Jewish PhilosophyIf man was created in God's image, how can he behave as he does - Essay Example

This question is that if G-d is good and righteous and has created humans in his own image, how can people be evil and do so much harm to each other. This question is probably as old as religions themselves. It is simply a tentative lump for some of us, and for many more at given moments of misfortune and despair. In my paper I would like to touch upon this subject and try to discover some possible explanations of why the evil and evil people persist in our world if the Almighty has the powers to stop them.

Furthermore, I would like to explore the thesis of humans being created in G-d's image, according to the principles of Judaism. To begin with, I would like to turn to the words of the holy Torah (Bible) and see the event of the man's creation. In Genesis 1:26 it is said "On the last day of creation, God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness". This verse, even though being short, is in fact a contradiction and has been arising arguments for centuries already. Lower, I would like to present my understanding, that I have formed having read much literature on this subject, of the two concepts "image" and "likeness".

Having the "image" or "likeness" of God means, that we, the humans, were created to resemble G-d. The words "image" and "likeness" convey the idea of the whole man being created in this way. Of course, we know that man's physical body is not patterned after the physical appearance of the Divinity, because G-d is a Spirit and does not dwell in a physical body. However, this does not exclude the fact that the physical body is some part of the image of God (Man Created in the Image of G-d). The "image" of G-d refers to the immaterial part of man.

Having the G-dly image and likeness inside of us, means having a reflection of G-d's intellect and freedom, as well as the freedom of choice (Man Created in the Image of G-d). Yes, it would be easier and more understandable for us, if the Almighty had created the humanity to be all righteous and decent, though that was not his intention. Further in my paper this concept will be explained in more details. In order to make the paper more clear lower I would like to refer to the works by two great Jewish contemporary philosophers Martin Buber and Abraham Joshua Herschel.

In his famous work I and Thou (Ich und Du, first published in German in 1923) Buber suggested that human life could be defined by the way in which they engage in dialogue with each other, with the world, and with the Almighty. As said by Buber, "human beings adopt two attitudes toward the world: I-Thou or I-It". I-Thou attitude is a relation of subject-to-subject, at the same time as I-It attitude is a relation of subject-to-object. In the I-It relationship individuals recognize each other to be consisted of explicit, secluded characters, as well as they view themselves as part of a world, which, in its turn, consists of many things and characters as well.

I-Thou is a relationship of "mutuality" and "reciprocity", while I-It is a relationship of "separateness" and "detachment" (Buber). The main emphasis of Buber that is still