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Is God an old man with a beard?

Discussion in '2003 Archive' started by Ben W, May 13, 2003.

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  1. Ben W

    Ben W Active Member
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    Have you ever noticed on T.V shows or any type of media that whenever God is portrayed it is as an old man with a beard?

    Does God really look like that or is it simply a man made fallicy?

    Genisis says "Let Us make man in our image" so would it be logival to suggest that God has a form similar to that of one of us?

    Or can God take any form in order to be anything to anyone?

    Interested in your thoughts.
     
    #1 Ben W, May 13, 2003
  2. Artimaeus

    Artimaeus Active Member

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    Old? No.
    Man? No.
    Beard? No.
    That leaves us with, God is.
    :cool: [​IMG]
     
    #2 Artimaeus, May 13, 2003
  3. USN2Pulpit

    USN2Pulpit New Member

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    Agreed, but I understand the question. I believe this conception comes from how the human perceives "wise and honorable."
     
    #3 USN2Pulpit, May 13, 2003
  4. j_barner2000

    j_barner2000 Member

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    problem is.... our finite little pea brains cannot come close to comprehending even a little bit of the awesome wonder of the shadow of our God, let alone even trying to comprehend Himself.
     
    #4 j_barner2000, May 13, 2003
  5. Wisdom Seeker

    Wisdom Seeker New Member

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    People have an inherant need to explain everything...to put everything in neat little packages. Furthermore, people need to express thing visually, so that they can wrap their minds around something/one that is incomprehensable to us as human beings.

    Do I think God actually looks like that? No-one knows what God looks like. Even Moses was only allowed to see his back side as he passed him...and as I remember it...it made Moses glow.

    But I would hesitate to deminish God's awesome imperceiveable undeterminable appearance by thinking he looks like what any man could conceive.

    But then again...I haven't seen him personally...so all I can do is theorize and make conjecture. ;)
     
    #5 Wisdom Seeker, May 13, 2003
  6. Major B

    Major B <img src=/6069.jpg>

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    1. I have a beard.
    2. I am old (just ask my students--"Dawg, Mr. B, wuz you alive when Kennedy be da president?").
    3. I am most definitely NOT God--first rule of theology, there is a God and it isn't me.

    [ May 13, 2003, 10:25 PM: Message edited by: Major B ]
     
    #6 Major B, May 13, 2003
  7. Artimaeus

    Artimaeus Active Member

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    I think this is why God has forbidden us to make any graven images of Him. No matter how awesome an image our imagination can muster it will still be way off from the truth and we would be stuck with an image burned into our minds that would actually be disrepectful to the real essence of our God.
     
    #7 Artimaeus, May 14, 2003
  8. Dan Todd

    Dan Todd Active Member

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    Most people who believe in a God/god (this includes born again Christians) - tend to try to create God/god in their own image.

    We define God/god by who and what we are.

    We are bound by time and what we see. God - created time and all that we see - and He is not bound by anything - other than His Word.

    When we try to define God - we should lay aside all our preconceived ideas - go to His Word - and see what He tells us about Himself.
     
    #8 Dan Todd, May 14, 2003
  9. Jim1999

    Jim1999 <img src =/Jim1999.jpg>

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    It is amazing how much credibility we lend to artist's conceptions of religious figures. We have little idea about what Jesus looked like and He walked upon this earth. Yet, we often draw our views from those artist's conceptions, drawn in much later times.

    Cheers,

    Jim

    PS, Notice,,I am old and have a full beard, but lay no claims to being God. Lord, help me to be godly. Mind you, He must have been English. Look at the KJ version.
     
    #9 Jim1999, May 14, 2003
  10. Ben W

    Ben W Active Member
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    Cool responses so far.

    It is certainley right that the perceptions of men often feature heavily in the way that we percieve God. It is also interesting to think that God would speak a language like ours even though he is infinite and created every sound that ever existed anyway.

    To make my point. I speak to my pet dog in English and I percieve that my dog understands me. Yet when I hear my friend speaking to his dog in his language of Estonian I automatically cant see how the dog could understand :D
     
    #10 Ben W, May 15, 2003
  11. I Am Blessed 24

    I Am Blessed 24 Active Member

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    Old? Don't have a clue.
    Man? YES! Or we wouldn't be calling Him Father.
    Beard? Don't have a clue.

    God has a infinite mind. I have a finite mind. Some things, we just don't need to know. I hear people saying all the time what they will ask God when they get to Heaven.

    I have an idea that I won't care one whit about these questions once I am confronted with the Glory of God.

    Blessings,
    Sue
     
    #11 I Am Blessed 24, May 15, 2003
  12. J.C.

    J.C. New Member

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    I thought that verse meant that we were in God's image in that we were eternal beings as is God.

    We, unlike all other created things, will exist forever. Those who are born again, in Heaven. Those who are not, in hell.

    I could be WAY off.
     
    #12 J.C., May 16, 2003
  13. Deacon

    Deacon Well-Known Member
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    This probably belongs down in the (bad) humor forum.

    God is an Old Man? I'd say no, but...

    Does our God have a big nose?
    You Hebrew scholars, look it up!

    אָרֵךְ - can be translated long (or slow)

    אַף - can be translated nose (or anger)

    Most (read all) translations really read Nahum 1:3 as:
     
    #13 Deacon, May 16, 2003
  14. Jim1999

    Jim1999 <img src =/Jim1999.jpg>

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    Deacon..this is where an understanding of old English comes into play, doesn't it? To be long in nose actually means to be patient. We have a number of nose expressions as "getting up one's nose"..to annoy them and so on.

    So, I suppose the Lord could be "long in nose."

    Cheers,

    Jim
     
    #14 Jim1999, May 16, 2003
  15. Deacon

    Deacon Well-Known Member
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    Very true, very early Old English, for even the Old English in the 1611 KJV translated it "slow to anger".

    Rob
     
    #15 Deacon, May 16, 2003
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