I disagree with this. If we are the image and likeness of God, since we know that God is beyond physical form, then this must mean spiritually. If so, then the Love that God is must be reflected through us. That would be inherent in our very being. That is why every human being is important and every human life is sacred.
that evil emanates only from the human mind and that it must be named, confronted and fought.
That's partially right, IMO. Evil is an illusion stemming from the human mind -- the Collective Unconscious, the Race Mind of humanity -- and while struggling against it can merely give it energy, it does need to be purged from our consciousness.
These all demand choices. The only thing "inherent" in them is that God is good, which I personally believe He needs us to aspire to.
We are always choosing, every moment of our lives. Why does God, who is Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent, need us to aspire to anything? A God that needs to be worshipped would be a pretty insecure God. What God needs us to do is express the Love that we are in God as fully and completely as we can. This is a choice, an ongoing one, made every moment.
And of course "you" CAN "impute certain beliefs to people based on their beliefs on this..." or any other "particular matter".
Certainly not in the way that Prager is attempting to do. He attributes certain political and social beliefs to EVERYONE who holds that mankind is inherently good, yet at least one of them contradicts that very belief.
I can tell you that these political and social beliefs are not either universal among those who accept man's goodness as a premise, nor do they follow logically. One is not a necessay adjunct of the other.
If we are the image and likeness of God, since we know that God is beyond physical form, then this must mean spiritually. If so, then the Love that God is must be reflected through us. That would be inherent in our very being. That is why every human being is important and every human life is sacred.
The image and likeness of God would also seem to refer to our ability to abtsract information from our environment, and derive meaning from it, which only the human is capable of.
God is also more than Love. God is justice. Truth. And morality, to which end He gives us free will thus to choose. Debits or credits to our souls. Reward and punishment. That earned as opposed to spent. The sacredness and importance of human life comes ultimately to the good or evil it does. In terms of evil, the life of Saddam, for example, can hardly be deemed sacred, and his importance understood only by how necessary it is to get rid of him for good to prevail.
We are always choosing , every moment of our lives. Why does God, who is Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent, need us to aspire to anything? A God that needs to be worshipped would be a pretty insecure God. What God needs us to do is express the Love that we are in God as fully and completely as we can. This is a choice, an ongoing one, made every moment.
My emphases, forgive me.
Admitedly "why" God created us is but ontological speculation, for if I knew Him, I would be Him. But indeed, why? given His Oneness you note.
If God is also good (which I believe He is) then certainly he "wants" us to aspire to that Good, we then, even more greatly in his image and likeness.
Are good and evil accounted like energy in existence, in and out, balanced as in thermodynamics? Even a quantum good that God might derive from the greater good than evil that humanity does, might leave Him with a net gain in goodness, which as coming from Man it would be hard to imagine God as not exceedingly pleased. Wouldn't God seem worshipped in that process?
Does He need it? In that sense, could God possibly "feed" from our doing good?
I can tell you that these political and social beliefs are not either universal among those who accept man's goodness as a premise, nor do they follow logically. One is not a necessay adjunct of the other.
I believe that because there is only One God there is only One Morality for all mankind. That God's principle demand on us is deceny toward others, and that "deed" is more important than "creed".
Everything GOOD then, to you.