On September 17, Union Seminary tweeted a picture of them confessing sins to plants during their chapel. Despite criticism across the board, Union Seminary defended their actions, saying that this was "a beautiful ritual." 

RD and Greg start this episode by explaining that Union Seminary got one thing right: God has entrusted the planet to humans, and we have not done a good job of honoring and respecting that. But this idea, this sliver of truth, has been taken to an extreme. Union Seminary also said that they were confessing "to the beings who sustain us," but there is only one Being Who sustains us, and that is God. Greg is quick to point out Romans 1, which talks about a people exchanging the glory of God for other things.

Fundamentally, Union Seminary is calling into question the Imago Dei theology by thinking that we can confess to plants instead of God or each other. Plants (and animals, for that matter) can't be sinned against because they are not created in the image of God. However, people can be sinned against, because they are created in God's image.

Greg breaks down this idea further by discussing four different aspects of Imago Dei:

1.      Being self aware of our existence 

2.      Having a higher thinking

3.      Having the ability to know what truth and beauty and goodness are

4.      Knowing a moral order

Even with this knowledge that people can be sinned against, it's important to see that ultimately, all sin is against God. When we don't acknowledge God as creator and to whom we sin against, we can fall prey to thinking that humans are wise enough to become our own God, and we can assign value to each other and follow that as our moral code instead of what God has set into place.