Imago Dei – being in the image and likeness of God – is one of the first things we learn about ourselves in Genesis 1. God creates humanity, breathing life into the clay (that’s in chapter 2). This breath of life is what most theologians believe to be what the author of Genesis is getting at, but there are lots of Christians who believe that men – the Apostle Paul is one of them – are literally made in the physical image of God. In Genesis 2, the woman, the myth tells us, is some kind of genetic copy, made from the very bones of the man. This comes after extensive experimentation, in which God creates animals and Adam names them. None of them, verse 20 tells us, were what God and Adam were looking for, so God used anesthesia, took out God’s scalpel, and removed a rib. By the way, there are also people – I kid you not – who teach that men have one less rib than women, something I think should be easy to check. Anyway.
Much of this comes from how we imagine God, and I have found that most people think God looks a lot like they do. Hence, the kerfuffle over white Jesus. There is absolutely no way Jesus was anything but brown – the Bible would have told us like it describes King David – yet so many people are horrified when we suggest that Jesus wasn’t white. After all, wasn’t Christianity initially a white person’s religion? (No, it wasn’t). Most images of God would tell us so. Human beings are funny that way; we get instructions from God on how to live and then we work them into a convenient way to support our personal choices. We can see this in the Prosperity “gospel” and White Christian Supremacy – Jesus is turned into a money-making, gun-toting, bicep-flexing warrior.
I hear the “God is…” argument all the time. God is – a liberal, a conservative, a pacifist, an avenger, a … Too often, we use our politics and culture to define our faith rather than the other way around. We see the message “Vote Your Faith!” everywhere we look, but do we really know what that means? Did Jesus teach His disciples that women were under the domination of men (Hint – No – that was the Apostle Paul and some writers of the Epistles)? Would Jesus tell us to legislate so that rights would be taken away, or would He tell us to vote out of love of neighbor and self and God? How do you imagine God? Is God only on your side, or is God there for everyone? These questions are at the root of our national dysfunction – the Religious Right is waging a holy war on all that they disagree with, and in some ways, they are winning.
I don’t think anyone can truly know who or what God is; Jesus knew this, so He used similes, analogies, and metaphors to teach His followers about God. I believe that Jesus is the incarnation of God, but I also know that Jesus was human, which God is not. You can see the struggle, right? I can’t totally understand God by reading about Jesus in the Bible, so I do my best to be my best version of a spirit-infused, flawed and sinful individual. I am in the Image of God, as are you. That, I think, is enough responsibility for each of us to bear. Trying to judge other’s worthiness is above my pay level. I have enough trouble keeping track of myself.
Prayer – Holy God, thank You for kissing my soul with Your Holy Spirit. Help me to be worthy of that gift. Amen.
Today’s art is “Humming Suckle” by Hilaida Minosa, 2022.