A Humanoid God

In The Image of God

We were created in God’s image.  The argument is made that this means that since God is a triune Being: Father, Son and Holy Spirit we are also a triune being: body, soul and Spirit. Let us realign our thinking: Jehovah is a triune Being; but not a Trinity!

He is Physical, Emotional and Spiritual, and in that sense, we are in God’s image. 

The next few posts will deal with these topics: 

1. Is God Visible? 
2. Is God temporal? 
3. Is God physical?  
4. Is God ever sorry for what He has done?  
5. Does God get jealous? 
6. Does God get angry?  
7. Is God unjust?  
8. Is God love?  
9. Is God a spirit only?

Is God Visible?

The church says no!  The Bible says yes and no.  To say that the Lord of the Old Testament is only spirit and whatever the Bible says about Him as being physical is not to be taken literally misses a major tenet of biblical theology.  The overwhelming teaching that Jehovah is absolutely invisible is completely contrary to many verses of Scripture; here are a few of them:

1. And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the Lord, and many of them perish.” Ex. 19:21. 
2. Then Moses...and seventy elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank. Ex. 24:9+11. 
3. The Lord God of Israel had appeared to Solomon two times. 1 Kings 11:9. 
4. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne. Isaiah. 6:1. 
5. the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. Eze. 1:1. 
6. And the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, And the hair of His head was like pure wool. Dan. 7:9. 
7. a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; Rev. 4:2-3.

Why can’t we, for a change, let the Bible mean what it so pointedly says?  There will be more about this topic later when we study about Moses.

Is God Temporal?

God is eternal, or, at least He has let us believe that He is.  It is important that we do not think in terms of the absolute.  It would be unreasonable for “saucerians” to reckon time by earth years while travelling from one planet to another.  When travelling just below the speed of light, a new kind of reckoning comes into play.  These time shifts are known as, time dilation.  

According to Von Daniken, depending on certain mathematical facts, the following time shifts happen.  In the time that the earth ages eighty years the crew on a spaceship, travelling at just below the speed of light will age only fifteen years.  What is still more amazing, in the time that the earth ages 3,100 years the space crew will have aged only thirty years. Astoundingly, in 420,000 years of earth time, the spaceship crew will be only fifty years older. 
Von Daniken. In Search of Ancient Gods. (Heron and Souvenir Press, New York)

Is it any wonder that primitive people spoke of the astronauts as being eternal?  For that matter, is it surprising, that the gods did not bother correcting them about the error, for, relatively speaking, it is true?  Even if the saucerians would have corrected the false impressions that the early people had, the people could not possibly have understood what the Gods were talking about.

The Bible allows for the fact that God is getting older.  It is true that He was not getting old as fast as humans are, but nonetheless, a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it is past. Psalm 90:4.  

However slowly He may be ageing, we may as well accept the fact that the Lord is older now than he was 100,000 earth years ago.  Let us dismiss than, the idea that Jehovah is an eternal, unchanging entity.  If this were not true, why would He be spoken of as having white hair?  And the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, And the hair of His head was like pure wool. Dan. 7:9.

Is God Physical?

In the Bible, Jehovah is spoken of as having feet, hands, arms, eyes and other characteristics that humans also have.  The Bible clearly teaches that God does have physical and emotional characteristics.  Why not think of these physical attributes as being actual?  Why not believe that the superhuman being from another planet, (Jehovah of the Bible), in fact, is physical?

For evidence look at Genesis 6:3, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh.  The RSV has dropped the word, also, from the text, apparently, to avoid the problem of having a teaching about a physical God.  Dr Atkinson, an evangelical Bible teacher, allows that the word, also, belongs in the verse as found in the KJV, but he says the, also, refers to animals, which are also flesh, like humans are; he is referring to those animals, which are to perish in the great coming flood. 

His argument appears to be very weak, for up to this point, the flood has not even been mentioned in the Bible.  This would be a strange way to introduce the flood and the death of animals.  The flood itself is not introduced until after the story of the giants on the earth.

If we insist that the, also, does not refer to a physical God the most likely connection of the word, also, would be to the sons of the gods.  These sons of the gods are mentioned in the verse immediately preceding the verse that says, the spirit of God will not always strive with man.  The meaning of that verse would then read like this, the spirit of God will not always strive with humans, for humans, like the sons of the gods, also are flesh.  If we accept this explanation, we are, of course, forced to admit that the gods had sons and that the Gods, including Jehovah, are physical, because the Bible says so.

This will be continued in the next post.