I attended a conference at Trinity Seminary,
Ambridge PA this past week. It is always
good to spend time at Trinity, albeit short, immersed in learning something
more about the Kingdom of God. The
fellowship and rhythm of seminary worship is also very spiritually refreshing.
The topic this year was Christian Anthropology. Anthropology
is the study of humankind, just as theology is the study of God. Christian Anthropology is combining the two
by studying the relationship of humankind to our Creator. One of my favorite
psalms, Psalm 139, was in my mind as we explored this topic this week:
13For you
formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully
made.
Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being
made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book
were written every one of them,
the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was
none of them.
17 How precious
to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
Much of our study centered on human dignity and the
source of human dignity. Secular culture
and Christians alike champion this idea of human dignity, but we often end up
in different places on how to live it out.
The reason is that Christians think more in terms of the sanctity of
life, not just its dignity. Life is
sacred and it is God who decides how it is to be lived out. It also means that it is God who assigns
worth to all human life, and He does it equally, from the yet to be born, to
the disabled, to the mentally challenged, to those experiencing the end of
their earthly life. We humans,
therefore, do not get to decide who is less human or of less value.
Christian Anthropology finds its roots in the fact
that we are created in the image of God (Imago
Dei). Gen 1:27-28 says, “God created
man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he
created them. And
God blessed them…” That image,
however, is distorted and tarnished by The Fall (Gen. 3). Jesus, however, comes as
the New Adam to restore the Imago Dei
and invites us to take on His likeness. We are given His Holy Spirit who empowers and guides our life in doing so.
Father
Rob
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