Well here is my long, very interesting essay that i wrote in two days! =) Enjoy! And don't forget to leave a comment if you make it the whole way through!!!

An essay by the prolific Tyler Joseph Patty on the exigent subject of: "Who Is Man???"

Our view of the question of “Who is Man?” is a crucial one. It affects not only ourselves but also the billions of people around us.

A devastating example of this is Adolf Hitler. He believed in “survival of the fittest” and his view of “who man is” resulted in the slaughtering of millions. According to him, he was doing the world a favor – weeding out the weak (in his view: Jews, Gypsies and homosexuals) and creating a stronger, more pure world.

However, Abraham Lincoln, one of the United States of America’s most influential presidents, believed that men were created in the image of God, that all men were created equal - people of white skin and black skin. With the “Emancipation Proclamation” he declared the freedom of all slaves in the Confederate States of America. It was a radical new law, and not everyone agreed with it. Contradicting views partly resulted in his assassination in 1865.

There are three basic understandings of man’s inner self. One view is that man is basically good - that we are born pure, and that we learn how to sin. Another is that man is basically bad – that anything man does will eventually turn to destruction and there is no hope for the human race. The third view, the one I agree with, states that man has the potential to be incredibly good, but also to be incredibly evil.

Genesis 1:27 states: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” If this is true, as I believe it is, then this supports the fact that man does have the potential to be incredibly good, for what can come from God but good?

But later, sin entered this world, and man was given a choice: Do good? Or do evil? This is a question that haunts all of us every single day and we are forced to choose; there is no neutral ground. According to Romans 3, every person has sinned and will sin again; and furthermore, man is actually a slave to sin as there is no getting around it.

Returning to the question of “Who is man?” - many believe in Darwin’s theory: that man is the highest on the evolutionary ladder; that we’re lucky that we are highest on the ladder, and that man is the highest of all animals. According to this theory, life is a chemical reaction and man is comprised of a body and a mind.

An alternative to this theory is that man is God’s creation, created in His image, comprised of a body, mind and soul. So what does the fact that God created man in his image have to do with us? Is there a difference between man and animals? What is so important about having a body, mind and soul?

Out of all the creatures that God made, only one creature, man, is said to be made “in the image of God” in the Bible. This doesn’t mean that we are identical; merely that God gave us some of his characteristics. Some differences between man and animals are these:

a. Moral Aspects: We have an inner sense of right and wrong that sets us apart from animals (who simply respond from fear of punishment or hope of reward). From a small age we know what we should and should not do (and even from that small age we are drawn to doing what we should not).

b. Spiritual Aspects: We not only have physical bodies but also immaterial spirits (souls). No animal will ever pray to God and thank him for its food – it has no soul and therefore no way to connect with God as we do.

c. Mental Aspects: We humans have the amazing ability to think logically and to reason. Animals may at times exhibit amazing behavior in solving puzzles or working out problems in the physical world, but certainly do not engage in abstract reasoning. No group of chimpanzees will ever sit down and discuss Socrates’ philosophical views or the differences between the Evangelical and the Catholic church!

Here we find another major difference – abstract language. I could tell a small boy to go find the big red book on the table in the kitchen, and without ever seeing it before, the young boy could piece together the words and find what is needed. No chimpanzee in history could ever perform such a task – a task that is not learned by repetition with reward but simply described with words. No animal will ever write a letter to its grandparents, or give the past, present, and future of even one Czech verb, or read a children’s story and understand it, or understand the meaning of even one passage from the Bible.

Creativity is also a major difference between man and animals. Not even the smartest dolphin will write a story about a young wizard named Harry Potter or paint a painting of the mountains, or cook a simple meal.

The complexity of human emotions is also different than with animals. After watching a movie I could be sad that it’s over, happy that it was acted exceptionally, angry that my favorite character died in the closing sequence, thankful that we have a movie theater in Frydlant and anxious because I’m going to be late for dinner if I don’t hurry up! It is doubtful that an animal experiences anything even close to this complexity of emotional feeling.

d. Relational Aspects: Even though animals no doubt have some sense of community amongst each other, marriage or the depth of family relationships do not exist. People can belong to not only one social group but many, i.e. I can belong to a music band, but also belong to a church and attend school five days a week. Animals are usually limited to one social group, if any.

What does it mean for man to be the bearer of God’s image? It should amaze us that when God wanted to create something “in his image,” he created us! We can look around at all of God’s wonderful creation – stare at the shining stars, smell the mountain air, swim in the blue ocean – and think it is all remarkable and magnificent. Yet we are the most like our Creator, more than any of these created things. Even though sin has a hold of our lives, we nonetheless continue to reflect God’s image.

It is vitally important to remember that not only are we created in God’s image, but also the people we love, as well as the people we hate. Every single being, no matter how badly marred with sin, or illness, or weakness, age or any other disability still has the status of being in God’s image and therefore must be treated with respect and dignity. This heavily impacts how we interact with the world; it means that people of every race deserve the same rights. It means that the elderly deserve just as much as the young do – no matter how productive or pleasant they are. This means that the mentally retarded, the seriously ill, even unborn children deserve full protection and honor as human beings.

If we ever deny this status in creation as God’s only image-bearers, the appreciation and value of human life will severely drop as we start to see humans as merely a higher form of animal. This view will reflect in the way we treat others and we will lose our sense for the meaning of life.

It is amazing how much our view of man affects this world. Racism, hate and wars are at the center of this planet, and all because many people have a skewed view of who man is. Because of that they do not treat him with the dignity and worth he deserves. I believe that man was created in the image of God and therefore must be treated with dignity, while at the same time realizing he is depraved and in need of a Savior. But that is for another paper!

Bibliography:

• Wikipedia.org
• Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem (Zondervan 1994)
• The Holy Bible NIV

Special thanks to mom and dad for proofing my paper and giving me ideas!

This weekend was pretty packed! on Saturday me and Caleb went on a little trip with Tensing (the youth choir here in Frydlant) to Ostrava to a Christian-run club called Templ where they were having a big Tensing festival! It was really fun. I've been Tensing Frydlant's guest guitarist for about two months (Caleb doesn't want me officially going to Tensing, and i don't have time this year anyway! =)) and so i've been practicing songs with Caleb on the bass and Boza, our youth leader on guitar as well (but i'm a lot better than he is...hehe). The big thing that we've been practicing lately has been Meant To Live by Switchfoot (and it's sounds AWESOME!!!) but unfortunately we didn't get to play it at the festival because everyone else hadn't really mastered the song yet vocally. So bummer. We played two songs and then they also did three fun dances which were cool.

After we got back around 5, some of us headed over to the church building and just hung out. That was lots of fun because me and Caleb were playing all the songs that we both knew (all 3!) and sang some worship songs and it was a great time. Then we goofed off some playing with tape...(don't ask =))

On Sunday i was in charge of worship, and so that's mostly what i worked on in the morning and in the afternoon. That was fun, even though as always it was a little nerve-wracking!

One thing i have to do by today is finish an essay on the topic of "Who Is Man?", so that's been fun trying to put something together. We all had a big discussion about it last night as a family and it was great and gave me a lot of ideas, so hopefully my paper will be okay! I'm writing it in English, so i can put it up on my blog once i'm done for those of you who are at least mildly interested!

Josiah Venture Spring Family Conference is also coming up soon, which i'm really looking forward to! It'll be great and i'm sure i'll have lots of pictures!

Well that's all for now, gotta get back to writing my essay...And just a piece of advice - If you ever have to write an essay where you have to think a lot, it's great to listen to old Switchfoot while you write! It helps me a lot! =)

It is a sad day in my world. Let's start the story at the beginning. But beware, this story contains much technological terming and may bring tears to your eyes. Now, let's continue.

My dad had this Toshiba Satellite that he gave me about two years ago. It's now about 7 years old or so. It has been through a lot, and it shows it both visually and internally. BUT it did its job. Because Windows was slowing it down considerably, about a half a year ago i decided to install a version of Linux onto it to try and prolong its life. And it sure helped! Ubuntu (the operating system) worked wonders, and even though it took a while to understand, it was faithful to me while taking notes in class and writing stories on rainy (and sunny) days. It had its problems of course - wireless internet didn't work, the battery life was about a minute and a half (just long enough to switch classrooms at school without having to power down), the screen wasn't as securely fastened as it used to be, and the right shift key just broke off three weeks ago. But i still loved it dearly.

Unfortunately, tonight is the night that i must say goodbye to a good friend, a loyal companion. After attempting to update and consequently reboot, an error message came up and the computer's screen will stay forever blank. Let's take a moment of silence for our dear friend Mr. Toshiba Satellite.





So now i'm in a dilemma... I bring my computer to school four days out of the five school days, so what am i supposed to do! Aaaah! Hmm.

Also - i'm supposed to be doing an assignment for our dear Mr. Lobel in technology class, which is unfortunately due tomorrow. Better get to that. Hehe.

On another note, my mom is returning from her 10 day stay in the States tomorrow! My dear great grandma Marjorie France finally went home last Tuesday and mom went to be with her family and attend the funeral. 95 is a pretty good age to last till, and she was cheerful till the very end! i'm so grateful that i got to see and spend time with her when i visited Oregon back a month or so ago. And one bonus for mom going to the States is bringing back stuff! =) I have this book that i ordered that i'm especially looking forward to...

Every Thursday we go up to the hotel and play soccer with those who want to from our school. Today was no different, except for the fact that this time we got the ball served to us on a silver platter! But it was fun. Jonny aka Mr. Lobel commented that he thought i was the player of the game, at least defensively! It was fun. And the weather was great compared to last week.

Technology class calls! Till next time!

This is Switchfoot's NEW music video to their song, Awakening. It's pretty awesome and really entertaining! Enjoy! =)