The Image Of God

I just read briefly on some news site about the 10 deadliest animals. In the comments that followed there were several comments about man being the deadliest, but was not even mentioned on the list. Some Christians had written in distinguishing between man and animals saying we were made in the image of God, which was amunition for those that were upset over the mixing of science and religion. They of course claimed that men are biologically animals. It is interesting that there is a blog site where people discuss our place in the animal kingdom trying to show that there is little distinction between man and animal, but they are doing it on a blog. Doesn't anyone see the irony of that?!?!
If man is simply another animal, where are the snake websites or hippo websites discussing why they should not be on the 10 deadliest list? Man is distinct and has dominion over the animals just as the Bible describes. Do we abuse it on occasions? I'm sure we do! However, a lot of that is interpretive. One of our biggest industries in America is devoted to slaughtering little microscopic creatures!! The industry is drug manufacturing and the creatures are bacteria. I'm sure there is an advocacy group for bacteria somewhere that is totally appalled by the government endorsed murder of these poor misunderstood creatures by murderous human beings. Sorry, I digress.
Anyway, some of the comments on the website about man being created in God's image were along the lines of God must be messed up because that is all that man seems to be able to do is mess things up. That's a fairly reasonable observation about man although perhaps a bit overstated. The problem with us being in God's image is that the image has now been marred by sin. So, what we see today is not a pure reflection of the God of this universe.
Jesus is the exact representation of the Father. He is, as a man, the restoration of the image of God in mankind. He is now our hope, as in , we can be transformed into His image and look like we were made to be in the first place. The goal of the redemptive process, in fact what we have been predestined to become as believers, is to be conformed into the image of the Son.
Humans are definitely unique because we were made in the image of God, but the image has been clouded by the corruption that sin has brought into the human race. On the other hand, some of the uniqueness of humans can be seen in the very fact that we are discussing our place in creation. You can check out the elephant blog or dolphin blog or even our supposed closest relatives (I heard once that one DNA protein in humans is most closely linked to the butter bean or some such thing) the ape blog and find very little that they are involved in regarding the defense or accusation of themselves or other creatures as being the deadliest animals.
We are definitely unique and we (mankind) are the ones responsible for the corruption of society. That's why Jesus came as a man to redeem all creation from the curse. All creation groans and is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. When we finally become what Jesus died to make us, all creation will be freed from its slavery (see Romans 8).