Larry Barnes is correct when he states that misconceptions and half-truths occur whenever articles are written about Mormons. But the same can be said about Christians or others. No one, however, is more prone to presenting misconceptions and half-truths than Christians and Mormons themselves. What we are supposed to bear in mind when we read this poem is that God created man, or mankind, in His image, or that God is a man. In Jesus Christ, God did indeed become a man that He might reconcile mankind to Himself by delivering him from the penalty and power of sin.

Yes, God has the ability to move about, speak, reason, convey ideas, etc., and mankind has possessed those qualities and characteristics all down through the ages, but this is not the only image of God that was passed on to man. The article and poem left out the rest of the image which resulted in a half-truth and a misconception.

The image of God is perfection, and God created “a man” in His image. The moral image of perfection is to be without sin, and God created a perfect man. God is not only without sin, but He hates sin, and clearly demonstrated both His hatred for sin and His love for mankind at Calvary. God created “a man” in His image, not “man” in the sense of “mankind” which is the impression we are left with.

Genesis 5:3 tells us: “And Adam lived 130 years and fathered a son in his own likeness, after his own image, and called his name Seth…”

Adam had already sinned at that time and been removed from the garden. God created a man in His image, and then man created mankind, not in the image of God, but in the image of fallen man who had already at that time been separated from God. Being the first man, Adam was “representative man,” and when he chose to disobey God in the garden, sin was stamped on our DNA. Does it use those terms in the Scriptures? No, because DNA is a recent discovery, and no one for 2,000 years would have understood it. But how else would one account for the fact that the first child born into the world was a murderer? Or that the entire world soon after became so evil that “iniquity only was in their hearts (minds) continually,” and God had no choice but to destroy the world, save for eight souls, and start over?

And why did God save Noah? Because he was righteous, and a “preacher of righteousness.” But didn’t Noah have sin stamped on his DNA? Of course he did, but like Adam and Eve (and the rest of the world) he had a choice. However, unlike Adam and Eve and the rest of the world, he chose rightly. Not just to believe in God, but to believe God! Only faith can overcome the sin gene, but faith cannot exist in a vacuum. Faith has to have an object, and the object of Christian faith is the Word of God.

Could the rest of the world have been saved at that time? Yes, they could have chosen to listen to the preacher of righteousness who would have gladly told them what they needed to do, according to the Word of God, to become righteous themselves. Would not this have voided the need for the flood?

Wake up America! Every problem this world has ever had, has now, or ever will have, is the direct, or indirect result of this thing called “sin.” While man has constructed a myriad of different titles for it, when you strip them all away you come right back down to that little 3-letter word called “sin.” A true understanding of Jesus Christ and His gospel is not just one solution among others, it is the ONLY solution to the problem of sin in this world, and my life, since knowing Him, is a living testimony to that fact.

BILL JOHNSON

Rathdrum