RE: Response to the "Atheist" topic.
Before flaming read this thing to the very end.
Dammit guys, you fail to see the point that is life, and the being that is God. In that topic you compared humans to monkeys and apes. Humans share the same basic thinking of animals: To live, and to create life. We humans and animals are destined to prolong the cycle of life. Think about it, we share the same goals; to make sure we have enough food and drink, to give birth to the next generation, and to make sure that generation is raised on the same principles that we have based our lives upon. Based on this mindset, we humans may be considered animals. So what separates humans from animals? Intelligence. No animal apart from the human being could have achieved to level of superiority that man has. Man is the most dominant species in the animal kingdom. But why? What separated us humans from the other animals? Don't us humans share the same mindset as an animal? Then why is it that difference in our intelligence is so vast? Why is it that we may tame and teach every other animal in the animal kingdom? We are both animals, we both share the same primal instincts, then what truly separates man from animals, what is it that prevents humanity from embracing it's true form, it's animality?
It is man's desire to imitate God, to hold dominion of everything before it. And to grant any request that is made, so as to imitate it's master. Just as the child imitates it's parents, and as the baby learns it's first word through imitating the lip and tongue movements of it's caring mother. And the mother and father who wish to support their own beautiful creation, that is their child, and wish to provide for them and protect them to the best of their ability, even if it means harming themselves. The same way that humans protect one another, is the same way that Jesus protects us, he loves us so much that he was starved and tortured for 40 days, and at last nailed to a cross, so that the Almighty Father would spare us of eternal suffering for our disobedience.
This may sound farfetched but this is exactly what we humans try to imitate. We protect what we love and would put our own life on the line just so that what we love may be far from harm, and closer to our love. We will try our very best to bring what we love closer to us. The most common form of love is the "hug". Why is it that wrapping our arms around one another brings forth so much satisfaction? It is because we are bringing the ones that we love closer to each other. And why is it that a mother's happiest moment is when her two children hug? Because it is because her two children have imitated her principles that she has taught them, and have both shown love among one another just as she has shown to each of them. This is exactly what has happened in the relationship between us humans and Jesus. When the children were running to Jesus his disciples told them to not bother the almighty because he had more important things to do. But Jesus said to them " Let the little children come to me; and do not hinder me". And the children came to him and he embraced them with what is known as a "hug".
As I mentioned before the hug is what binds us to the things we love. And Jesus loved us therefore he hugged the children. And told everyone to love one another, and to imitate God's principles so that we may be more like what God made us to be. We were made in the image of God, rather then the snake that is satan.
If you want to learn more about how humans are made in the image of God and imitators of God I suggest you read the following:
BibleGateway.com - PassageLookup: Ephesians 5;
Pay special attention to verses 6-8 if you are an atheist, who wants to become a Christian.
I hope that I have enlightened or restored faith in us humans.
And thank you for reading this to the very end.