When I was a child, like many, I had an image of God as an old wise man, with a beard. I imagined him peeking through the clouds now and then to see how we were all doing, and I often tried to catch him at it.
I imagined him living in heaven, sitting on a beautiful throne surrounded by angels.
My picture of Jesus was just as pretty. I pictured him as a beautiful, friendly man with long brown hair a neatly trimmed beard, and dressed in a white gown with a piece of rope around his middle.
Now I sometimes wonder: are these images childish? Are they a sign of being young and religiously immature?
At thirtynine I don't really know anymore what God and Jesus look like. They've become more abstract to me. But I remember my childhood images vividly and I still think they are beautiful.
So now I'm wondering: what does God look like, and does it even matter? What if there was a book of mugshots of God, which one would I identify as God?
And should one even try to capture God in a picture?
Or is God too big to be represented as an image?
Friday, November 14, 2008
Images of God
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4 comments:
hi there!
you have a lot of meaningful wanders in your mind and heart. to be in search of what the Scripture says is what I can say best to you. i have several websites i am going to recommend you to visit if you have a chance.
http://www.amazingfacts.org/
http://www.itiswritten.com/
http://pmchurch.tv/
browsing them, you can find some answers to your questions and i hope and pray God will fill the longings in your heart.
btw, i love the second pic! i know the man behind that painting. :)
kind regards,
recel
Thanks for visiting my blog. It seems that we are on similar journeys in regards to our faith. I would highly recommend a book by Philip Yancey titled "Reaching for the Invisible God". I read this book twice and completely enjoyed it. It challenged me to think about questions like yours more deeply. I wrote a post titled "Solitude" about the book where I give a link to a preview of the book on amazon.com and an extended excerpt. Yancey starts the book off in part with this question "How, then, can we have a personal relationship with a God who is invisible, when we’re never quite sure he’s there?"
peace & grace,
brad
You have been added my bloggy friend! Your blogs (both of them) should be appearing in "The Congregation" list! And because you are international, you have been given your own spot on our lists of blogs by States. You will be listed under "International Relations". Thanks for joining!
Happy Stalking!
-The Blog Stalker
P.S. You have a beautiful site.
Thanks for visiting my blog.
Wow, I love this entry. My image of God had definitely changed through the years. I love hearing my son tell me what he thinkgs God looks like. Sometimes he says a man and other times he says a big light!
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