Gail Chord Schuler (2013) Genesis (Bible) Notes
GENESIS NOTES
Ruckman teaches that man in his present state is not in the image of God, but is in the image of Adam (because of sin). He further elaborates that women have never been created in the image of God, but were taken from Adam’s rib, so they are in the image of Adam. However, the Bible seems to contradict this teaching. Genesis 1:26-27 New Living: “. . .Let us make people in our image, to be like ourselves. They will be masters over all life—the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the livestock, wild animals, and small animals. So God created people in his own image; God patterned them after himself; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:26-27 KJV: “. . .Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
God reminds us again that men and women are made in the image of God, and this statement in the Bible God made AFTER MAN FELL BECAUSE OF SIN (Genesis 3). So despite man’s fall, he is made in the image of God, which is why God is so severe about murder, and demands the death penalty for murder. Genesis 9:6 New Living “Yes, you must execute anyone who murders another person, for to kill a person is to kill a living being made in God’s image.” Genesis 9:6 King James “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.”
What’s the big deal about creating man in God’s image? It’s a big deal because this is why God has ordained capital punishment for taking the life of a human being. If man is not created in the image of God, then the death penalty for murder would be unjust or extreme. God states in His Word that because humans are created in the image of God; therefore, God is justified to demand the death penalty for murder. As Ray Stedman states in his message entitled “Who Needs Government?”:
God is thus seeking to impress upon us that man is not what he once was – lord of creation, made to have the animal world in loving, obedient subjection to him. But now he finds the animals fearing him, hiding from him, and running from him. It is the way God has of impressing upon us how the image of God in man is twisted and distorted, and love has been replaced by fear. Now the fourth provision of the covenant is to provide a life that comes from death: “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.” {Gen 9:3 RSV} Animal life is now made the proper food of man. It is all designed so that every meal should remind us that life is made possible only by the death of another creature. We are alive only because other creatures have died on our behalf, to sustain our life. The fifth provision of this covenant teaches the sacredness of human life: “Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. For your lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning; of every beast I will require it and of man; of every man’s brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image.” {Gen 9:4-6 RSV}
Because man or human beings have been created in the image of God that is why God demands capital punishment for murder. Only GOD has the authority to decide when any human being’s life is to end.
However, Ruckman seems to be correct that life begins with the breath, and not at conception. Genesis 2:7 New Living—“And the Lord God formed a man’s body from the dust of the ground and breathed into it the breath of life. And the man became a living person.” Genesis 2:7 King James—“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul.” Nothing elsewhere in the Bible seems to negate this, that life begins with the breath. This means abortion is not murder. However, reckless abortions would be frowned upon, just like you wouldn’t want to go out and slaughter animals needlessly. Though abortion may not be murder, reckless and irresponsible sexual behavior is a sin, and God would surely frown upon abortions that came about because of reckless and irresponsible sexual behavior. Note of interest: Jesus had no problems with aborting all the babies I received when Zack Knight impregnated and raped me telepathically in February 2012. Jesus’ own conduct backs up my assertion that life begins with the breath. Abortion is perfectly alright for rape victims.
Copyright © Gail Chord Schuler 2013 – 2018. All Rights Reserved.