and reverence my sanctuary.” (Leviticus 26:2).
Thus, from the beginning, God had forbidden any erection of stone in the land as “a house for His Spirit,” or any engraved image that would “represent Him” on the Earth, but rather commanded the Israelites to show reverence for sabbaths (days of worship) and “my sanctuary.”
So, we’ve decided to begin at the Beginning: The Book of Genesis wherein is proclaimed, the Creation of the whole universe by God, as well as of all life as we know it.
But we will consider the life of Human Beings of primary, first, importance in regards to addressing the questions posed above.
The Holy Bible tells us that after creating Humankind, male and female, in the Garden of Eden, clear and certain were God’s instructions to them not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil that is at the center of the Garden. But they did eat.
They were deceived by the Devil, Satan, Lucifer who took the beastly form of a Serpent and lied to them by counter-posing another narrative that “finessed” the deadly consequences that God had said would ensue from disobedience of His instructions.
Satan told them that they won’t surely die, but that, instead, they will become “like God.” (Genesis 3:4–5; Proverbs 12:6; 14:12; 16:25). Thus, from the start, Satan had coveted God’s throne as a prize to grasp in order to, himself, rule and lord it over the whole Creation.
Thus, did Humankind “fall from God’s grace;” and God cast them out of the Garden as all of the participants received their due punishment, respectively: God instituted Human labor, precautions to safeguard knowledge of “the tree of life,” eternal life, that is, as well as established Mortality unto the “existence” of Human Beings, sum of which, to yield humility, prevent arrogance, avert foolhardiness, and therefore, to produce wisdom. (Proverbs 11:2)
God looked at all His creation and it grieved His heart deeply to witness how the character of the deceiver, Satan, had been imprinted upon the minds and hearts of Human Beings whom God had created “unto His own image and likeness.” Not only Humans were now sinful by fashioning their behavior to follow the character of Satan, they also became mortal. That means Human Beings now had “a span of life,” that is: They lived only for a short time as opposed to “living forever.” Human Beings would live: from conception and birth, to development and growth, to maturity and old age, and then, from senility to death.
“For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.” (Romans 4:15).
“Apart from the law sin lies dead.” (Romans 7:8)
“For no human being will be justified in His sight by works of the law, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20).
After Adam and Eve had eaten of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, “their eyes were opened,” and knowing now that they were naked, they covered themselves with “fig leaves” as aprons, and then hid themselves from God’s presence. (Genesis 3:7)
But God was gravely concerned about, not only about Adam and Eve’s “way of life” that would end in biological death, as mortal Beings, but also about their spiritual destiny, because they were created in His own image and likeness or in “the image and likeness of God.” (Genesis 1:26–27).
Though we could no longer “live forever,” Human Beings were not simply physical biological Beings. They were also spiritual Beings who, in addition, possessed a Soul; hence, the Scriptures’ pronouncement that: “The soul that sinneth shall die.” (Ezekiel 18:20).
The soul comprises the mind or intellect, or “the cognitive domain;” the emotions, or feelings, or “the affective domain;” and the will to do, to act, to move, to create and produce or, “the psycho-motor domain.”
The Holy Bible tells us that God is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty; hence, the proscription against making any graven or stone image or other forms of physical representation of God. (2 Corinthians 3:17–18).
Animals that are “lower forms of life” do not possess “free will.” They can’t know either their own essential nature or their own eternal destiny. And they don’t have the knowledge of good and evil. Only Human Beings do.
Thus, Human free will sets us apart from the “lower life forms.” Animals are genetically designed or “pre-wired,” so to speak, to act upon “instinct,” or to behave “as programmed by their DNA,” without the benefit of free will or of the knowledge of their earth condition or mode of existence. But animals will only execute crude reiterative routines of acting in certain specific ways, under corresponding circumstances, that are “attached” to the specific Species to which they belong. Consequently, animal “actions” are “Species-specific.” They do not have free will as we do. Their “instinctual routines,” such as “fight or flight,” follow specific patterns and sequences of behavior that are akin to the Species to which they belong.
For examples, wolves travel in packs whereby one amongst them is the dominant one over all the others, until displaced by another wolf that challenges its “leading the pack.” Wolves devour sheep as prey. Hence, the need for a Shepherd to guide and protect the sheep.
Bees have queens whose “leadership patterns” imitate those of the wolf pack, in addition, to “specializing” in “making honey.” Everywhere on the earth, “honey bees” will engage in “making honey” in accordance with the “wired instinctual instructions” that already predispose them to “make honey” at infinitum until death.
But, though Human Beings also display reiterative patterns of behavior, such as eating, sleeping, reproducing, etc . . . , that are also considered “genetic predispositions,” however, because they have freedom of volition, Humans also have the liberty to decide which actions they will take. God is Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty, hence, having “the image and likeness of God” our Creator is the only Source of our freedoms. (2 Corinthians 3:17–18).
Such free will characteristics or freedom of volition, does not belong to the lower species of animals that, as long as they exist, continue to exhibit the same patterns and sequences of behavior, as required per certain specific conditions, that are both environmentally and genetically predetermined. Hence, God’s commandments against making graven images resembling animals or erections of stone pillars.
But did not Aaron the priest “mess up” by letting the children of Israel build a “golden calf?” Hence, why God will change the priesthood!
Given that we were created in the image and likeness of God, we have certain characteristic gifts or endowments akin to those of our Creator. We have the predisposition to think freely, that is, without hindrance or compulsion. We own a range of emotions or feelings that are sometimes “sensitively dependent” upon circumstances we have to deal with.
But because we do have free will, we can also decide how we will respond to situations we encounter in life. Love is more than a mere “feeling.” True love is a willful act of making a decision to “do the Truth in love.”
“Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6; 21:12; Romans 4:4; 9:7; Hebrews 11:18).
We observe that, more and more, God would expect Humans to reflect His character-qualities and abstract endowments that focused their attention away from the flesh to rather concentrate their energies on what is spiritual. Abraham’s faith in God was his righteousness; his actions would then only align with the faith in which he had already chosen to believe: He believed God; and thus, obedience followed as an act of free will!
Therefore, because we are “spirit-beings,” it is our faith governing our actions, through obedience of God’s commandments that gives life to “righteousness” within our hearts.
We are not called to “worship the flesh” or “the human body.” The flesh perishes but the spirit lives forever. (John 6:63). For it is only through reflecting “the image and likeness of God” within us that we can relate to each other