Free Essay Sample on The Dignity of Humans in the Bible

Introduction

This paper will summarize the book of Genesis Chapter 1 to explain the dilemma brought about by science on the story of creation. The dilemma here is the impression that God created the entire Universal under one earth week. Besides, the Bible has continuously taught us that God is all-powerful. Therefore, we may as well easily believe the dilemma. However, the book of Genesis does not support this dilemma anywhere. Genesis 1 clearly states that God did not make all the cosmos at once. He made them in bits. Moreover, every successive bit ushered in a higher, more complex yet organized form of matter and life. Suffices to say, the book of Genesis is highly sophisticated and requires keen reading. Although we are concerned about the moral ramifications of creation, we must not allow the question of duration to shadow the primary subject of the phases, that mankind is the apex of God’s creation.

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The Apex of Creation

Undoubtedly, human beings are the peak of creation, the highest pinnacle of God’s work. The Bible says God made us in His image. Furthermore, in Genesis 1: 26 God granted us the privilege of dominance over the earth and every that lives in it (Crystal, 201). He created the earth for our occupation. Hence, humans are special beings compared to other creatures. For instance, when one returns home, they instinctually understand that they are a higher priority than the structure they call home and its furnishings. The house and furnishings exist because of us, not the other way round.

In Matthew 6: 25 - 30, Jesus states that although God spent so much time caring and embellishing vegetation and wildlife, He spent even more time and care on the humankind (Farstad, 2014). This is a clear indication yet that humankind is supreme in God's eyes compared to other living things. The earth is an ecosystem and we all depend on one thing or another for survival, for instance, the sun, plants, and food for human beings. Yet, we naturally realize that we are more significant and huge than the sun. That impulse is affirmed by the Genesis account. The sun was made for us; not we for it. It is our worker, not a divine being to be served, as various individuals thought in the past. We know that the sun exists and understand its functions. However, the sun does not know about us.

Value of Humanity

The book of Genesis has continuously stated God’s satisfaction with His work immediately after creating the earth. This is the direct opposite of teachings offered at different eastern religions. For them, God did not create the earth and could not have. Moreover, they add that human beings and the earth were created by some lesser and considerably less shrewd ‘power.’ Some renowned Greek theorists and theologists believed that the body represented the tomb of the soul since it is made of matter, and hence contaminates the spirit that abides in it. This belief has prompted different a wide range of undesirable perspectives to life. The Bible, conversely, proposes that our bodies are good and all their respective inherent desires are good and are to be appreciated (however, obviously, controlled and not distorted).

The Bible likewise instructs in Genesis 1: 26 – 27 that human beings, as opposed to other living creatures, were created in God’s image and likeliness (Farstad, 2014). This implies, in any case, that God created human beings to act as His representatives. To act as His emissaries among all other things, both living and non-living on earth. God tasked us with the responsibility of caring for them putting human beings on leadership and superior positions over other creatures. This task expresses great regard and dignity. Therefore, human beings should not abuse or inflict unnecessary harm to other creatures since we represent God. That is to say, likewise, that all human life is holy and sacred. For instance, it is okay for one to throw down his/her phone in anger and destroy it because it is a non-living thing. However, it is unacceptable for one to say murder since it is a sin that the Bible condemns. When one commits a murder, he/she is killing God's representative on earth (Robson, 2016).

Furthermore, a human’s worth is not dependent on how beautiful, healthy, smart, powerful, or wealthy one is but basically on the fact that God created all human beings in his image and likeliness. That is the reason abortion is highly discouraged in Christianity. Even if a child is born and they seem weak or handicapped, the Bible proposes love for all mankind. The elderly in society is to be loved. We must not despise the poor for the Bible says that those who oppress the poor insult God (Farstad, 2014). Besides, the book of Acts 17: 26 states that we were all created from the same rib irrespective of our social or cultural status (Crystal, 2010). No human being should, therefore, feel inferior. Women, too, are made in the image and likeliness of God. Therefore, they also must be treated equally as men.

Teachings About Creation

As stated in previous sections, God created all human beings in His image and likeliness. He made us act as His representatives on earth and awarded us with superiority dominance over all other creatures on earth. Despite the dominance, the book of Genesis adds that God created the earth ecosystem in a manner that reminded us that He is still supreme over all creation. For instance, we need light to survive. From the book of Genesis, God created the sun, the moon, and the stars that all provide us with the necessary light for survival. Not only does the book of Genesis highlight the difference between light and darkness. It adds: ‘And God named the light Day, and the darkness Night’ (Gen 1: 5). This verse is notable for two important reasons.

One introduces the topic of naming and classification in the Bible as seen from God. Naming and classification in science, referred to as taxonomy, is one of the important activities. Indeed, in Genesis 2: 19, we see God transferring the role of naming animals to Abraham. This act is a clear indication that even though science has largely been used to challenge the Bible, it is God who gave all of us, including the criticizing scientists the mandate to do science.

Two and lastly, there is a clear contrast between light and day. By using scientists, God has been able to draw our attention to the mechanism behind the light and night science. Scientists found about the solar system and how it operates hence we were able to make the distinction between night and day. Once-daily, the earth rotates along with the solar system around the sun exposing certain parts of it to the sun while others remain in darkness.

What is valid for physical light, is considerably more genuine of that good and spiritual light that we have to understand life, and to live as we should. That spiritual light is non-existence in human beings either, regardless of their intellectual prowess. Moreover, it is also absent in all the gathered shrewdness of humankind. As the Bible says: ‘I know, O Lord, that the way of mankind is beyond their control, that mortals, as they walk, cannot direct their steps' (Jer 10: 23). The exercise is that we have to go to a wellspring of light and insight that is outside ourselves and our reality—the Creator himself. The New Testament essayist John puts it thusly: 'God is light and in him, there is no obscurity by any means. On the off chance that we state that we have cooperation with him while we are strolling in murkiness, we lie and don't do what is valid' (1 John 1:5–6). In any case, we should turn to see the message of the Bible on the meaning of being a human being.

Conclusion

We all, and youngsters specifically, should be reminded that the human brain and body comprise of a carefully adjusted system and hence must be cared for nicely. In this way, there is an inbuilt want for food that increases our appetite and thus maintaining our physical life. In any case, sometime individuals might be enticed to mishandle their bodies in a manner that is both unfortunate and misleading. They do it since it appears to guarantee bliss, superb rushes, and opportunity from weariness or stress, though in established truth it might, in the end, annihilate the sensitive accuracy building of the body and the mind, and lead to hopelessness and even passing.

Such alerts are essentially significant. In any case, while an ethical system that is based on the value of the human body as an organic machine is acceptable, it is not sufficient. Our bodies are not just machines that appeared by chance because of visually impaired purposeless powers chipping away at the careless issue. If that is what they were, we would be stupid to spoil them. Once we had pulverized them that would be their end. However, God made our bodies more special than that. They are a blessing, a gift He specifically designed for each one of us.

I would be a fool if a rich person offered me a car and I ended up ruining it by pouring water in the petrol tank. Additionally, the person will feel angered and insulted. Thus, we would be answerable to God if we destroy our bodies. Since as indicated in the Bible, the passing of the body is not the end of one’s existence. There will be a revival; and we will all need to offer record to God of the things we have done in the body (2 Cor 5:10). By abusing our bodies, we wreck them and ruin others' bodies as well. Hence we cannot anticipate that God should stay uninterested.

References

Crystal, D. (2010). Begat: The King James Bible and the English Language. Oxford University Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=mNWsewUDxcYC&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=king+james+bible&ots=GAJjZ7nfpI&sig=WyPZg6uhRbLGmVWU73iELbLhJYA

Farstad, A. L. (2014). The New King James Version: In the Great Tradition. Thomas Nelson.

Robson, J. E. (2016). Translating the Old Testament: Learning from the King James Bible. Open Theology, 1(open-issue). Retrieved from
https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/opth/open-issue/article-10.1515-opth-2016-0015/article-10.1515-opth-2016-0015.xml