what are the theories concerning what it means to be made in the image of god?

Answer 1

*The theory i was taught was that being created in the image of God was not how we physically look, but our ability to think, to reason, and to decide good or evil.*

Answer 2

This proves the fact that God has a form and man is made in that image. God is not impersonal void or light or something mystical.
We have the form because God has form and it is not the because we have form God has form. God is not something imaginary light something sits in the sky or cloud. He is very much a person like everybody else is, the only difference being that His form is completely spiritual and eternal,knowledgeable and blissful unlike the temporary material body we have now. Even, we as spirit souls are also of the same nature as that of the Lord.

Sir Isopanishad mentions,
"The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the Complete Whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance".

See below some excerpts from the purport to above by
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder-Acharya of ISKCON
(International Society for Krishna Consciousness)

Thus the Complete Whole is not FORMLESS. If He were formless, or if He were less than His creation in any other way, He could not be complete. The Complete Whole must contain everything both within and beyond our experience; otherwise He cannot be complete.

The Complete Whole, the Personality of Godhead, has immense potencies, all of which are as complete as He is. Thus this phenomenal world is also complete in itself. The twenty-four elements of which this material universe is a temporary manifestation are arranged to produce everything necessary for the maintenance and subsistence of this universe. No other unit in the universe need make an extraneous effort to try to maintain the universe. The universe functions on its own time scale, which is fixed by the energy of the Complete Whole, and when that schedule is completed, this temporary manifestation will be annihilated by the complete arrangement of the Complete Whole.

All facilities are given to the small complete units (namely the living beings) to enable them to realize the Complete Whole. All forms of incompleteness are experienced due to incomplete knowledge of the Complete Whole. The human form of life is a complete manifestation of the consciousness of the living being, and it is obtained after evolving through 8,400,000 species of life in the cycle of birth and death. If in this human life of full consciousness the living entity does not realize his completeness in relation to the Complete Whole, he loses the chance to realize his completeness and is again put into the evolutionary cycle by the law of material nature.

Answer 3

God’s image is replicated in every human being in the form of subtle energy centres that govern the autonomic nervous system. [It’s given the term auto by the medical profession because they do not understand how it functions]. These energy centres are just some of the components of an individual’s soul. Our physical appearance is just an outward expression like clothes that dress the individual soul and are determined by our parent’s genes, where we are born and the lifestyle we adopt etc.

All religions encourage us to “Know Thy Self” and it is to this inner sublime system that refers. Many mistakenly believe that knowing the self means indulging ones own ego, abandoning common sense and performing all sorts of activities without discretion and feel this freedom is their birthright. This had led to all the diseases we see in these modern times particularly STDs and stress related illness.

Knowing this image of the Self, the reflection of the creator within each of us enables the aspirant to gain higher awareness. A good analogy would be like a computer that is permanently connected to the web being able to perform more functions and access vast amounts of knowledge, a soul with direct connection through the autonomic nervous system with the Creator has unbelievable abilities and resources at their disposal.

This is not a theory but a fact that anyone can verify for themselves after receiving their self realisation. This is a living process that one can consciously ask for and experience through the central nervous system. [Like all living processes it is free of charge].

Answer 4

Gen.1 God says let us create man inour image.
Gen 2 Show the way man was created...He formed man from the earth and breathed in a spirit and the two became a living soul.
The image of God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Man is created in this image having both body and spirit and the two are one soul.

Answer 5

God Created Man in "His" Image, not Gods image...

All Evolution is guided by thought - man is currently evolving through technology, and therefore requires little in the way of additional natural evolution (i.e. man does not require 2 heads, 4 legs, etc - so nature does not grant them)

Religion has removed around 93% of Man away from Nature, and therefore, man has not evolved physically for at least 12,000 years; however few have evolved intellectually...

Answer 6

to be made in the image of god means that one has intellect and is a rational being. It does not refer to a physical resemblance to god because god is spirit and has no body.

Answer 7

First understand who or what is god and who are you....The body is a psychosomatic apparatus.Its only a body made of food.That cant be you.Neither are you the mind.Which is only a store house of memories and habits.take this path and you shall understand the true meaning of the image of god.

Answer 8

God created man in his image (not the image of God but man's image) so man was created the way he is today, they did not evoluate.

Answer 9

'in His own image' means 'the way he thought it best to have man look like'.eg the toyota corolla guys made toyota corolla in their own image.No one told them how to make toyota corola.they themselves came up with that image.it is their image.

Answer 10

We have flesh (Jesus) we have a mind (Father) and we have a life-force ( Holy Spirit ). It is that simple...