2) The Image of God

How can we describe a human being’s likeness to the divine? This and the following sections explore this topic from three aspects: Human beings are created in God’s image; we are vessels for God’s indwelling Spirit; and we are God’s beloved children.

Jewish and Christian scriptures teach that man was created in the image and likeness of God. The image of God speaks to the ideal of holiness, truthfulness, righteousness, and charity. The saint or self-realized person is like heaven, manifesting the character of God. To reach this ideal requires a transformation of the inner man, or as Father Moon puts it, a “revolution of character.”

Father Moon’s teaching seeks to get at some of the ways that human beings resemble God. He examines God’s attributes: omnipotence, omniscience, absoluteness, eternity, etc. and explains that human beings strive for these same qualities. Moreover, possessing these qualities is our heavenly birthright.
Furthermore, the scriptures affirm that men and women are equally in the image of God. Since God created human beings to be nothing less than His counterparts with whom to share His complete love, human beings should resemble God to the fullest extent. Thus, had human beings not been marred by the Fall, we could attain the fullest manifestation of God’s image as a man and woman in the union of marriage.