Bang!Zoom! Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Were you taught, or picked up somehow..that is God is an old man with long white hair sitting on a cloud-or something similar to that? -- I'm older now and of course I don't believe this "image" of God's face anymore. What did you think the face of God looked like as a kid? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caitilin Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennsmile Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Like this. He is the one pointing to His Son. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denise in Florida Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I always picture the image from the Sistene Chapel. :001_smile: However, I was cautioned heavily by my mother not to think of God as a specific corporeal representation. Anytime we pick for ourselves an image of God we place limits on our concepts of 'God'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bang!Zoom! Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share Posted January 12, 2012 My sister is an interesting person; she does some fairly significant work with people of all different faiths and paths. One day we were talking about some obscure concept, just having a ball with it..and she told me that she had experiences with people (women in particular) who could not come to grips with the idea of "God" until their childhood mis-conceptions etc., of what God "looked" like were overcome, or changed.... She told me that for some people, just changing that very primal understanding of what God "looked" like made a huge difference in their anger or ability to resolve things with faith (no matter what form it ended up taking). Then she said something that really set me on my tail... "for some people...God is woman" HUH? :001_huh: "Sure, why not?" The face of God as female, how interesting. ----- So yesterday, I'm plunking around this thrift shop, and that memory & conversation came back to me. I happened to spot a title on a book emblazed, "The Feminine Face of God." It's pretty good stuff. Enjoying it; it's not what I thought it would be at first..but it's fairly metaphysical at times. It's one of those books that "bug at ya..."- I'd gotten up this morning and that was the first question on my mind. "Where did I ever get that idea, God on a throne, an elder ancient male, all white-haired, angry and stern, holding lightning bolts, surrounded by angels in puffy clouds...who put that in my head?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsheresomewhere Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 (edited) One church we went to growing up made God seem like he looked like he was constipated. Very angry and just looked like a very mean grumpy man. The next church we went to- God was a very kind, caring soul who dressed in white. Interestingly, that church had some belief that God was on the earth and he choose someone he viewed through who was not any one but a ordinary person. They were not flashy or in the public view. I have heard of him being a woman. To me- he is neither a man or woman. Edited January 12, 2012 by itsheresomewhere Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 To me God is a warm, all encompassing light of pure joy. God is neither male or female, nor does he/she have a face or human form. God does not sit, stand or walk just as a ray of light does not. I refer to God as a male, becuase it is the accepted gender and our vocabulary doesn't have a pronoun that lends it self to he/she easily. I believe that God could take human form, or allow us to see himself as a human, but it is an illusion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Girls' Mom Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 As a child I though of Him as angry and inaccessable. He was a fuzzy concept I wanted nothing to do with. (There were various reasons for this) Now as an adult...I don't see Him as only angry (although I'm sure He is full of righteous anger over many things), but also as merciful, and loving. I don't have a visual picture of Him any longer, because I know that He has many aspects that I cannot yet comprehend. Jesus pictures bug me as well. Especially when He is portrayed as a white guy :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sputterduck Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 No one knows and it's a good thing because "But He said, 'You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!' Then the LORD said, 'Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.'" Apparently it's dangerous, or so says Exodus 33. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelly in IL Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 If you read "Heaven is for Real," the little boy recognizes Jesus in a painting a child protege artist painted. I can't remember the artist's name, but it is a slightly different looking Jesus, and a beautiful painting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz CA Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 This passage has always fascinated me. I do agree that any imagination or physical concept we may have influences also our perception of his power. I need a daily reminder not to put Him in a box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
********* Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 We don't do images of God in our home. No one know what Jesus looked like, and we don't ecourage the children to pretend that the generic picture of 'American Jesus' is him. And we would never try to come up with an image to portray God. If you asked me what God looks like, I would probably give you this face :001_huh: because I don't have an image in my head. I tend to think of God as being light. You can't really SEE him, but you do see him. If that makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Nyssa Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Yes, the church I was brought up in had a big stained glass window over the altar of God the Father on a throne, looking very distant and forbidding. (RCC church) That is a good enough image, to start with, because God is king, father, and sometimes angry (at sin), but God is in essence unknowable. Whatever image you think of, it restricts what he really is. Whatever you think you understand, you have to move beyond. That is why God took the initiative in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, so that we could begin a relationship of getting to know him. "For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2nd Corinthians. It may seem odd for me, an EO Christian, to say we have to move beyond images, since our churches and homes are full of images=icons. But it is the EO that has this dual theology: kataphatic=what we know about God through revelation and reason, vs. apophatic=the way of negation, or knowing God instinctively, without images, without words, and by what he is Not. And, it is wrong to have an icon that depicts God the Father, according to Orthodox theology, because he can not be depicted at all. Only Christ can be, and the Holy Spirit in symbols like a dove or ray of light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassy Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 "for some people...God is woman" HUH? :001_huh: "Sure, why not?" The face of God as female, how interesting. ----- So yesterday, I'm plunking around this thrift shop, and that memory & conversation came back to me. I happened to spot a title on a book emblazed, "The Feminine Face of God." It's pretty good stuff. Enjoying it; it's not what I thought it would be at first..but it's fairly metaphysical at times. It's one of those books that "bug at ya..."- I'd gotten up this morning and that was the first question on my mind. "Where did I ever get that idea, God on a throne, an elder ancient male, all white-haired, angry and stern, holding lightning bolts, surrounded by angels in puffy clouds...who put that in my head?" When DS7 first started talking about 'God', aged about 4 or 5 yo, he consistently referred to God as 'she' and 'her'. I don't where this came from, and I didn't correct him. I was actually rather pleased with the idea :D. I've since moved away from Christianity, towards Pagan beliefs, so it all rather makes sense now. The rest of the family still go to a Christian Church every Sunday though. Best wishes Cassy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justamouse Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 (edited) I'm a child of the 70s. Jesus looks like Richard Hook's pictures. :D I have no visual image of God in my head-most definitely not the Gandalfian sort. Edited January 12, 2012 by justamouse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 If you read "Heaven is for Real," the little boy recognizes Jesus in a painting a child protege artist painted. I can't remember the artist's name, but it is a slightly different looking Jesus, and a beautiful painting. The artist is Akiane here's a story from CNN a few years ago on her as an artist. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmm-0-Rdxo8 and on her website, it says she homeschools... reading her bio. -crystal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustybug Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Jesus pictures bug me as well. Especially when He is portrayed as a white guy :lol: :lol::iagree: If you asked me what God looks like, I would probably give you this face :001_huh: because I don't have an image in my head. I tend to think of God as being light. You can't really SEE him, but you do see him. If that makes sense. This is me too. I just tried to envision a face for Him when I read this thread, and all I can come up with is an intense haze of light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I blame Michelangelo. Now I don't "see" God as a 2-D image at all. I see my kids trying to get me to tell them what God "looks like." I just tell them how I view the question. I think they will have the Michelangelo view for a while, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 It's blank, to me. I wish I could picture His face, but I just can't. It's a mystery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ester Maria Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I was taught not to associate any image to the concept of God. I have always viewed works of art as works of art, a completely different sphere, not as anything that has any representative value. I was also taught that God does not have a "face" nor is a subject to any kind of an inner "division" (into body parts, etc.). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeacefulChaos Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I honestly can not remember ever 'picturing' God. I pictured Jesus, of course. But never God. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Yes, I thought of Him this way as a child, but no more.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.