“God did not create man in his own image. Evidently, it was the other way about, which is the painless explanation for the profusion of gods and religions, and the fratricide both between and among faiths, that we see all about us and that has so retarded the development of civilization.“
If yes or no, please explain to me.
Being created in God's image refers to the triune nature we share with God, having a body (Son), soul (Father) and Spirit. We are the only created beings to have all three, like God. Angels and demons have spirits and souls, but no bodies; the other animals have bodies and spirits, but no souls.
The reason there are so many religions and denominations within religions can be learned from the parable of the blind men and the elephant. Several blind men who had never encountered an elephant before one day came upon one. One blind man felt the elephant's tail, and concluded that an elephant is like a rope. Another blind man felt the elephant's leg, and concluded that an elephant is like a tree trunk. Another blind man felt the elephant's ear, and concluded that an elephant is like a fan. Yet another blind man felt the elephant's side, and concluded that an elephant is like a wall. Still another blind man felt the elephant's trunk, and concluded that an elephant is like a snake. Finally, the last blind man felt the elephant's tusk, and concluded that an elephant is like a spear.
None of us are qualified to know God completely and exhaustively, so even legitimate experiences of God are necessarily limited in scope. I believe that legitimate experiences of God are at the heart of all of the world's major religions, but as their followers have to rely on various incomplete accounts of God, the Ropers think that the Trunkers are heretics, and both agree that the Fanners are all a bunch of lunatics--when in fact all of their beliefs are based in legitimate experiences of God.
If we focused more on the deeper truths common among them rather than the superficially different details, civilization might not be so retarded.