Images of God

The question of whether God exists leads to the question about what kind of God. The image of God that one has is greatly shaped by culture. –Art, movies, books –How we have been taught to understand scriptural images.

Images of God God as Shepherd God as King God as a rock God as Father

Images of God God as Mother? –Female homemaker – Ps 123 –Baker-woman – Mt. 13:33; Lk. 13:20-21 –Midwife – Ps 22:9 –Comforting mother - Is. 66:13 –Womb of God – Job 38:29

Anthropomorphism – using human characteristics to describe God –Hands, feet, male, etc. –“The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears attentive to their prayers.” (Psalm 35:14; 1 Peter 3:12)

Anthropomorphism – using human characteristics to describe God –“If cattle or lions had hands, so as to paint with their hands works of art as men do, they would paint their gods and give them bodies and forms like their own—horses like horses, cattle like cattle” Xenophanes, 5 th century B.C.

Ishtar (Louvre Museum) Assyrian Goddess of Love

God giving life to Adam Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel

Anthropomorphism – using human characteristics to describe God “If God has made us in his image, we have returned him the favor.” - Voltaire ( )

Anthropomorphism – using human characteristics to describe God –The extreme – God is nothing more than an idealized human (Freud, etc.) –“It would be very nice if there were a God who created the world and was a benevolent providence, and if there were a moral order in the universe and an afterlife; but it is a very striking fact that all this is exactly how we are bound to wish it to be.”

Anthropomorphism – using human characteristics to describe God –“A personal God was nothing more than an exalted father-figure: desire for such a deity sprang from infantile yearnings for a powerful, protective father, for justice and fairness and for life to go on forever. God is simply a projection of these desires, feared and worshipped by human beings out of an abiding sense of helplessness.”

America’s Four Gods –Paul Froese and Christopher Bader –(Baylor University, 2010) – published by Oxford University Press. About 90% of Americans believe in God –Different perspectives –ABC News reportABC News report The Authoritative God – 28% The Benevolent God – 22% The Critical God – 21% The Distant God – 24%

What is God Like? God is Omnipotent (All-powerful) Can God do anything?

What is God Like? God is Omniscient (All-knowing) Does God know everything? Do people have free will?

What is God Like? God is Good (the question of evil in the world) “If God is God, he is not good. If God is good, he is not God.”

What is God Like? God is Good? The problem of suffering is of crucial importance because it shows that the God of popular theism does not exist… The perplexing problem of suffering is rendered insolvable—unless either the traditional belief in God’s boundless power or the belief in his perfect justice and mercy is abandoned. - Walter Kauffman, Faith of a Heretic

What is God Like? God is Good (the question of evil in the world) Theodicy – the justification of a good God in the face of evil in the world; how can a good God allow evil to exist ?

What is God Like? God as source of Truth and Moral Law Theocracy – government based on divine law Including moral and civil law