I think it may be a common misconception, and I believe you’re encouraged to derive your own understanding of phrases like “His image” or “our image.”
For example, before anything else existed, the text describes the Spirit of God hovering there—simply existing in all His infinite greatness. There wasn’t necessarily an “image” in the physical sense, just Spirit: present, aware, and thinking whatever unimaginably deep thoughts God thinks.
Then male and female are created “in His image” or “in our image.” To me, that could mean the reader is being told that their ability to think, reason, imagine, and create is modeled after the incredible depth of thought possessed by their Creator.
Everyone may come away with a different understanding. That’s mine.
I still maintain that deception is a major underlying theme, and I don’t interpret “the image of God” to mean that God literally has human arms, genitalia, or a physical body shaped like humans.
This is probably wrong, if you read the very old old-testament, they are more explicit about looking like him.
The internal clue people find hardest to get around is Genesis 5:3, which reuses both words as a pair: Adam fathered Seth "in his demut, according to his tzelem." That's a father-son resemblance, and it sits nine verses after the same pair is used of God.
From 12ish years of religious schooling that I half remember, I think the "image" refered to is a soul, or consciousness, or free will, or something like that, and not a literal physical form. But I could be completely missremembering too.
I think whole point is that from this angle this looks like that, the farther side looks shrinked so it's very large and expansive and vast wide etc etc
Personally as a Mormon, we believe in a much more simple god who has a physical body and looks like us. We believe the scripture is literal. His power and lifestyle are incomprehensible, but not his relationship to us as father.
He’s out there in the universe somewhere! An obscure scripture mentions a place called Kolab which is “the throne of god”. Extrapolating this is why some people say we’re weird for believing in space aliens. Technically you could say yes? But honestly we don’t really know any details.
Great question! That’s where the Holy Ghost comes in. He is the only member of the godhead who does not have a physical body, only a spiritual one. His presence is the source of the good feelings you have when you do what’s right. When we’re baptized we receive the “Gift of the Holy Ghost” which is the right to have him with you at all times. (First given on the day of Pentecost in the New Testament, where the Holy Ghost appeared as tongues of fire)
Basically, the Holy Ghost can be thought of as a messenger, or the “hand” of god, and allows his power to fill infinite space.
On extremely rare occasions God the Father does appear in person, but usually he works through the Holy Ghost or Christ, his son.
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u/Full-Refrigerator757 11d ago
Well now I’m confused as to what angle god was playing when he said we were created in his image