Imago Dei

So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Genesis 1:27

Back when I was in university I would periodically struggle with my faith
I still have parts I have to work out, but one of the biggies back in university was whether Genesis was literal or could be taken metaphorically. That's something I don't really worry about any more. However, I was reading through Genesis this week for my Bible read-thru, and I came across this verse. I discuss things like a literal Genesis with people from time to time. One thing that always strikes me and especially this time, was the importance of the concept that humanity was made in the image of God. It may not be the most important concept to our faith, but it's in the top three. One may ask why. The reason I think it's such a biggie is that if humanity is not created in God's image, then all sorts of atrocities can be justified. If humans are just evolved apes, then it becomes a lot easier to kill them. It's a lot easier to justify genocide and abortion - all you're killing are evolved animals. However, if indeed we are made in God's image, then how we treat fellow human beings matters very much. Would you desecrate a church? Would you malign God? If not, then how can you justify cruelty to another human, who also has a spark of the divine? It made me think of how I treat people. Do I respect them? Do I treat them as others made specially in God's image? I believe it matters.