What do you think God looks like?

[Katzpur]

"in his image" - I tend to view more as "with his potential to be forgiving, loving.... all the good attributes (forget looks ) does that enable you to understand how someone could describe God as intangible,with no human form?

I don't see how we can justifiably "forget looks." Can you think of even one example where you would use the word "image" in any other way but as a description of physical attributes? Look at these:

She stopped in front on the mirror and examined her image in it.
That little boy is the spitten' image of his dad.
Their twins are absolutely identical; they are mirror images of one another.

Taking it a bit further, when we say, "He's the image of good health," we mean, "He looks healthy."

Finally, even the word "imagine" (which has the same root as "image") asks us to picture something in our minds. It is pretty much impossible to imagine something without seeing it in your mind.

So I absolutely think that this instance is no exception. We are created in God's image, after His likeness. That means one thing only to me: we look like Him. When we say things like, "Well, that's what the Bible says, but it doesn't really mean that," we head off in the wrong direction entirely. I'd be willing to bet that every single person (well, make that Christian) on this forum who insists that God has no form is basing their belief off one single solitary verse of scripture, "God is a spirit."

When we take one verse out of the entire Bible and build a whole set of beliefs around it, disregarding all of the verses that appear to say something completely different, we're likely to get it wrong. We have to then be willing to come up with all kinds of explanations of why all of the other verses really mean something other than what they actually say. I just don't see that as a reasonable way of looking at it.

But I certainly would love to try to convince you to rethink your position!

Kathryn

 

[Omer]

Hi Kathryn and Michel;

I agree with what you mean Michel, that's a very good point. Kathryn, my opinion about your post is that comparing the Creator with the creation does no justice to Him at all. God has the Most Beautiful Attributes, and i believe we are not exposed to all of them.(yhttp://idsa.tamu.edu/prayer.htm you can check out this link to explore some of God's names through a universal prayer)
So the word "Image" could be used in the Bible by God Allmighty for us to better understand the creation process, thus can have a more spiritual meaning, rather than a "solid image" we try to build in our minds. For example, through using Kyrlian photography methods, one can take a photo of a certain person, and what he/she will see in the photograph is kind of a "spiritual image" (aura) of that person.
This is all i can think of for the time being;

C ya,

 

[karmel19]

I believe that because we are finite, created beings, and God is infinite, we can know nothing about His Divine Essence; we can only know His attributes because they are reflected in His Messengers as in a mirror. It is interesting that some of you have suggested that our creation in God's image means that He literally looks like us, and have used the concept of looking in a mirror. You will notice that if you look in a mirror and say "That's me," you are telling the truth, yet you are not inside the mirror, so if you were to say "That's not me," that would also be the truth. The Baha'i Faith teaches that we can know nothing about the Essence of God, yet we can know Him through his Manifestations (Messengers).

Lauded and glorified art Thou, O Lord, my God! How can I make mention of Thee, assured as I am that no tongue, however deep its wisdom, can befittingly magnify Thy name, nor can the bird of the human heart, however great its longing, ever hope to ascend into the heaven of Thy majesty and knowledge.

Exalted, immeasurably exalted, art Thou above the strivings of mortal man to unravel Thy mystery, to describe Thy glory, or even to hint at the nature of Thine Essence.

Nevertheless,

Having created the world and all that liveth and moveth therein, He, through the direct operation of His unconstrained and sovereign Will, chose to confer upon man the unique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Him--a capacity that must needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary purpose underlying the whole of creation. . . Upon the inmost reality of each and every created thing He hath shed the light of one of His names, and made it a recipient of the glory of one of His attributes. Upon the reality of man, however, He hath focused the radiance of all of His names and attributes, and made it a mirror of His own Self. Alone of all created things man hath been singled out for so great a favor, so enduring a bounty.

So my belief is that it is in our (potential) attributes, not in our physical bodies, that we are created in God's image. But we have to develop those attributes, and that is why the Prophets and Messengers are sent to educate us.

 

[ayani]

I think Prince has got a good look for a god.

ah, Prince. eternally amibigious master of the nasty.

i've never really been able to picture God, and as i evolve spiritually, the idea of a God becomes less and less important to me. still, when younger i've often imagined Him as being something like a wind.

 

[glasgowchick]

I'd say he looks like an ordinary man who's been beaten nearly to death - then executed.

That's not what God Looks like, that's what love looks like

 

[friedrice118]

I beleive he created man in his image, an image of mind, creativity and ingenuity. As for his physical aspects, I dont think anything is physical in heaven. If things were physical then there would be chemistry involved in heaven, I dont beleive heaven has any attributes to earth as we know it. God if I imagined, if a glowing figure, not sure about his shape. But a bright glowing voice, or something like that.

 

[lilithu]

That's all well and good -- for the blind men. But a sighted person would have a far better understanding of God, being able to see the entire picture.

The point of the story is that when it comes to God we can't "see" the entire picture.

 

[Lindsey-Loo]

Whatever He wants to look like. He is God, you know...all-powerful.

 

[Katzpur]

The point of the story is that when it comes to God we can't "see" the entire picture.

I know that's the general consensus. But I think he has actually told us what He looks like.

 

[lilithu]

When I was six, God looked like Santa Claus.
When I was seven, God looked like Charlton Heston.
When I was eight, God looked like the Buddha.
When I was nine, God looked like the sun filtering thru a copse of trees.
When I was ten, God looked like the ocean on a foggy day.
(Tho one day when I was ten, God looked like a perfect spider web.)
When I was eleven, God looked like a young Robert Duvall (Boo Radley).
When I was twelve, God looked like a man from Nazareth who said, "Blessed are the meek."
When I was thirteen, God looked like a ruthless tyrant, and I sided with the Devil.
When I was fourteen, God looked like the catcher in the rye.
When I was fifteen, God looked like E=mc2.
When I was sixteen, I could not see God at all.
When I was seventeen, God looked like the Tao.
Many times while camping, God has looked like a milky way or a shooting star, or a sunrise.
One time God looked like a lizzard doing pushups in the desert.
When I'm down, God looks like a friend offering a hug and a shoulder to lean on.
Sometimes when I'm lucky, God looks like a stranger doing an unexpected act of kindness.

Anywhere you see God, that is what God looks like.

 

[gtrsgrls]

Probably like something none of us can come close to comprehending.:bounce

 

[Kowalski]

A giant Frog, with huge luminous blood Red Eyes.

K

 

[lilithu]

A giant Frog, with huge luminous blood Red Eyes.

K

Sorry but according to Terry Prachett, He's a small one-eyed turtle.

 

[Kowalski]

Damm that Acid.

cheers

K