Challenging questions about Christian belief

A commenter named Notch on my recent post about the debate between an atheist and a Christian asked some very penetrating questions about faith. These great questions deserved a more complete response.

Notch: What exactly do you think “made in the image of God” means, and why would an omnipotent God create us in whatever image that is?

GRB: This is a difficult, controversial, and important theological question. If you are serious about wanting an answer, there are many better sources than me. However, my own view has two main interpretations. The first is that we are told God said, “Let us make humans in our image.” This was distinct from the creation of life, even the sentient life of higher animals. The primary distinctive qualities are personhood, volition, rational thinking, and consciousness. These features are not shared by animals and so set homo sapiens apart. For those who find this idea unacceptable, I ask: what is yours? The mindless evolutionary processes somehow generated these god-like properties? And how do you account for what Einstein called the miracle of the universe’s comprehensibility?

The second interpretation is from John Walton, a scholar of the Ancient Near East, the culture of the Biblical writer of Genesis. Kings at that time placed images of themselves in the far reaches of their realm to be visible representations of their lordship. Related to this are the instructions of the Creator to the early humans to care for the earth while making use of the…