is First, Last, and Everlasting; He was when nothing was, and will be when nothing else remains.
6. He is the All-Knowing, and All-Merciful,the Supreme, the Sovereign.
7. It is only He Who is capable of granting life to anything.
8. He sent His Messengers (peace be upon them) to guide all of mankind.
9. He sent Muhammad (pbuh) as the last Prophet and Messenger for all mankind.
10. His book is the Holy Qur'an, the only authentic revealed book in the world that has been kept without change.
11. Allah knows what is in our hearts.






These are some of the basic guidelines Muslims follow in their knowledge of God:
1. Eliminate any anthropomorphism (human qualities) from their conception of Allah. His attributes are not like human attributes,despite similar labels or appellations.
2. Have unwavering faith in exactly what Allah and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) described Allah to be, no more, no less.
3. Eradicate any hope or desire of learning or knowing the modality of His names and attributes.
4. Belief totally in all the names and attributes of Allah; one cannot believe in some and disbelieve the others.
5. One cannot accept the names of Allah without their associated attributes, i.e. one cannot say He is Al-Hayy - 'The Living' and then say that He is without life.
6. Similarity in names (or meanings) does not imply similarity in what is being described (referents). As a robotic arm differs from a human arm, so the "hand" of Allah is nothing like a human hand, His speech is nothing like human speech, etc.
7. Certain words are ambiguous or vague in their meanings, and thus may be susceptible to misinterpretation. Only those meanings that are in accordance with what is specified by Allah and His Prophet (pbuh) are acceptable.

Answer 6

The image of himself that God supposedly created in man was the greatness and glory of God, his moral charachter and such, not any physical attributes, since he is a spirit and not a physical creature.

This is the answer I found to this same question which I was thinking of asking here.

Answer 7

Why claim it? Because it is what God's word says. You can either spin off a bunch of arguments you've made in your own head that you think sound clever, or you can go read the book yourself if you genuinely want the answer.

Answer 8

Well God made humans in His image because we are special, one celled organisms are not. He assumed human form to be able to fully connect with us and to prove he knew what it was like to be human.

Answer 9

well. let me tell you. you are taking it too literally. think about it. it means in his own image, like we became the rulers of the planet. we have knowledge and common sense and knowing what is right and wrong. we are above all other animals. and we need to be able to make our own decisions to believe in him or not, so why not a human. (he made other animals because of the food chain) don't you think he's amazing? like how could he think this complex. we will never understand cause he is sooo smart.

Answer 10

I asked a question about God's sense of humor before. Anyone else think this could be God's biggest joke of all time, getting people to believe this?