Christians believe that God made man in His own image.
To say that this cannot be a reference to a physical image may be to state the obvious, but I will say it anyway.
I do not think Christians mean that God made man to reflect God’s physical image.
Which then takes me to what I have come to learn from the Holy Qur’an.
The Holy Qur’an tells me that at some stage of my development as a wee little foetus in my Mama’s womb, my Lord, my Creator, my Sustainer, the Most Merciful, breathed into my puny little heart beat, of His own Spirit.
Awesome, isn’t it?
In me resides the Spirit of the Divine!
In each of us, regardless of the faith we profess, resides that Divine Spirit breathed into us as we nestled, carefree, without want or desire, in our mother’s womb.
It is that spirit that fills us with the boundless capacity to love unconditionally.
And that Divine Spirit, I believe, is the image of God that my Christian brothers and sisters speak of.
To give of one’s own self, expecting nothing in return.
And in that giving, to find one’s peace with one’s Maker and all of His Creation.
Ben
February 4, 2014
Amen to that haris….nice to hear from u again after such a prolonged absence. Hope u haf been keeping well
Bumi Semua Manusia
February 4, 2014
That is why the “Know Thy Self” is a key understanding that has yet to be fully understood by people generally, even Muslims.
Long before we come into this world, our ‘Batin’ or if I may use Haris’ word i.e. His own Spirit, had made promises of what we need to do on this Earth. It is just, our ‘Zahir’ has yet to fully understand our purpose in life, hence the saying “Know Thy Self”.
That’s why i am intrigue by Matrix the movie when the One wants to go back to the Source.
I would interpret that as part of our journey deeper by knowing ourselves, then we are a step closer to Him.
Welcome back, Brother Haris.
abdullah37
February 4, 2014
Give men and women the freedom to believe in whatever they want to believe as long as they do not infringe on others’ rights. It is not wise for a non Christian to interpret the Bible verses just as it is equally unwise for a non Muslim trying to explain the Koranic verses. There are many things that sound illogical and fantastic in many other world religious texts too but are deemed to be the truth to their followers/believers. The gist of the matter is for us to respect others’ beliefs as much as we want them to respect ours. Religion is a matter of the believer and his God. Some of us have chosen even to worship Satan! As long as they do not become a nuisance to others, why the Hell should we care who they want to pray to? Why the Hell we care what names they call their Gods or the manner they worship their Gods?
zulkahfi
February 4, 2014
i can agree with you.
Sam
February 4, 2014
That image is LOVE.
Paul Warren
February 4, 2014
Ah…an old topic revisited!!
saw hin seang
February 4, 2014
Thank you for the revelation
Noel Silas
February 5, 2014
Awesomely well said..🙂
Zahariah
February 5, 2014
How truly it has been said:
“Remember always that we are not so much
humans seeking a spiritual life as we
are spirits for now having to lead a
human life.”
Peter
February 5, 2014
The Spirit of God was put into us at conception. The image aspect is not defined by the church as being physical as no one has seen God physically but taken as we were created in his image. And Christians believe that the same Spirit inspires us to be good and be faithful to his commandments. As for the Triune nature of God Christians believe that Jesus is the Word of God -The Logos is the Light (God)being revealed to us humans. St John writes that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God”. If another person of another religion wants to find fault of this believe he/she has no right as this is something based on faith. They cannot say that the Bible is corrupt and start attacking this. 2000 over years Christians have held to this and now suddenly in one corner of Malaysia people who do not even read the Bible start condemning this. Christians are told not to condemn another religion as the final truth will be revealed when we all die. So its best we all live our own faith taught as best as we can and let God decide who is wrong or who is right. This is a matter of metaphysics where no court can prove or argue as its beyond science and comprehension unless the judge is God himself. Let us live peacefully and accept the differences without being bigots.
TWY
February 5, 2014
“Boundless capacity to love unconditionally”
“To give of one’s own self, expecting nothing in return.”
Mahathir’s worshippers will find these very offensive.
They believe in endless capabilities and capacities to be self-centred.
Anything other than that is hypocritical.
Human relations are so narrow that competition means survival , survival means “endless possibilities”.Endless possibilities excludes the room for love to survive.
The reality that one is born into this world is his/her parent’s fault not survival-related fault.