Studies in the Life of the Christian: His Faith and His ServiceSell, Henry T. (Henry Thorne)
Religion
Studies in the Life of the Christian: His Faith and His Service
Sell, Henry T. (Henry Thorne)
Religious education
But a great practical question which demands an answer of us--as we
look out upon the world of men taking them as they are--is, Did God
make the evil man "in His likeness" as well as the good man?
The Good Man.--The best things bear the stamp of their maker. If a
good judge of pictures is taken into some famous art gallery it is not
necessary to point out to him the excellencies of the paintings, they
tell their own story. There are men in the Bible who manifestly bear
the image of God; Abraham, Isaac, Enoch, Moses, David, John, Paul and
others. There have been many men in ancient and modern times who,
when some great crisis has come in the state or church, have conducted
themselves as men born in the image of God; men who have sacrificed
their own interests to be loyal to the truth. We all recognize such
men as God-born.
The Evil Man.--The difficulty is however to recognize any image of God
in a certain class of evil men who have low instincts and desires; men
who lie, cheat, steal and break every commandment of God and man.
Did God make the worst and the lowest of men? If we are to consider
fairly the question of the making of man in the image of God we must
not shun this problem, which the vilest of men and the most degraded
savage presents. What can be seen in these men that reminds us of "the
likeness of God"? We are to judge men, however, by what they are
capable of and are, at their best, rather than at their worst. The
art world regards Michael Angelo's statue of Moses as one of the
greatest creations of the sculptor's genius. Suppose, however, some
one should maliciously deluge this masterpiece with ink, smash it into
fragments with a huge hammer, and then ask as he looked upon the
marred and blackened bits of marble, "Is that a masterpiece of Michael
Angelo's genius?" So we look upon a man who has been marred and
broken by sin and ask the question, "Was that man created in the image
of God? Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright;
but they have sought out many inventions." Trace back the cause of the
degradation of the individual or society or state and we always find
the root to be in some transgression of a righteous law of God.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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