{"id":16877,"date":"2025-05-15T15:58:45","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T06:58:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myuchisoto.org\/en\/?post_type=lesson&#038;p=16877"},"modified":"2025-10-28T09:54:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T00:54:07","slug":"my-uchi-soto-lesson-3","status":"publish","type":"lesson","link":"https:\/\/myuchisoto.org\/en\/lesson\/my-uchi-soto-lesson-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Paradise"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Opening Questions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What comes to your mind when you think of \u201cparadise\u201d?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How would you define a human being?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>In a world where <em>uchi<\/em> and <em>soto<\/em> relationships define our daily experiences, we\u2019ve been thinking about the idea of the perfect circle \u2013 one characterized by love and acceptance, one from which we will never have to leave. We\u2019ve seen that the Bible describes a circle of fellowship like this. It\u2019s sometimes called \u201cGod\u2019s house (<em>uchi<\/em>)\u201d or \u201cthe house of the <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps;\">Lord<\/span>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last time, we learned that the ultimate fellowship of love is God himself, in his three eternal Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We saw from the Bible that God invites human beings to share this <em>uchi<\/em> fellowship as he overflows with love towards the creatures he has made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, maybe you were surprised to read in this lesson of the <em>my<\/em> <em>uchi-soto <\/em>booklet that the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">whole created universe<\/span> is \u201cGod\u2019s house\u201d. If that\u2019s so, are we all in the ultimate <em>uchi<\/em> fellowship already? It sure doesn\u2019t feel like it most of the time! We\u2019ll think more about this \u201cproblem\u201d next time. Today, we\u2019re going to focus on another question: why does God care about human beings in particular? We\u2019ll start with this psalm (song) from the Old Testament:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p>When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,&nbsp;<br>the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,&nbsp;<br>what is man that you are mindful of him,&nbsp;<br>and the son of man that you care for him?&nbsp;<br>Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings&nbsp;<br>and crowned him with glory and honor.&nbsp;<br>You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;&nbsp;<br>you have put all things under his feet,&nbsp;<br>[&#8230;]<br>O <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps;\">Lord<\/span> our Lord,&nbsp;<br>how majestic is your name in all the earth!&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<cite>Psalm 8:3-9<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What does the writer of this song (David) say about God\u2019s relationship with human beings?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How does this understanding lead David to respond towards God?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In <em>Genesis <\/em>(the first book of the Bible)<em> <\/em>we read about the creation of human beings. This happens at the end of the sixth \u201cday\u201d of God\u2019s creative work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Then God said, \u201cLet us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.\u201d&nbsp;<br>So God created man in his own image,&nbsp;<br>in the image of God he created him;&nbsp;<br>male and female he created them.&nbsp;<br>And God blessed them. And God said to them, \u201cBe fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.\u201d [&#8230;] And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<cite>Genesis 1:26-28, 31<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>In the ancient world, the \u201cimage\u201d of a god was thought to represent that god. The image was placed in a temple (or \u201chouse\u201d [in many Ancient Near Eastern languages this is the same word]) to reflect or mediate the presence of the god. In addition, human kings (like the Pharaohs of Egypt) were sometimes described as the living \u201cimages\u201d of the gods they worshiped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We learn in chapter two of <em>Genesis<\/em> that God places the man and the women to work in and take care of a garden in a place called \u201cEden\u201d. This is later described as a \u201cparadise\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What do you think God means when he says he will make man in his \u201cimage\u201d? [The Japanese Bible says <em>as<\/em> God\u2019s image.]<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Where is the temple or house in which God\u2019s image is placed?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Why do you think God speaks in the plural: \u201cLet <em>us<\/em>&#8230;\u201d? (verse 26)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What commission does God give to man? What do you think this entailed?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The world God made, and the wonderful <em>uchi<\/em> fellowship he shared with humans was \u201cvery good\u201d (verse 31). But something has clearly gone wrong. We\u2019ll think about that next time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Concluding Questions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What have you learned today about how the Bible defines human beings?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Why do you think God cares about human beings in particular?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Do you believe that this God cares about <em>you<\/em>?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:1.2rem\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/myuchisoto.org\/en\/manga\/my-uchi-soto-lesson-3-manga\/\">View the Lesson 3 Manga<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:1.2rem\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>The ESV Bible<\/em>. Crossway, 2001, www.esv.org\/.<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":17069,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true},"class_list":["post-16877","lesson","type-lesson","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"single_language_page":false,"og_url":"","og_type":"article","og_title":"","og_description":"","og_image":17069,"og_image_type":"","og_image_width":"","og_image_height":"","twitter_card":"","twitter_site":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myuchisoto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/lesson\/16877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myuchisoto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/lesson"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myuchisoto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/lesson"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myuchisoto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myuchisoto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}