I know that He isn't the benevolent old grandfather figure that I would occasionally seem Him portrayed as in those nice and peaceful pictures that hung on the walls of my old Sunday school room. I'm also betting that He doesn't look like the warrior G-D that the fundamentalists tend to view Him as, gleaming in polished armor and carrying a two-edged sword in one hand and an American flag in the other. I have a feeling that He would look a bit more regular, more human, than either of those pictures depict Him to be.
I wonder if He would look like my father, a 55 year old balding man whose smile never quite reaches his eyes, but still loves people all the same. Or perhaps, He might look like my mother, a frantic 51 year old woman with good intentions and an uncanny ability to help anyone she meets. Or maybe He'd look like me, an unsure 19 year old who thinks he knows more than he does and does more than he thinks.
What I'm beginning to learn though is that G-D doesn't look like any of those, or even anything else that I might imagine Him to look like, but rather those are just persona's that I project on Him. I understand why we imagine that G-D looks sort of like us, but only more perfect and -most likely- on a larger scale. We are trying to make sense of the Incomprehensible G-D, who is beyond our finite understanding and intellectual ability.
Believe me, I understand the temptation to try to make G-D fit into our motifs and temporal concepts but doing so is an incredibly destructive thing to do. I've realized that when I try to personify G-D, what I am really trying to do is to make G-d more human, and as the Greek Fathers have taught us, the minute I make G-D human is the minute I am no longer dealing with G-D. G-D is not my father and G-D is not my mother. G-D is G-D! Glory to G-D!
Mike G.
4 comments:
I've done the same thing many times. But He is so far beyond what our finite minds can comprehend. I love how C.S. Lewis put it in "Mere Christianity" (when speaking of God's description of Himself, of the Trinity, & the relationship between Father & Son) that perhaps He uses terms such as "Father" and "Son" because it's what we can understand: it's more a metaphor of Who He Is, trying to bring Himself down into a picture we can slightly understand. And yet, even His elementary levels are too heart-deep and heady for us. He amazes me. My brain hits "overload" after a while. What a thrill, to know Him so well... and yet to have only just begun!
Great blog; I read it yesterday, but didn't comment. Seeing as I was tagged on Facebook, I felt leave to do so now. :)
Shalom.
sometimes i do picture God, but i can never see his face, only what He might do and who He is liable to be with. is that the same thing as picturing what He looks like?
There have been several small children at my church over the years that have been known to believe that my dad is Jesus. i think we can blame the traditional sunday school image of Jesus as a tall white guy with a beard preaching to a bunch of people while wearing a white robe for that gross misconception.
I think that God gives us metaphors for Himself so that we can have the very beginnings of an understanding, and that so many times we [and God's followers throughout history] take the metaphors as literal descriptions rather than as "signposts" and stories that point to the truth. I think maybe we could understand more about who God is if we stop trying to put Him in a "box" that makes sense to humans and just wondered at the immense unknowableness of our creator. that is a really paradoxical statement, but i'm going to go with it for now.
I think God anticipated us trying to put Him in a box. Maybe that's why Yeshua always switched things up. To one blind man He spit in mud to another He simply spoke. Many times when we see God move a certain way, we expect Him to always move that same way. Maybe a key is keeping our minds open to God working in a new way. Awesome blog bro, Shalom
I greatly appreciate Andrew's insight about Jesus mixing things up in healings.
I would like to point out an observation relating to the last paragraph of the original blog about "the minute I make G-D human is the minute I am no longer dealing with G-D"
Interestingly, God did make himself human and he continued to surprise people - even those closest to him - because he didn't look the way he was "supposed to" (in their minids).
It should be said, however, that there is a distinct difference between God making himself human and human beings making him human. A difference I am thankful for - a difference that brought Life, Truth, and Salvation.
Thanx for the post, my friend...and thanx 4 the responses my friends!
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