It is a question that is usually unspoken, but a question that resides in the mind of all humanity.
Who is God? Or, perhaps, “what is God?”
The Bible states that man was created in God’s own image, but what does that mean? If we are to judge from artist’s many depictions, God seems to be a wise old man with white hair and a flowing beard. But once again, we are faced with the limitations of our own life experiences. Once again. our handicap is the fact that we are limited to the tools of our existence, our five senses.
When we begin our effort to understand, we are forced to admit that the very term “image” is tied to our sense of sight. So, we assume that God has a physical appearance that we could detect with our eyes.
The Lord’s Prayer and the words of Jesus Himself refer to God as the “Father.” Still, we might question if the use of that term is the result of the culture of the times when male figures were the dominant sex, the warriors, the power of the community. And so, we fall into the habit of accepting that designation without even considering the possibility that God has no specific sex.
With these clues, and the limitations of our language, personal experiences, and the limited inputs of our five senses, we find ourselves unable to grasp the totality of what God truly is. Perhaps God has no physical form that we can detect with our eyes. Perhaps God has no need to exist as a male or female or to occupy a space in our environment.
Perhaps we need to employ our imagination to begin to appreciate what God is. Using that imagination and the library of thoughts we inherit from those who have expanded their visions before us, we might begin to compile a new image of God.
We might begin to realize that there are dimensions of existence beyond our senses, just as there are wavelengths of light that our eyes cannot detect. It is also a certainty that there are forces that we cannot detect or understand. Our science struggles to explain concepts for which we have no language, by modifying or combining terms we have already accepted. We describe the distance to a distant star by coining the term “light years” to comprehend the incomprehensible.
Finally, we delve into the realm of emotions as a way to wrap our heads around the puzzle. And perhaps it is here where we find the ultimate answer.
Perhaps, as the expression states, God is Love, and it is just that simple. Perhaps, to be created in His image means simply to be a self-aware spiritual being who is capable of embracing the power of love.