“The universe may be chance or it may be creation, and it matters not to me which one it is. God may or may not exist, and again it makes no difference to me. If I am developed from apes or other animals or created by a god, it still makes no difference. The world and sky are vast, animals are plenty, and everything goes through the same cycle of birth, life, and death.
“Me has eyes, ears, a mouth, hands and feet. Inside my chest I have a heart to feel joy and anger. Me has a penis to share love with the ones I love. Me is not different from any other animal. They too have all of these. A wolf can love me and be my friend, or it can fear me and stay away. A horse can carry me across the land, or if it fears me, it will not let me near it. Man and I are the same as these animals. We too can be in love or in hate.
“But a wolf does not kill a wolf in hate, nor does a horse kill a horse because they are different colours. Only man kills another of his kind for these things. Each time I ask man why he would kill me, the answer is always the same: some ‘god’ tells him to do it because this god says that his people are better than me. Some god tells him that my colour skin is not as good as white skin, and that I am no good because I do not pray as he does, or because I love differently than he does.
“It is not only here that this is true. Me hears that it is like this all across the world, among all of man, in all nations and villages. You have a book that has the ‘word of god’. The Arab also has a book that has the word of god. Each nation and people have their books, and each of them claim to have the word of god in them, yet the books are not the same. Each says that the word of god is something different, so which god is the true one, and which word is true? You tell me yours is, and the Arab says his is. All of them say theirs is the only true word and god. Each one tells me that I must believe only their word and god.
“Me does not need to believe them, because I know that if there is a god who created this world and this universe as your book and many others say, and if he created us in his image and shaped us from the earth to his form and likeness, then god gave me everything I must have to be like him.
“God gave me these eyes to see, to observe the world around me, and to help me to understand what is there. My eyes see the world and the universe, from the ocean and grass nearby to the high mountains across the land and even far away to the distant stars and the infinity of the universe. But my eyes do not see only the trees, the animals, the village, the fish, and the sea. Me shall also see when you are sad, frightened, poor, or hungry. Me shall see this, and I shall do what needs to be done to help you. Me has eyes to see beauty, yes, but my eyes are also to see the pain of man, as god sees, so that I may do something to help, as god would, because I am in his image.
“God gave me ears to hear music, voices, laughter, the songs of birds, the night songs of the wolves, and the whispering of the wind. My ears hear the stories of my ancestors and the wise ones, who tell me of the past, of evil and good, of pain and joy. My ears can hear cries for help, tears of hurt and pain, shouts of joy, and whispers of love. And what my eyes can see and my ears can hear, I will act on, because I see and hear as god does, since I am created in his image.
“God gave me lips and a mouth to give my voice a shape, to talk and tell stories, to ask for help if I need it, or to simply sing a song or tell sneaky jokes. Me has a mouth that can say words of hate if I am in hate and words of love when I am in love. My eyes will see, my ears will hear, and these lips and mouth will tell others what I shall do to help. I will say words of comfort and kindness and let them hear the words that so many miss - ‘I love you’. And the deeds that I say I will do, I will do, as god would have me do, because I am created in his image.
“God gave me hands and feet to move and walk, to shape earth, wood, and steel, and to till the land and fish the sea. My feet can carry me across all the earth, but they can also carry me only as far as to the person who needs a hug. My eyes will see, my ears will hear, my mouth will say what I will do, and my hands and feet will carry me to do what I have said I will do, since I must do what god would do because I am created in his image.
“God gave me a heart that beats to pump my blood and lets me feel. Me feels compassion for those who are in fear and sadness. Me feels love and hate, joy and pain. What my eyes will see and my ears will hear, I will feel in my heart. What I see and hear and feel in my heart will cause me to use my lips and mouth to say what I will do to help. When I have said what I will do to help, my feet and hands will do what I say I will do because that is what God would do, and I am created in his image.
“God gave me eyes, ears, heart, lips, mouth, hands and feet. If I am created in his image, if I can see and hear pain as he sees and hears, if I have feeling in my heart as he feels, if I have a mouth to say what I will do and hands and feet to do as I say I will do, why then should I call out to him for his help? Me is created in his image, and I can do whatever he would do. Me has a penis and a girl has a vagina so we can share our love and create new life. When my time is come as a grown man, I can create life as god creates life, in my own image. Me can do this because I am created in his image.
“God has no eyes except my eyes to see the pain of man, the good and bad, the joy and sadness. God has no ears except my ears to hear the cries of pain or happiness from man. God has no mouth to speak words of wisdom, kindness and love except my mouth. Only I can say ‘I love you’ and you will hear it. God has no hands or feet to walk to you and hold you except my hands and feet. Only I can see you in pain and fear, only I can hear your cries, and only I can walk to you and hold you, and brush away with a kiss the fear that grips your heart. God has no heart to love except my heart. Without me, without you, without man, god is blind, deaf, mute, lame, and without feeling. Me - you - we are his eyes, ears, lips, hands, feet, and heart.
“We are also his voice, because he created us in his image. We are his voice to speak for him in the language of man. But if this language is spoken badly and no one can understand it, how can I make god be seen to man, who is in his image? If I close my eyes and ears, seal my lips, do not move my hands or feet, and wrap my heart in hate, how can god speak? How can god forgive if I cannot say the words of forgiveness?
“How can I make man love a god who is not seen, whose love is written only on paper or in a book, while the things I do in his name are things of hate and pain? Do I want to love a god that orders me to hate, to whip a boy to death, to rob man of his freedom because of colour, race, looks, language, or beliefs? How can I love a god that enslaves, beats, denies love, and rules by fear? Is this god in your book not a god that is explained by people who have no love for man?
“You claim god to be yours, true and absolute. Me claims god to be love and life. Would your god have told you to remove the shackles from my feet, as my god of love and life told me to do for you? If you would rule, would I sit here in your arms and have my fears brushed away with a kind touch and soft words of comfort? Would I be held by warm arms and be loved or held by cold steel and be hated and alone?
“Are you in this image of your god? Is this the image you want it to be? Which god do you want? A god of fear and hate who rules from afar, or a god that shows love with each kindness and each smile and touch, a god that is in you, a god that is you? Which image were you created in?”

Copyright - 1999 - Guenter K. Heyes - Tiny Eden (From 8th chapter)