There is no other creature like mankind. From our livestream event Made in the Image of God, Stephen Nichols teaches that human dignity cannot to be earned, achieved, or ultimately destroyed, for it has been uniquely given to us by God.
Transcript:
God takes that handful of dust and the very breath from His nostrils – and all of this is an anthropomorphism – the very breath of His nostrils. And there we are, material and immaterial being, a living soul. There's no other creature like this. There's no other in this fantastic account of the creation of all things. There is nothing like the crowning achievement of God's creation of mankind. And that's our dignity. Mark it down. Our dignity is not something we earn or achieve because we're athletic or because we can achieve some great economic status and therefore we're worth more. Or somebody who doesn't achieve or doesn't earn or doesn't have, you know, the looks or the athleticism or the connections, and so their status is less and somehow we achieve a greater status. All of those things cultures use to quantify people, to make categories – "us” and “them," gender, race, socioeconomic status, skill, ability, profession – all of those things. None of that is our dignity, none of that is our actual identity ontologically, none of that is our worth. Our worth, our identity, and therefore our dignity is given to us. We did not earn it. God gave it to us. It is given, it is derived from Him and being made in His image.
