HUMAN PERSON

AS AN
IMAGE OF GOD
INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
Whoever sheds the blood of
man, by man shall his blood
be shed, for God created
man in his own image.
-Genesis 9:6
Statements on the
EXISTENCE OF GOD
ST. AUGUSTINE
1. God as an Absolute Thou
The word absolute is a synonym of
“unconditioned/unlimited”, and the
opposite is “relative/limited”. To mean
absolute, the existence of God must be
unconditioned. His existence is not
obtained from any being outside of
himself. Unlike in the case of man,
his existence is relative whereby his
existence comes from someone of
greater power.
By experience, everything in this world is
limited. Man lives and soon die’s. But
God is not a part of this world. Therefore,
God is not limited. He is absolute.
2. Man as an Image of God
If God is not a part of this world, then there
must be something that will serve as an
image of God to represent Him in this
world. If we can possibly find His image in
this world, then, therefore, that image
must be also limited because everything
in this world is limited. What image could
that be? Or who could that be?—His—
creation—man.
Not all the things in this world are created,
and not all the things are made. Creation
is producing something out of nothing
while to make is producing something
out of something. Man cannot create
because of his limited power to produce,
thus, he needs something to produce
another thing. The power to create is
God’s business because of His absolute
and unlimited power.
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
1. Argument from Motion
St. Thomas Aquinas concluded from
a common observation that an object
in motion is in motion by some other
objects or force. From this, he believes
ultimately that there must have been an
an Unmoved Mover (God) who first put
things in motion.
2. Causation of Existence
Aquinas concluded that a common
sense observation tells that no object
creates itself. He believed that ultimately
there must have been an Uncaused
Cause (God) who began the chain of
existence for all things.
3. Contingent and Necessary Objects
The two objects in the universe are the
contingent beings and necessary beings.
A contingent being is an object that
cannot exist without a necessary being
causing its existence. Aquinas believed
that the existence of contingent beings
would ultimately necessitate all of the
contingent beings to exist. This being,
called a necessary being, is called God.
 4. Argument from Degrees and Perfection
Aquinas formulated this way from a
very interesting observation about the
Christianity
Christianity
Christianity
qualities of thing. This is referred to as
on
on
on
degrees or gradation of a quality. From
Death
Death
Death
this, he concluded that for any given
quality, there must be a perfect standard
by which all such qualities are measured.
5. Argument from Intelligent Design
Aquinas stated that common sense
tells us that the universe works in such
a way, that one can conclude that it
was designed by an intelligent designer,
God. In other words, all physical laws
and the order of nature and life were
designed and ordered by God, the
Intelligent Designer.
Philosophers’ Concept on
MAN AS AN IMAGE GOD
 The end of life is
to be like God,
SOCRATES
Greek Philosopher and the soul
following God
will be like him.
 A human being
PLATO is the toy of
Greek Philosopher God, so we must
live playing.
 The man who is
ARISTOTLE content to live
Greek Philosopher alone is either a
beast or a god.
 Which is it? Is
man one of
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE God’s blunders?
German Philosopher
Or is God one of
man’s blunders?
 The philosopher
says that God’s
knowledge is the
JAQUES MARITAIN measure of thing,
French Philosopher
and that thing is
the measure of
man’s knowledge.
 Your heart, mind,
hands, and feet are
stamped with the
JONI EARECKSON TADA imprint of the Creator.
American Evangelist Little wonder that the
Devil wants you to be
ashamed of your
body.
 If all men are made in
God's reflection, then
why do some people
continue to accept only
what is in their part of the
SUZY KASSEM mirror? If every man was
American Philosopher created equal and in the
image of God, then how
can any man claim that
one race is better than
another?
 As image-bearers of
the same Father, each
one of us reflects a
different aspect of the
DAVID DOCUSEN beauty of God. When
American Evangelist we separate ourselves
from others who are
different from us, we
cannot see the fullness
of the beauty of God.
 I HEARTILY
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