The Beauty in Christianity

One fundamental thing in Christianity is the thought of 'God gives Himself to Man'.

A common interpretation involves Jesus, who is 'God giving Himself to Man', sacrificing Himself to erase the sins of Man and buy them back from evil with His blood.

This thought, as expected, becomes the source of joy for most Christians, because it is considered that even though we are flawed beings, God is willing to go through all the trouble to save us.

Unfortunately, this very thought also tragically destroys the value of creations, especially Man as God’s image,
because creations, in the end, have flaws. We are flawed.
Despite the act of redemption that proves how we are so loved, we are STILL flawed.
We are nothing more than sinful creatures, upon whom God has mercy.
That is our nature.
It cannot change.
We are confined in this tragic destiny.

NOW, the next interpretation comes from a few theologians. Two of them are Karl Rahner (a Jesuit priest), and Thomas Aquinas (a saint), a fact that proves such thought exists and acknowledged within the Church.
I have to point this out because their interpretation empowers the nature of Man, life, and the world.
A thing of usually Eastern spiritualism.

The thought takes the idea of 'God gives Himself to Man' to a deeper level.
By giving Himself, God does not only give Himself just like a husband gives himself to his wife, but He also gives something from His nature.
He gives Man His image.
He gives Man one thing (among others) that constitutes Him as God.
He gives Man the power of being subjects. (see here for further reading)
That's why it is said that 'He gives Himself to Man',
because He TRULY gives HIMSELF.

Or in other words, He gives Himself the way my father 'gives' his nose to me.
There is nothing truly passed between him and I (he doesn't take his nose off and hands it to me).
What he gives is much more subtle than a thing (or even a service, an action, etc.).
He gives his essence, the one that makes him, well, him.
He gives me a part of his identity.
He gives me his image.
And so does God.
That is why Man are always in some way connected to Him, whether they realize it or not.
At all times they have the characteristic of recognizing themselves and their environments.
The subjectivity is always there.
It never vanishes, even though there are degrees of its depth.
We always have His image.

The interpretation still goes further in the form of Jesus.
Through Jesus, God gives Himself more than before by participating in life and the world.
He endured what we endure and He went through what we go through.
God gives Himself in our reality.

So what do we see from this interpretation?
For one thing, the nature of Man is no longer considered doomed.
By giving His image, the nature of Man is certainly exalted.
And if I may quote from the Pastoral Community Bible when it talks about how God created Man in His own image (Gen 1:27),

we are not hopelessly confined to the world of our fantasies and illusions,

we are not prisoners of our own categories and structures, and

we are not condemned to doubt forever.

Our nature is destined for greatness as subjects.

LIKE THAT'S NOT ENOUGH, our reality (life and the world) is also uplifted.
Why not?
God Himself participated in it.
He certainly values it.
Our reality is perfect as it is.
God created the universe and saw that it was good, right?
Our reality (life and the world) must serve some divine purpose.

So, it is no surprise that people who truly see the interpretation above are full of love.
Why shouldn’t they?
All they see are appreciations of Man, life, and the world, as God Himself appreciates them.
There’s no room left for anything else except awe, respect, and love.

We are indeed full of grace,
right from start to end,
top to bottom,
left to right,
filling every corner and gap,
without a spot missed even one.