Like Father, Like You

Genesis 1: 26-27

Then God said, “Let us make a man—someone like ourselves, to be the master of all life upon the earth and in the skies and in the seas.”

So God made man like his Maker. Like God did God make man; Man and maid did he make them.

The ultimate motivation, this question has been asked and preached upon for several millennia, is why God created man? Most say for fellowship, and others believe for us to worship him. However, in worship, there is a greater sense of fellowship.

I believe in using templates for various things, such as patterns and essays. Today at work, we had a storm drain in the parking lot break, a sizable piece of metal with grating for water to drain through, about a three-foot square. We called a welder, and he came and took the drain cover to use as a template to build a new one. Hardly noticeable before the removal, now we have this gaping hole in our parking lot, seemingly going down into an abyss. I’m sure when the welder returns, he will have an expensive new drain cover. He took the old cover because he could not create a better design.

Comparatively, with the fall of many angels, God had a gaping hole to fill; possibly God had a gaping hole in His heart; seemingly, God used Himself as a template to create man because there is no other template better than Himself. Which brings us to what motivated God?

I believe that this would fall under Psychological Motivation; since we are created in God’s image, we certainly have some of His traits. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs would somewhat explain this motivation, however, with a sinful nature: Love and Belongingness require Emotional Intimacy (worship), friendships (humanity), social connections (fellowship) .

Genesis 2:18 And the Lord God said, “It isn’t good for man to be alone; I will make a companion for him, a helper suited to his needs.”

Here again, we can witness the effects of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, starting at the lower level one: Physiological needs for gratification. Level two: non-applicable at this time in creation. Level three: Love and Belongingness, emotional intimacy, friendships, social connections. Levels four and five, in my abstract opinion, would not come into existence until after the fall.

Genesis 4:3-5 At harvest time, Cain brought the Lord a gift of his farm produce,

and Abel brought the fatty cuts of meat from his best lambs and presented them to the Lord. And the Lord accepted Abel’s offering,

but not Cain’s. This made Cain both dejected and very angry, and his face grew dark with fury.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs brings us to level four: Esteem, Cain is seeking achievement, respect, prestige, status, approval. Cain also is attempting to reach level five: Self-Actualization, fulfillment of individual pleasure.

In my conclusion, God is complex, and he made man complex as well. I marvel at the engineering that He has created humankind. I believe that we are a product of God’s self-template that has fallen into a sinful nature. Because of sin, everyone’s molded or cut from a previous template, now a genetic code of sinful nature that only the perfect template of His son can correct.

He is: Abba

Father

Blessings

References

(Nevid, 2015) Nevid, J. S. (2015). Essentials of Psychology concepts and applications. Boston MA.: Cengage Learning.