Bible metaphors

Author: Ye Shuxian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. — Genesis 1:26–27
The outstanding feature of Greek and Roman mythology is the anthropomorphic nature of the gods. From the perspective of artistic representation, it can be seen that the deities in the eyes of the people at that time were no different from humans themselves. Judaism and Christianity both prohibit idol worship, describing God as a formless, timeless existence. However, the mythological narrative in Genesis reveals a flaw when it comes to the creation of humans: God has an image, otherwise he could not "create them in his own image." This detail suggests that the original God in Hebrew faith was a personified god modeled after humans. From the perspective of atheists, God does not exist in this world. The God in Genesis is merely a product of humans' absolute and deification of themselves; in essence, it is humans who absolutize themselves as the all-powerful God to emphasize their own status. To put it mildly, religion and the God within it are creations of humans, so the saying "God created humans" should actually be "humans created God." Here, from the way God created humans, we recognize that humans are the masters of the world.
Next, let's look at the purpose of God creating humans. Why did God create humans? Genesis is also very clear: "So that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals and reptiles." Moreover, to help humans live better, God said: "Behold, I give you every seed-bearing plant and every fruit on the trees for food. As for the wild animals, the birds of the air, and every living thing that moves on the ground, I give every green plant for food." It is not difficult to see from this: grass is for animals, and humans are the ones who rule over the animals and dominate the world. Therefore, the purpose of this world is humans.
Regarding the proposition that "humans are the purpose," Immanuel Kant once said in philosophy, "Humans are the purpose, but not a means." Later, Karl Marx revised it to, "Humans are both the purpose and the means." The common point is "humans are the purpose." From the analysis of Genesis above, we can also see that humans are the purpose. If it were not enough to see that all the things created by God in Genesis are for humans, then in Chapter 2, it is fully demonstrated. God created Adam, the man, and Eve, the woman, so that humans could reproduce through the union of the two sexes. Once God's purpose was fulfilled, humans themselves became the purpose.
Westerners use the "made in God's image" to mean "exactly like," explaining that humans inherently possess the virtues of the gods. The subtext of this phrase, however, is "humans made gods in their own image." The Tree of Life is a symbol of humanity's hope for eternal life and appears in the myths of various nations in various forms. In the Babylonian myths, which serve as the source of the Genesis myths, it is represented as an "immortal herb" that can grant immortality upon consumption, similar to the Chinese myth of Chang'e.