What Does It Mean to Be Human?
by Mark A. Lomax
One thing the ancients seemed to agree on was that human beings
are creatures bound to their Creator in a dynamic way. Scripture
indicates that human beings were not vivified until the Creator
breathed into our nostrils the "breath of life." With
one breath we became living souls. No explicit efforts were made
in the Bible to explain the internal dynamics at work in this
creative act, but it was certainly implied that human existence
depended on that divine act.
So, what are human beings? They are creatures created in the
image and according to the likeness of their Creator, dependent
on that Creator for their very existence. But they are also creatures
capable of thinking about the nature of their existence and the
source of their origin. In other words, they are rational beings
who possess more than a mere modicum of freedom.
What does it mean to be human? In a day and age when it seems
anything is medically possible, or soon will be, being human
means to live in and with the freedom to think and act in the
world, knowing that nothing we do is apart from God. This means
living with and in spite of the genetic predispositions, protein
deviancies and environmental conditions that shape us all in
particular ways. But it also means that we never, ever become
more than God is. We, both individually and collectively, live
in, with and by the power of God whether we are willing to acknowledge
it or not.
Read the article in the May/June
issue of Horizons to share in the struggle to understand
our role in medical miracles and celebrate that nothing we do
is apart from God.
Read more of this and other
great articles in the current issue of Horizons.
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