what it means to be human

A fundamental aspect of defining yourself as a human being in terms of Christianity is your relationship with God. Christians believe we are created in the imago dei or image of God, implying humans have an aspect of the holy trinity (father son and holy spirit) within themselves. This seems to imply that God intended for humans to have relationships, which in turn links with the golden rule of Christianity- to love thy neighbour as yourself, suggesting God intended that humans experience relationships meaningful enough that they could be comparable with the relationship between the different facets of God himself.
The idea of being embodied further illustrates peoples relationship with God and how that relates to your identity as a human being. Your body is matter therefore, according to most Christians, it was made by God. In Genesis 1 God follows his creation of each thing by saying "it was good" therefore your body in God's eyes is "good". This is further supported by Paul in 1 Corinthians where he states that the body is the temple of the holy spirit. the use of the word "temple" is very telling contextually as Paul was a Jew, implying that he may have been referring to the Jewish temple destroyed in 70AD by the Romans. This temple is right at the heart of Judaism, it is beyond merely important, it's holy and sacred. Jews believed that in this temple you were literally in the presence of God rather than just figuratively. To compare the body to this hugely sacred place gives how important the body is in Christianity and how close the body is considered to be with God. Also Jesus Christ was 100 percent God and 100 percent man, meaning God himself was embodied. These elements demonstrate how essential it is in Christianity to be embodied, in order to have that special connection with God Christians believe humans are entitled to. It's implied you almost require a body in order to be considered a human in God's eyes.

The idea of being created is also very important concerning the Christian perspective on what it is to be human. As I have mentioned above most Christians believe humans were created by God, potentially suggesting that we are human because God made us that way,implying your humanity is not something you can ponder because it was god's will and so should be taken as fact. In psalm 139 the intricacies of God creating a man are mentioned and it is implied that the fact that we were made by God enables God to see us as we are or see into our souls, suggesting being God's creation gives us the special relationship with God many Christians believe is a fundamental aspect of being a human. The psalm details how God and man are so different yet there is still an intimate relationship between them linking with the ideas in "on being human" that to emulate God is not the same as showing humanity.

Our ability to reason can be given as evidence of our humanity. St Thomas Aquinas stated that we use reason to understand ourselves, our world and our God and it is often thought a human being must be able to construct meaning and reason from their experiences. However in his poem titled "On Being Human" C.S Lewis implies that to see the world through a purely rational viewpoint is to miss out on all the world has to offer, and that it is perhaps our spirit and desire that make us appreciate the world and be inquisitive about what we encounter which is also a focal part of being human. In the poem Lewis alludes to rationality being a characteristic of angels, suggesting that to be governed by the rational is to be closer to God, but may not necessarily make you more of a human being. In Genesis 1 we are given stewardship over the world by God, suggesting it is God's intention that we use our reason and self-government to look after everything else.

First Post

This is my first post for my a level blog thing so sorry if it's not very good. Um we were given psalm 139 to read and try to understand in preparation for a seminar next week. It seems to be about how God knows everything about us and there's no point trying to hide behind bravado or being someone that you're not because God will always see you as you are. Even if you feel alone or isolated there is always something that knows you and understands you and takes the trouble to properly look at you.

It also seems to talk about how you can't get away from God. The line about trying to understand God's 'thoughts' "I try to count them- they are more than the sand; I come to the end- I am still with you" seems to show that trying to understand and question God will only bring you closer to him and no matter how much you question God and the way he works etc you will never doubt his existence (that remains to be seen but anyway). The last part talks about how much the protagonist hates people who speak against God and whatnot, this seems to imply the psalm was written as a response to people who were starting to question God.

right that's probably it, see you later, Ellie
PS at the moment I've been reading Sophie's World which is really good and i'd highly recommend it. It's about someone teaching a 14 year old girl called Sophie about the history of philosophy, meanwhile her life seems to be mysteriously intertwined with a girl called Hilde. Anyway it's really good and the story's very unusual and unique, so yeah miss said to talk about stuff we'd read and i've read that. Bye!