What Makes Us Human?

"Where is God my Maker? ... Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth?  (cf. Job 35:10-11). 

"Do you think we are mere animals? Do you think we are stupid?" (Job 18:3, NLT).

If you were the ultimate biologist, you could figure out how to make a robot come to life and find the secret to life itself that is common to all lifeforms.  But one trait of life is information storage in DNA and that is quite astounding with 23,000 genes and 3.1 billion rings in a helix ladder.  Every cell in your body has more information stored in it than all 30 volumes of an encyclopedia.  The possibility of making a human being a la Frankenstein is purely prima facie implausible.   What more, mankind has not even been able to define life or duplicate it and all such attempts have failed to come off even if rigged in favor of it, in any life creation experiment; they have tried in vain even cheating by interfering or changing the so-called primordial soup.   

Note that if we did manipulate a primordial soup to form basic life forms, it would only prove that it takes the magic ingredient of intelligence. This begs the question, where did this soup come from?   We need an Ultimate Mind for that and to create the manifold lifeforms.  The divine order is Thinker, thought, thing.  Intelligence comes from a mind, not random, pure energy.  Signs of intelligence are signs of intellects. 

It is said that there is something about the way God is that we are!  We are in the image of God or imago Dei for a reason.  Yes, what is human nature and some worldviews deny there is one!  But why is that we seem to act like there is one and isn't that proof enough?  We are not robots, automatons, puppets, or playthings of God but are free agents with a will of our own.  We are not animals who act by instinct, instead we are rational, intuitive, artistic, poetic, musical, humorous, creative, moral, spiritual, and communicative. God gave only us the gift of language to facilitate a relationship with Him. Yes, all of the above traits show we are in the image of God and not apes.  Would you trust the convictions of a monkey?  We are capable of a complete worldview: convictions, beliefs, ideas all about reality.  These things answer the deep and big questions of life that we uniquely wonder about: where did we come from, why are we here, where are we headed, is there a God? 

Plato said that if he wanted to live in reality, he would need to know what God is like.  We can know God and have a relationship with Him because He also is a person and wants to get personal with us.  A force or principle cannot love you.  You use things but relate to persons!   God wants to relate to us personally and let us get to know Him because He loves us.  Note that Obi-Wan Kenobi didn't tell Luke Skywalker that the force loved him!  We all as humans need companionship, fulfillment, dignity, purpose, meaning, and respect and this we get in knowing God and we deserve it just because we are human.  It is because we are in the image of God that we have human rights; they are conferred by God but secured by the state.  

Christians are more human than infidels because they know God and are doing His will and finding purpose and meaning in serving Him.  Infidels generally live for themselves and not for some higher cause or power.  Religion is just trying to please God or earn salvation by good deeds, hoping they will outweigh the bad ones.  Christians are able to worship God because they are alive spiritually and the infidel is dead spiritually.  This is a whole new perspective and outlook on life from God's view.  We are made to worship and if we don't worship God, we will worship someone or something else.  It is not human as meant to be to worship power, fame, success, money, education, achievement, or celebrities.  These all are idol worship and are sinful and contrary to what we are designed for. Other things we are designed for are work and fellowship or friendship.  We are made for each other. It is said that those who have learned to serve others are the happiest people.  

Jesus was human as well as God and is the perfect Exemplar of what we ought to be and He led the sinless life that we all fall short of achieving.  To be human also means to sin because we are born in Adam but we have the chance to be redeemed from this state and be transformed into new creatures who have the capability to overcome sin and not be controlled by it. We can become dead to sin!  But this redemption and renewal is predicated on committing one's life to Christ as Lord and Savior.  We must first repent as the prerequisite and believe that Jesus is the living God who died for our sins and rose again to prove His deity.  We must then give Him the ownership of our lives and helm of our soul to obey and follow Him wherever He leads us.  We must do all this by translating our creeds into deeds and proving, authenticating, and validating our faith and repentance by fruit or good deeds that we will be known and judged by. 

Now, what does this image mean to us? Man is like God and God formed us in His image, we didn't form God in ours! There is a bona fide similarity because God is a person, we are too, and able to communicate with each other; we have a mind to know God, a heart to love Him, and a will to obey Him--animals don't but are driven by instinct. Man is capable of rebelling against God and going his own way, and he does! The obvious truth is that if we are persons, God has to be greater than a person or a person Himself to a greater degree in order to create us! Except for our sin and limited nature, whatever we are as persons, you can say about God.

How are we like God then? We are rational, emotional, communicative, moral beings, that have dignity, purpose, and meaning in life. We can relate to God as a person because of this--God is just perfect, infinite, immutable, almighty, invisible, omniscient, holy, etc., and God is Spirit, while we have bodies! Originally Adam and Eve had no sin, and were innocent, not knowing good and evil, nor what that means, but now they are guilty before God as sinners in need of redemption, and this image is marred and will be restored someday in glory. Being like God, we are creative and have the imagination that can be communicated and enjoyed.

How do we know we are not animals, that we're unique? Have you ever observed an animal of any species building a chapel, or communicating with God in prayer? Do animals have a conscience, and feel guilty when they've disobeyed or sinned? Animals have a will of their own, for sure, but not to disobey or obey God--animals are oblivious to God's presence and dimension. Only man has the ability to reflect on the past, present, and future, making plans, etc., and to criticize himself or see himself through other people's eyes objectively. Man alone is rational (you can reason with him, and he can reason and learn from it), and is able to communicate all thoughts and feelings, in written, verbal, and body language.

Man alone judges and criticizes and this is because he has a conscience that knows right and wrong by nature; you don't call something crooked if you don't have some idea of what straight is. Man has discernment, ability to distinguish spirits, and insight; however, animals have instinct--they're basically creatures in heat, seeking food and shelter, only to perpetuate their kind. Do animals appreciate art and design, though they may be beautiful, none appreciate it, except in the opposite sex for the mating ritual?

Furthermore, do you realize that man alone can enjoy something vicariously? Man can accumulate and increase a body of knowledge and pass it on to succeeding generations and builds civilizations and cultures. Animals stay at the same level of learning (by instinct) their full lives and never increase in knowledge generation after generation. Animals can mate for life, but they do not fall in and out of love, it's a basic instinct, hormones, and testosterone in action, not the soul or spirit. Animals, such as dogs and cats can show similar qualities of love and affection but have no desire on the abstract level with God (or ideas, learning, wisdom, causes, etc.), and that dimension of relationship.

Now, God says in Genesis 1 that He breathed into Adam the breath of life and he became a living being! This is the distinction: God has only given man the concept of eternity and the hope of eternal life in his heart, he alone ponders the afterlife and looks for answers to life's spiritual dilemmas. Aren't you glad that you aren't some grand fluke of nature, or cosmic accident, but have a reason for being and purpose in life? And so it's not as simple as the proverb: To err is human, to forgive divine! In sum, some people have a psychological need to conceive of themselves as animals--they desire to act like them! Soli Deo Gloria!

 Soli Deo Gloria! 

The Naked Ape...

"There is something about the way God is that is like the way we are." (Moreland and Rae, Body & Soul, 158). 

There was a popular '60s book entitled, The Naked Ape, about the similarities of man to the beast. He just looks at how we're alike without recognizing the vast contrast:  viva la difference!   "Where is the one who makes us smarter than the animals..." (Job 18:3, NLT). "Do you think we are mere animals?  Do you think we are stupid?" (Job 18:3, NLT).  People are brainwashed with the Big Lie that we are animals, and thus can do or live according to our own morals and mores or ethics.  Consequently, believing we are animals, is it any wonder we act like them (rampant immorality, and always new inventions of sin)?   They say that "people of faith have a psychological need to believe, but they have behavioral and psychological needs not to believe--it might upset their lifestyle!

But man is distinct from the beast:  he's programmed or hard-wired to be like God in image and likeness in order to relate to God and fellowship and worship Him.  We were not made to be complete in our relationships with the beasts--Adam found no suitable helpmate before Eve.  God made man to be in communion with Him and to glorify Him while enjoying the ride!  We are "naked" in the sense that we are self-conscious, not that we evolved into wearing clothes because we had no fur coat to keep warm!  Chihuahuas have less hair and no desire to wear clothes.  Why is it that it was after Adam and Eve ate of the proverbial apple that they put on aprons of fig leaves?  They became self-conscious and knew good and evil for starters. Why is it that young children are unaware of their nakedness? They are innocent!  Man is a sinner and is the only creature that is--animals aren't accountable for their deeds! '

Man is hard-wired for many things since he's in God's image:

To worship God (if he doesn't he'll find something or someone to worship, even if it's himself!); to work (man fulfills himself in his labors and makes himself in God's image); to communicate and relate to others (animals communicate but don't argue, or communicate about the communication; only man can know God in the sense of having the mind to fathom, the heart to love, the will to obey)--note that God is abstract and animals are incapable of this type of reasoning; to be rational with a sense to reason with (you cannot reason with beasts!); to know right and wrong, good and evil (we alone have a conscience to feel guilt!); man is not a creature of instinct like the beast because we can control our passions and channel them to what's responsible (beasts are merely animals in heat avoiding pain and discomfort and seeking pleasure and are mainly sex, shelter, and food-driven); we're creative and want to accomplish tasks; while we're also self-critical; we can plan and forecast the future within reason;  we have a learning curve that passes on to the next generation and increases in knowledge; we alone appreciate beauty, design, and harmony of nature, especially in art and music; man alone has imagination, and man is called Homo sapien because he's the wise man;  we're drawn to be moral and principle-driven, and we're temperamental and emotional and express it in complex manners.

When you see all the differences between man and beast we have to wonder when did hominids become human?  There are more to differ than to compare--we are in contrast to beasts not just better beasts.  Even Darwin scoffed at the idea we should trust the convictions of a monkey!  And when did hominids acquire human rights?   But most of all, man is hard-wired for dignity (extrinsic from God), purpose (in God), and meaning (in God)!  In fact, "Unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless (Bertrand Russell, atheist).  In sum, we must ask why man alone has the concept of eternity in his heart and seeks after God and isn't oblivious to Him.  We seek fulfillment in life and to live for something above and beyond, bigger than ourselves.    

In sum, a man realizes his potential in being like God expressing virtue and abstract behavior: good sportsmanship, good faith, altruism, bravery, integrity, justice, decency, unselfishness, et cetera.  Soli Deo Gloria!