Question 10 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, “How did God create man?”
The answer is, “God created man, male and female, in His own image and in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, to rule over the other creatures.”
What really jumps out at me when I read this answer is the second phrase, “in his own image.”
Thankfully, our Western culture is built around the foundational idea of the dignity of man. This thought informs our laws and our practice. We think that murder is wrong. We think that individuals have rights that should not be violated. We think that each person should be able to do or become whatever he wishes to be.
The Bible informs us that man’s dignity is a result from his being created in the image of God. The dignity that we have has been conferred on us by our creator.
I see in my country that there is no longer a consensus regarding the source of man’s dignity or even if there is anything special about man at all. This is not surprising when one starts from a naturalistic presupposition. If life is the result of a chance combination of a few proteins which developed through some chance mutations, then it is hard to see man in a different category from the rest of the universe.
But I have yet to meet anyone who held this position who actually lived consistently with it. While we may deny that man is special, we continue to live as though he is. As a society, we strive to eliminate poverty. We provide help to those who have been made homeless by floods, hurricanes and tornados. We create beauty through the arts. We live as though our lives have purpose.
This question in the catechism reminds me that all of our striving for meaning is a result of our being made in the image of God. Jesus affirmed this when he said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).
Agshin Jafarov says
October 31, 2016 at 2:44 PMHi Mark,
I wonder if there really was any in-depth and consistent consensus about dignity of man in this nation or any other? May be at the level of theory or belief there was but at the level of practice it was always a mixed bag. Humanity, because of original sin, finds ways to selectively apply this idea of human as the image of God. Even Christians (I’m one) had difficulty to live according to the belief that all humans (all of them, including those that we disagree or consider to be enemy) are God’s images.
The world we live in does not take the belief that humanity is the image of God seriously anymore. So nowadays we see humans being treated like a resource, or some kind of capital for certain ends rather than like God’s image dignified with a gift from Creator.
Anyway, interesting reflections. Thanks for writing this.
Mark McIntyre says
October 31, 2016 at 7:09 PMThanks Agshin for the thoughtful comment. I agree that there is no consensus about the dignity of man but a sense of dignity does seem to work it’s way to the surface. Any effort to improving the human condition or asserting human rights is an admission that there is something special about man. That being said, as you point out, we do not very often agree on the reason why man is special or agree on the implications of his being special.