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Take man as more than physical beings

It’s my idea that many people have a problem with believing in a man-like God perched on a cloud running the cosmic show. What if the phrase “Let us make mankind in our image and likeness” (Gen. 1:26) referred not to a physical image but to a spiritual one?

After all, “the Lord God formed man out of ... dust ... and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” (Gen. 2:4). Could the breath of life not be God’s spirit and creativity, and the spirit and creativity be God’s likeness? (leaving it unsaid whom “our” refers to).

Man is clearly more than a physical object (think of consciousness, mind, conscience, imagination and other phenomena that enable our creativity that obviously are not physical). It’s my belief that there is a “God,” but that God is an infinite and eternal underlying “power” (because we don’t have a word for it) that existed before the universe, still does, and will exist after it.

I originally imagined this “power” as an underlying intelligence but now understand it more as a consciousness. There seems to be some support for this idea in quantum theory, but who knows?

One thing is certain: There had to be something before the universe, a cause the effect of which is the universe we know. It can’t be proved because one cannot define a cause by its effect(s) but, just suppose. Man has a built-in need to explain himself, and a God helps immeasurably. Truly understanding God in whatever form is impossible because we have no standard with which to compare, but could the standard then be spiritual? I think so.

You may wish to refer to www.extremeethics.org/?p=745 and/or www.extremeethics.org/?p=762. The site has many such posts.

Fred L. Fox

Durango



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