Recently Curated Content

SERMON: Image of God

Pastor David Ellis of Astoria Community Church (Astoria, NY) asks what does it mean to be made in the image of God? Is it our intelligence? Is it how we look? Is it our creativity? Ellis postulates that it is none of those as there are some people that are less intelligent and less creative as others, but are still fully made in the image of God. Ellis, instead, says that our capacity to have a relationship with God is what sets us apart and that God created us for three things – dignity, equality, and responsibility.

ARTICLE: Calling for a Modern-Day Reformation

In a powerful essay author Jemar Tisby asks why many American Christians are not welcoming to the increasing diversity of the country when Revelation 7:9 talks about a diverse multitude standing before the throne of the Lord. As a result, Tisby calls for a modern-day reformation rooted in the image of God. Tisby goes one important step further providing clear, concrete steps such as renewed scholarship, diverse leadership, and making sure our orthodoxy and orthopraxy lineup while pointing out that it starts with us implementing these changes in our communities and organizations. This article is for those that have already have a solid foundation in the image of God and want a deeper dive.

BOOK: The Imago Dei – Humanity Made in the Image of God

The doctrine of the image of God is like prayer, communion, or any other practice that has become perfunctory. We kind of know what it is and what it means, but the necessity and revolutionary nature of the practice or belief has dulled with time and repetition. In The Imago Dei: Humanity Made in the Image of God author, Lucy Peppiatt seeks to break the casual understanding of this indispensable doctrine by defining the three main perspectives, getting into the weeds by analyzing church fathers’ and theologians’ thoughts on the nuances of the doctrine, and finishing with a superb summary.

SHOW: Made in God’s Image

In two short videos totaling just under eight minutes Biblical scholar N.T. Wright dives deeper into the doctrine of the image of God. Wright says Genesis 1 is a calling to humans to look after the world and make it a place where heaven and earth come together. Since humans are created in the image of God we have a unique role in God’s plan. Heaven and earth are temples and we are the priests that are called to worship God through our God-given vocation of filling the earth with people and taking care of the earth.

Quotes

“If you’re willing to sin to obtain your goal or if you sin when you don’t get what you want, then your desire has taken God’s place and you’re functioning as an idolater.”

Elyse Fitzpatrick, author

“To the extent that propaganda is based on current news, it cannot permit time for thought or reflection. A man caught up in the news must remain on the surface of the event; he is carried along in the current, and can at no time take a respite to judge and appreciate; he can never stop to reflect. There is never any awareness -- of himself, of his condition, of his society -- for the man who lives by current events.”

Jacques Ellul, theologian

“People need to be taught how to live as part of a body, how to understand and live out our roles as a member of a church, citizen of a nation, and resident of a community. In our self-centered, narcissistic, individuaistic, expressionist age, we are incompetent in the arts of living together.  We may be naturally social and political animals, but we still have to acquire the cultivated virtues of citizens. Churches must help form us into better political animals.”

Paul D. Miller, American author

“There is divine beauty in learning...To learn means to accept the postulate that life did not begin at my birth. Others have been here before me, and I walk in their footsteps. The books I have read were composed by generations of fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, teachers and disciples. I am the sum total of their experiences, their quests. And so are you.”

Elie Wiesel, author

"I don’t want to mistake mere opposition for persecution. Nor do I want to harbor a persecution complex born out of my own arrogance, rudeness, stubbornness, or self-righteousness.  The only good I can see in persecution is if it means I am joining Jesus more deeply in his righteousness."

Lectio 365 devotional