"Where is the one who makes us smarter than the animals..?" (Job 35:11, NLT).
"Do you think we are mere animals? Do you think we are stupid?" (Job 18:3, NLT).
"There is something about the way God is that is like the way we are."--J. P. Moreland, Scott Rae
It is vital to know that mankind is not some grown-up ape or descended from any species of the animal kingdom; he's the climax of creation and the special creation of God, in His image or imago Dei, i.e., he has a spirit, soul, mind, heart, and will to know God. Mankind is the magnum opus of God's creation--His ultimate expression and woman is the finishing touch! What makes us so unique though? Our DNA is actually closer to pigs though! There are similarities with the apes on a superficial level, but most evolutionists are inclined to believe we're apes or animals because they don't want to be responsible and want to act like animals with no accountability (cf. Psalm 10:4).
Animals communicate on a limited level, but mankind knows that he communicates; e.g., dogs bark, but don't bark about barking; i.e., they don't argue, have conversations, or communicate with their barking! We learn through dialogue. Animals may be conscious, but we're self-conscious! We alone have a developed language and are intelligent beings with the ability to reason. We increase our knowledge and pass it on to the next generation; we don't start from scratch with each generation but have a legacy. Mankind alone is conscious of God and has the volition to obey God, the heart to love God, and the intellect to know God--to communicate with God. Animals are oblivious to God's presence and have no appreciation nor awareness of Him, while mankind has eternity in his heart and feels the tug towards God, and a yearning to know Him and have a relationship.
Mankind alone has meaning, purpose, dignity, and fulfillment in life beyond himself or his kin. He lives for something bigger than himself, and something that will outlast him. Most live in light of eternity not for the here and now. All the senses of mankind, hearing, taste, tactile, vision, olfactory, and even balance are at a much higher level of awareness than that of the animals. We know that we taste, smell, see, hear, etc. We alone see all the colors and appreciate art that uses them. We appreciate good tasting food with discrimination and are creative in our cooking beyond what is instinct, we appreciate with our vision fine art and beauty, we fall in and out of love, we have a love for music, we have a sense of humor, and the ability to laugh, we love to have conversations and dialogue, and we love to smell fine aromas and scents.
We know that we have these senses and can communicate about them and appreciate them with pleasure animals don't know. For instance, we see all the colors and animals don't! God made us so that we would see beauty and things from His perspective, appreciating the beauty! We are highly discriminating in our tastes and know it. Mankind also has the unique ability to fall in love and to stay in love, and even to fall out of love, romantic love is unique, even though some animals have a courtship, they aren't creative, but go by instinct. It is said that elephants mourn their dead and eagles mate for life as similarities, but we know we do and get closure, resolution, meaning, or satisfaction!
Mankind is no animal! God placed us as stewards of the earth and to rule over it and subdue it with responsibility We are at the top of the food chain! Mankind alone has a sense of time and a consciousness of past and present, but this is to his detriment when misused: he tends to worry about the future and regret the past and anticipate the future while living in the past! Animals clearly live for the here and now! Mankind alone plans for the future, and not just storing nuts for the winter! Indeed, man is so creative that God said that if He let us be, we could do anything (referring to the tower of Babel). Have you ever observed an animal building a chapel?
The reason we are in the image of God is so that we can communicate with God and relate to Him; there's something about us that God is like--everything a person is, except sin and evil, God is! God is more and not less than we are and our Creator, so he knows our needs and desires. In fact, God is able to satisfy the desires of all creatures, and as creatures, and we have the inherent duty to obey God, whether rewarded or not. Animals have no choice to obey God as creatures, but God gave us the choice to choose Him and to obey Him willingly, not of coercion from some outside force.
In the image of God, we are spiritual, rational, emotional, humorous, musical, communicative, and moral beings (according to scholar Mark Fackler). Mankind senses the moral code or compass of God, and has a conscience to guide behavior, knowing fair play, decency, good faith, unselfishness, justice, good works in progress, whereby we become conformed to His image from glory to glory. Being in the image of God, we were made to know God (cf. John 17:3) and there is no greater thrill than sportsmanship, altruism, courage, bravery, integrity, honesty, truthfulness, fair play, straightforwardness, and all known fifty-two known virtues, (all biblical) that are from our image of God. We have this image so we can bring praise to God in a meaningful relationship and enjoy Him to the max forever. We alone are created for God's glory (cf. Isa. 43:7). We wonder at the image of Christ becoming manifest in our lives as God finding us. Per contra, animals don't build cathedrals!
God has searched us and knows us (cf. Psalm 139:1). "He made [our] hearts, so he understands everything [we] do" (Psalm 33:15, NLT). We not only know God, but He knows us (cf. Gal. 4:9). Not only do we relate to God, but He also relates to us and since Jesus became a man in the incarnation, God feels our pain and is in a position to understand us and what we go through (would you worship a God who knew nothing of pain and suffering?). We are to find out about the Lord's goodness on our own ("Taste and see that the LORD is good..." cf. Psalm 34:8). We wouldn't know what crooked was, unless we had an understanding of what straight is! Soli Deo Gloria!
"Do you think we are mere animals? Do you think we are stupid?" (Job 18:3, NLT).
"There is something about the way God is that is like the way we are."--J. P. Moreland, Scott Rae
It is vital to know that mankind is not some grown-up ape or descended from any species of the animal kingdom; he's the climax of creation and the special creation of God, in His image or imago Dei, i.e., he has a spirit, soul, mind, heart, and will to know God. Mankind is the magnum opus of God's creation--His ultimate expression and woman is the finishing touch! What makes us so unique though? Our DNA is actually closer to pigs though! There are similarities with the apes on a superficial level, but most evolutionists are inclined to believe we're apes or animals because they don't want to be responsible and want to act like animals with no accountability (cf. Psalm 10:4).
Animals communicate on a limited level, but mankind knows that he communicates; e.g., dogs bark, but don't bark about barking; i.e., they don't argue, have conversations, or communicate with their barking! We learn through dialogue. Animals may be conscious, but we're self-conscious! We alone have a developed language and are intelligent beings with the ability to reason. We increase our knowledge and pass it on to the next generation; we don't start from scratch with each generation but have a legacy. Mankind alone is conscious of God and has the volition to obey God, the heart to love God, and the intellect to know God--to communicate with God. Animals are oblivious to God's presence and have no appreciation nor awareness of Him, while mankind has eternity in his heart and feels the tug towards God, and a yearning to know Him and have a relationship.
Mankind alone has meaning, purpose, dignity, and fulfillment in life beyond himself or his kin. He lives for something bigger than himself, and something that will outlast him. Most live in light of eternity not for the here and now. All the senses of mankind, hearing, taste, tactile, vision, olfactory, and even balance are at a much higher level of awareness than that of the animals. We know that we taste, smell, see, hear, etc. We alone see all the colors and appreciate art that uses them. We appreciate good tasting food with discrimination and are creative in our cooking beyond what is instinct, we appreciate with our vision fine art and beauty, we fall in and out of love, we have a love for music, we have a sense of humor, and the ability to laugh, we love to have conversations and dialogue, and we love to smell fine aromas and scents.
We know that we have these senses and can communicate about them and appreciate them with pleasure animals don't know. For instance, we see all the colors and animals don't! God made us so that we would see beauty and things from His perspective, appreciating the beauty! We are highly discriminating in our tastes and know it. Mankind also has the unique ability to fall in love and to stay in love, and even to fall out of love, romantic love is unique, even though some animals have a courtship, they aren't creative, but go by instinct. It is said that elephants mourn their dead and eagles mate for life as similarities, but we know we do and get closure, resolution, meaning, or satisfaction!
Mankind is no animal! God placed us as stewards of the earth and to rule over it and subdue it with responsibility We are at the top of the food chain! Mankind alone has a sense of time and a consciousness of past and present, but this is to his detriment when misused: he tends to worry about the future and regret the past and anticipate the future while living in the past! Animals clearly live for the here and now! Mankind alone plans for the future, and not just storing nuts for the winter! Indeed, man is so creative that God said that if He let us be, we could do anything (referring to the tower of Babel). Have you ever observed an animal building a chapel?
The reason we are in the image of God is so that we can communicate with God and relate to Him; there's something about us that God is like--everything a person is, except sin and evil, God is! God is more and not less than we are and our Creator, so he knows our needs and desires. In fact, God is able to satisfy the desires of all creatures, and as creatures, and we have the inherent duty to obey God, whether rewarded or not. Animals have no choice to obey God as creatures, but God gave us the choice to choose Him and to obey Him willingly, not of coercion from some outside force.
In the image of God, we are spiritual, rational, emotional, humorous, musical, communicative, and moral beings (according to scholar Mark Fackler). Mankind senses the moral code or compass of God, and has a conscience to guide behavior, knowing fair play, decency, good faith, unselfishness, justice, good works in progress, whereby we become conformed to His image from glory to glory. Being in the image of God, we were made to know God (cf. John 17:3) and there is no greater thrill than sportsmanship, altruism, courage, bravery, integrity, honesty, truthfulness, fair play, straightforwardness, and all known fifty-two known virtues, (all biblical) that are from our image of God. We have this image so we can bring praise to God in a meaningful relationship and enjoy Him to the max forever. We alone are created for God's glory (cf. Isa. 43:7). We wonder at the image of Christ becoming manifest in our lives as God finding us. Per contra, animals don't build cathedrals!
God has searched us and knows us (cf. Psalm 139:1). "He made [our] hearts, so he understands everything [we] do" (Psalm 33:15, NLT). We not only know God, but He knows us (cf. Gal. 4:9). Not only do we relate to God, but He also relates to us and since Jesus became a man in the incarnation, God feels our pain and is in a position to understand us and what we go through (would you worship a God who knew nothing of pain and suffering?). We are to find out about the Lord's goodness on our own ("Taste and see that the LORD is good..." cf. Psalm 34:8). We wouldn't know what crooked was, unless we had an understanding of what straight is! Soli Deo Gloria!
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