How you see God determines how you see the world and human beings. Does God create human beings in his/her image, or do we create God in ours? Can we really know that our conception of God corresponds to something real and is not just a projection of our desires or imaginations? Can Jesus help us solve this problem?
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LISTEN to Dr. Randy Harris interview
Required Reading
Read the following chapters that extend our discussion of how we view God.
- Gary Holloway & Earl Lavender, Living God’s Love: An Invitation to Christian Spirituality (*MyACU login required)
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Join the Conversation
If you have a question for this week’s speaker or would like to share a conclusion of your own, please post it as a comment below. We welcome off-campus voices to the public Cornerstone dialogue as long as they are respectful and contribute meaningfully to these curricular discussions. See the ACU Blogs Terms of Use or About Cornerstone for more information.
Spotlight Resources
BIOGRAPHY
Randy Harris is an instructor in Bible, Missions, and Ministry with expertise in philosophy, preaching, monastic traditions, and author of Godwork: Confessions of a Standup Theologian (2009).
27 responses to “Gods, Idols, Terrorists, Jesus”
Do you think our artistic depictions of God and Jesus are ultimately detrimental to our faith? Is the idea of a big, half naked, bearded old man God causes us to think about things the wrong way, or is it mostly a non-issue?
Hey man that’s a pretty interesting question. I think it can be non detrimental as long as we as Christ followers decide that this art is just that: art. It is an interpretation and/or a symbol. As long as our concept of God is a biblical one and not dependent on anglicized art I think art can remain as a non-issue.
I don’t see any problem with depicting God or Jesus in a way that helps us relate to him. Obviously, Jesus was not blonde-haired and blue-eyed but if it helps people identify with him, why not?
I think God could care less what people picture him as, but obviously he doesn’t want us viewing him in a disrespectful way. Whether he was black, white, long hair, big beard, bald, big, or small. It really doesn’t matter. Like Bo said as long as we can relate to Him and understand His mission for us then we are good to go. Jesus wasn’t exactly too worried about self image. I don’t think a picture should impact our faith or the way we see God.
I totally agree with Chris…I’m sure God does not mind at all how we portray him as long as we can use this image to inspire our faith and keep us connected to God. God cares less about self image except that we were all created in his image so we should represent that image respectfully.
I think you are right, but does God want us to depict him or get to know him, as he reveals himself to us, we will begin to see what he truly looks like. Jesus is already somebody…
My African-American roommate showed me a Stained glass picture of a Chicago church building of a Christ that was a black man. He asked: what do you think of MY Jesus? His question still haunts and challenges my preconceived ideas. In art, how much is there of our inherent prejudices as we make god in our image?
I think it all comes down to what we want to believe our god to be. He could be your best friend and just look like a normal human being, or he could be the lighting bolt in the sky that we are amazed to see every time we see him. Everyones perception is different and I also think that coming from different cultures you have different ideas about the god you “want”.
As long as the image of God does not become and object of our worship, then I believe it is okay. As human beings we are very sense conscious, meaning we like things that relate with our sight, sound, touch etc…. Having an image of God helps us relate, but once again we just have to make sure that we don’t worship the image.
I think everyone struggles with how to view God physically. We all have different images of God in our minds, but does it really matter which one is right? I don’t think it does. Whether one views God as white, black, Asian, or Middle Eastern shouldn’t matter. All that really matters is God; His presence, your relationship with Him, and the love He has for you. All the debate about which one is the “real God” is completely absurd. We should allow God represent Himself without all of our naïve and selfish assumptions of what he looks like.
i completely agree with you.
I understand that sometimes we are curious about Jesus’ image and what he looked like, but in my opinion, I don’t think it even matters what God/Jesus really looked or looks like. He is perfect in every way and we should not be concerned about his physical image. What matters most is how we describe him to be in our lives. That is something so powerful, being able to fall in love with someone you cannot see or even hear. The only thing attracting us to God are his ways; his love, mercy, faithfulness, patience, etc. This is something that cannot be explained or completely understood, its something supernatural. All I know is that HE is real, and he created each person for a reason. I do believe that part of the reason that he created human kind was so we could glorify his Holy name, and he deserves it, that and more.
I think that, like lots of things in our lives, we should never let our ideas about God stagnate or finalize, but that our views of God must always be changing in accordance to what we learn more about God. It’s common in prayer to think of an image of God and an image of ourselves praying. Both of these can be very false. Our prequel for any prayer we utter should be “Let it be the real me who speaks, and let it be the true Lord who listens.” At stages in our lives God looks completely different. Race and things like that seem less important to me than the ideas behind the pictures we envision. Is God just, familiar, alien, merciful, full of wrath, ext. Any piece of art helps us envision an idea of God that the artist currently has. These are not bad, the Bible being filled with such “mythological poetry,” but neither can they be relied on fully. The truth of it all is, these visions are all false, for they do not give the full picture. How could they? As C.S. Lewis says in Letters to Malcolm, “Every idea of Him we form, He must in mercy shatter.” For us to truly grow, we must ever be evolving our view of God. Thomas Aquinas, one of the most intelligent and revered theologian during the Middle Ages, at the end of his life, after all the teachings and works he had written, says, “I can write no more, I have seen things which have made all of my writings like straw.” Hopefully our view of God will not stagnate and become an idol, but grow ever more into who He really is.
God creates us in His own image, that is a fact; but we as human beings try the inverse: we want to put a face on God, create Him in our own image. I believe this is done for self-comfort. Faith is not easy, at all, therefore by envisioning how Christ/God may look we make faith easy on ourselves. I believe in doing this we have a lack of faith. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” I believe true faith requires no image of Christ/God. There are several instances in the Bible where God scorns upon the use of images; we don’t need to see Him to believe in Him. When we think of Him He doesn’t want us to see a self created image, for that is not what is important; he wants us to see His love, His grace, and His mercy. Satan wants us to focus on whether He was white or black, tall or short, blue or brown eyed so that we can lose our focus on the importance of His salvation. When that day comes He will not ask how do you think I looked, but how did you use the talents I gave you to manifest my Glory; we have to be ready to answer that question.
We can really know that our conception of God corresponds to something real. We are creators of sight and evidence, God created us therefore He knows that full well. He knows he did not provide a physical image of himself therefore He works in different ways. I don’t know about you but God has done too much in my life and I would never be able to consciously say that God is not real. There is too much evidence. Images are not necessary, God shows me every day He is real.
Just like everything in society, we make it all about us. We’re sinful beings, and therefore we continuously make the Lord into what we want Him to be. This is who we are as sinful people, but as Christians we’re supposed to go against the grain, and we have to struggle to make it about Him again. Instead of choosing what the Lord is for us or what He wants for us, we should be constantly trying and reminding ourselves that it truly is all about Him, as hard as that may be to swallow. The best way to try and get the accurate image of God, is to remain in Him and in His word as much as possible, so that we might know Him more and more each day. The more we learn about Him and the more we serve Him and see His love for us, our image of Him will evolve more and more into what He really is. If we’re really trying to seek after Him and know Him, then He will reveal Himself to us. At least, that’s what I hope and think.
Everyone views God in his or her own way, and decides themselves what they think he should look like. I don’t think he particularly cares about the way we picture him physically, simply that we believe in him. As long as our image of him helps us connect with him, then there really is no right or wrong depiction.
Hearing the term “almighty God” for my first time as a five-year old and not knowing what it meant left me with a mental image that God was an armed soldier sitting upon a throne, protecting over the world. This image gave me my first impression of God, one that he was a grown man whom I would have nothing in common with. Little did I know, my impression of God would soon change. In fifth grade, my Sunday school teacher introduced me to a song called “The Fingerprints of God,” which compares the physical image of God’s child to the spiritual side that God actually sees. The lyrics “the person in the mirror doesn’t look like a magazine; oh but when I look at you it’s clear to me that I can see the fingerprints of God” changed my views. I believe that the more a person becomes like God, the more he will lose touch with his physical impression of God, and the more you become like Christ, the more others will recognize you by your spirituality rather than who you are on the outside. It goes both ways!
Us as people love visuals. we try to describe God and how we view him and try to give him human features like a face and body. thats not necessairly a bad thing but its definatly not the most important thing in our Faith. We need to create a spiritual and emotional connection with our God because thats the picture that will last.
I believe that we make God a physical image in our heads to help ourselves mentally. Honestly as long as we believe in God and create that spiritual connection with him. That will be the part that is kept forever. Who cares what he looks like physically.
God created us in His own image. Therefore I think that everyone has a view of God as they have a view or image of themselves. I don’t think that God has a problem with that. Having a personal relationship with the lord, I think is the most important decision that you can make. When you are in a relationship with the lord you are receiving whatever it is that you need from him, on a continual bases. It is from this relationship that you will continue to grow and feel comfortable to seek Him with life decisions and grow in wisdom.
I thought that the discussion kinda made believers of God question there religious beliefs……i feel like my religion shouldn’t be questioned at a Christian College.
I am Christian but I felt he was trying to change my beliefs….even though i am very open minded about religion.
I’m enjoying tracking along with the student conversation. So I have a question for all of you. It sounds to me that most of us agree that all of us understand the language that we use to describe God is limited, and most of you agree that our language is meant to describe God in a way that draws us closer to God. So would any of you have a problem with describing God with feminine language, referring to God as “she,” incorporating feminine imagery into our worship music, and the like? My experience has been that while most of us realize God is not male that we are uncomfortable drawing from non-masculine language when describing God. I wonder if this has as much to do with our own cultural predispositions than it does with who God is.
I’m not sure if this is relative, but I know this girl that refers to God as “she”. I was really confused at first when she started talking about how “She” forgives all our sins and how “Her” will is so important. It had never occured to me that God could be concieved as a woman because I was always reading about “Him” in the Bible and the things that “He” did. My friend explained to me that it was easier for her to think of God as a woman because she never knew her father and had never had a fatherly figure before when she was growing up. Envisioning God as a motherly figure made it easier for her to share a relationship with the Lord and to understand his love for her.
She changed the way that I envisioned God, and I thought that was pretty cool. ^_^
Exactly what I’ve been thinking as I’ve read these posts. Thanks for bringing up the idea, Vic. Recently after an intensive study of Christianity and Gender I wrote to a friend whose mother had died unexpectedly.
Without plan or forethought, I found myself writing that as God provides comfort, “she” will wrap you in her arms and comfort you as you grieve the loss of your earthly mother. It seemed appropriate particularly since my friend had not lost a father but a mother.
I think that the reason we use masculine language goes back to what the writers of the gospels recorded. They record that Jesus said “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father” or “this then is how you should pray, Our Father in heaven…”
Now maybe one could argue that Jesus used “Father” because of cultural predispositions, but then the reason I use Father when I pray is because Jesus said it is how I ought to pray. I am not familiar with the original greek so I am willing to concede that translators used Father for a word that could mean more than that. However, my point is that a lot of use masculine language simply because of what we think Jesus said.
in my opinion god created us in his image. while many people give god certain characteristics, and there is nothing wrong with that if it helps that individual draw closer to god, it does not change who he is. god was here long before we were, so for someone to create their own sense of who their god is is to in a way create a whole new god separate from who god really is.
well I think that god has created everyone equally and life with the things he has done for us is amazing so who’s to say that the next man is better then the next man and who’s to say of how god think’s of one another because he blesses us all and will work with us threw the hard times we really face so im just saying d.brown
Nobody will ever know what God’s physical presense would look like. How each individual percieves his appearance is completely up to them. I believe that we shouldn’t worry about what he looks like because it is irrelivant. As long as we know his presence is with us in spirit, that’s all that should matter.