Dignity

There is common human fumbling in the sometimes mysteries related to good and evil.  Good and evil are identified variously in the present natural order.  The two begin as givens (unavoidable) for all of us.  We do not treat others quite as they ought to be treated, and we are not treated as we ought to be.  But, when we are identified in dignity, we likely, without obedience to proper instruction, do not well understand this life force (moral), meant to be justified in the image of God given to us in creation..  Often, our favorable self- interpretations lead to pride, even arrogance, or cause for us to perceive better reputation for ourselves, perhaps even for celebrity, than genuine dignity indicates.  As the creation of God, persons ought to have something of dignity that grows from that inheritance, that legacy.  Either the omission of faith, or the poor practice of it, means that our recognition and illusions about dignity are flawed, perhaps deeply flawed.  We should not be offended when, in managing the dignity of the image of God in human creation, we sully it in self and between ourselves.  Mankind’s dignity comes from the shadow of the majesty of God, just as genuine and pure love is a shadow of the love that resides in the character of God.   God has a majesty that we learn about in Scripture and sense when our faith tunes with Scripture.  Dignity (glory) relates to God.

We need not go far to find mankind in the negative pattern.  We lose dignity by immodesty, cheating, lying, false impression, crudity, and scores of large and small productions of our thoughts and conducts.  We may find recognition, or the loss of it, in the arts.  In the story, To Kill a Mockingbird, the lead person, Atticus Finch, attempts to win the release of an Afro-American man accused of a sexual affront upon the troubled daughter of a deeply depressed white man.  The innocent black man is found guilty.  In the development of the story one senses in Atticus a respect for the human creation.  It is seen in the black man, falsely accused.  When one sees that mysterious and wonderful thing, the story becomes larger, the suicide of the wrongly judged man.  The despair of those who care, principally Atticus and the man’s family, reveals something of the unwritten story of the dignity of mankind.  It precludes the disturbed young woman, the wicked distortions of her father, and the culture of the period.  Mankind has incorporated the image of God to inherit a dignity that reflects the creator to the universe.  Image making is biblical seen in the information that humanity is: for a little time lower than the angels.  When ugly in thought and conduct, mankind seems to be least worthy of anything in the creation, because the results are so far from the meaning of what humankind was and is meant to be.  Adam gave it up, when he lost the sense of the majesty of God that incorporates the influence of safety, rightness, excellence, respect, eternity, truth and love – in a way that honors all who regard it rightly. The status is restored to mankind in Christ.

In every way, life would be better, in practical terms – with dignity.  If mankind’s dignity were recognized for what it is meant ideally to be there would be no wars, no hunger, no abandonment of responsibility, but there would be excellence in problem solving as persons to the care of all that is in nature.  Human dignity is, like potatoes in a westerner’s meal or rice in an easterner’s – a staple.  It is in the manna of our lives.  It is a constant that helps in managing the passing scene of life.  It is there at birth, and it ought to attend us in life.  It is because of dignity that we want human remains, at death, to be treated with care, with refinement, and reflective of ideals within us.  We want dignity for our persons, communities, nations and all that relates to us.  If we can live for a hundred years depending every moment on a supply of oxygen so we can cultivate the ever present dignity of mankind in the way we develop our families, and the way we treat others, we would be more open to faith that lifts us above nature.  Dignity relates to the glory of God, and prayer to the humility of mankind.  Dignity is an element of problem solving whether between nations or between man and wife, or boss and worker, or pastor and people.  If we included dignity of mankind in beliefs we would likely lift meaning for persons and Christ, in his dignity, giving up, for a time, his majesty to share the slings and arrows of mankind’s fortune so to show the value God places on persons to whom he granted life, and for whom he offers immortality.  Dignity is found in God’s majesty – not meant to die.