In His Image

I find myself thinking more and more about the dichotomy of creation and evolution, and how, to my mind, there is no logical conflict between the two.

I again heard the argument recently that evolution could not be simply because the Bible says that man was created in God’s image, and God is not a lower form of life.

The assumption that I must proceed from here is that they are speaking of our physical form. Again, as always when discussing the Bible, especially the Old Testament, I must ask you to try to put yourself in the mindset of a man who lived three to four thousand years ago. To that person, the human body and the processes of the human body were almost complete mysteries. But now, knowing what we know of the human body today, this idea begs some questions for me.

If man’s physical image were copied from the physical image of God, does that mean that God has a penis? The Christian fundamentalist argument is that the penis is for procreation and elimination of liquid waste, with pleasure being a secondary use. God does not need to procreate in the human way. As a matter of fact, although the Jews believed in a feminine energy to counterbalance the masculine energy (called the Shekhina), the Christians have utterly eliminated this belief. And does God need to (to put it bluntly) piss? I would think not. And God is presumably above the need for sexual relief that men have. So why would God have a penis? And what about an appendix? I know, I know, I can’t seem to stop talking about the appendix. So if God has a penis and an appendix, the question would be “Why does He have these things?”

And then there’s the belly button. I’m always amused by the question of if Adam and Eve had bellybuttons. The bellybutton, for those who don’t know, is how a baby receives nutrients from its mother in utero. So why would God have or need a bellybutton? He was not born of woman, so what use would he have for one? And if he didn’t have one and we DO, then are we truly created in God’s image?

Then there’s the fact that all men look different from one another. My physical image is different from Rush Limbaugh’s physical image… his physical image is different from Charles Durning’s physical image… his physical image is different from Aiden Quinn’s physical image… so which among us was created in God’s image?

And then there’s the prickly question of race. Up through fairly recently, people of non-Caucasian heritage were considered animals by the Caucasians. We know now that that is inaccurate AT BEST. So that begs an entirely new line of question. We know that, biologically, the race classified as “Negroid” (black people) were around for a LONG TIME before any of the rest of us. Does that mean that God is black? That would come as quite a shock to white so-called “Christian” racists. I find it difficult to believe that if God actually HAS a physical body that it is Caucasian.

And then there’s the prickly question posed by Genesis 2 that says that man AND woman were created together, in God’s image. Does that make God male or female? Both? Neither? If one or the other, then not all of us were created in His image. If both or neither, then none of us are.

So, do me a favor, if you can, anti-evolutionists. Answer these questions for me. If you can’t, then please drop this insane argument. It makes no sense.

My belief… and the only belief that makes logical sense to me… is that the “image” in which we were created is the image of God’s spirit. Our soul. Our intellect. It is the one thing that ALL humans, regardless of their physical image, have in common. Our bodies evolved from a lower order of creature, as science dictates, but we were touched by the divine spirit.

Peace.

Randal