Laughter and the Image of God

You do not have to read many theology textbooks before discovering that the image of God is a fairly complicated concept. Most authors take up at least one of two conversations regarding the Imago Dei.

First, what is it? And, second, how can we confirm that it exists? If we can identify the existence of the Image of God, we cannot credibly deny the existence of Deity.

This leads me to my interest in confirming the existence of the Image of God. (I'll let you pick up Millard Erickson or Wayne Grudem if you want to get a primer on the "substance" of the Imago Dei). Obviously, this is not possible in the strictly empirical sense, but the evidence is much more striking than you might imagine.

When you think of all the things that make up what it is to be human, there are many things for which simple biology cannot account. Your DNA does not tell you why something is sad, or why a sunset is captivating, why rejection hurts, why true love is beyond amazing, or why you "just know" that Hitler was an evil man.

In recent years, some atheists have come up with some very lame ways to try to make biology account for non-genetically linked phenomena, while others stress that the non-genetic stuff of being human comes from their "environment."

While environment surely plays a role in shaping one's moral and aesthetic judgments, how much impact does environment play when we speak of a 4 month old?

That's right, a four-month old. This is a critically important question.

I have not told Elizabeth what is funny and what is not funny, but she has begun to laugh at funny things!

I didn't laugh first; I didn't teach her to laugh . . . she just began laughing and smiling and giggling like crazy one day when I began making my Donald Duck voice.

The question that the atheist must answer, and answer plainly is this, "Why is she laughing?" Her mother isn't encouraging her to laugh. I'm not encouraging her to laugh. I'm simply making a "funny" sound. Not smiling back at her, just a crazy Donald Duck sound.

Who told her that Donald Duck is funny? Could it be that God "told" her when He fashioned her in His image . . . that God thinks Donald Duck is pretty funny too?

Of course, this observation should alarm not only the atheist but the Deist as well. For if God is still in the business of making men and women in His image, He is not the distant, disinterested watchmaker who wound the world up and let it go.

Instead, he is a personal God. A God who forms people in His image is, by definition, a personal God. The God who enables us to laugh at things which are funny or marvel at things which are beautiful before anyone tells us we should is the same God who sent His Son. He is the same God who gave us His Word that we might know Him and worship Him in spirit and truth.

Do you know your Maker? He wants to know you.

Even in a baby's laughter, He is there.