Can you see God face to face while still alive?

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I thought it was written that no one shall see God face to face and remain alive. I’m wondering if this should be taken literally as meaning you’ll drop dead. Also wondering if it’s possible to see God and how would you do that?
 
We see God face to face every time we go to Mass. He’s right there in the Eucharist. I just saw him an hour ago. I’m still alive as far as I know.

The Apostles saw Jesus (aka God) regularly for a few years and none of them died from it. A lot of other people at that time saw Jesus too and didn’t die from it.

In addition, there are two Vatican-approved private revelation apparitions of Jesus where visionaries saw Jesus and did not die.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
We see God face to face every time we go to Mass. He’s right there in the Eucharist.
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Yes! People forget that after the consecration the bread and wine are just the accidents while Jesus is the substance; body, blood soul and divinity.

This is a terrible example but I think of those sci-fi movies that have shape shifters. They can make themselves look like something else but they would still have their own DNA, soul, etc… (Please correct me if I’m heretical here though!)
 
The things people have been saying here are well worth knowing.
But it is better to say something to explain that God’s words to Moses that one one can see me and live are actually true, which has to do with the original question.
However when God told Moses no one can see me and live, He was speaking of seeing God Himself, the divine One, directly, with no barriers to His being and reality… According to Catholic belief those who enter heaven will see God face to face. That is they will have the beatific vision of God directly. We cannot have the beatific vision in this life. Of course, we could see Jesus as a man, but we cannot see him as divine, as we could see our neighbors in this life. If we saw Christ’s divinity, as God indicated when He said no one can see me and live, we could not live.
 
Yes and in addition to the above comment, sin can not exist in the direct presence of God. I think you would be killed immediately from a number of factors stemming from the fact that we have the stain of sin, however small.
 
This may be slightly out of the context of that text, but we all are; especially to the extent we imitate Jesus. Still, you do not get beatific vision by being in Jesus’s fleshly presence
 
mdgspencer said:
However when God told Moses no one can see me and live, He was speaking of seeing God Himself, the divine One, directly, with no barriers to His being and reality… According to Catholic belief those who enter heaven will see God face to face. That is they will have the beatific vision of God directly. We cannot have the beatific vision in this life. Of course, we could see Jesus as a man, but we cannot see him as divine, as we could see our neighbors in this life. If we saw Christ’s divinity, as God indicated when He said no one can see me and live, we could not live.
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I read the statement as saying that we are not capable of seeing God in the beatific vision in this life.

Not that if God chose to show himself to us, we’d automatically drop dead on the spot.

God revealed himself to people on earth in various ways to various people in the OT and the NT and continues to do so through the Eucharist and approved private revelation. God who can do all things is able to do it without killing us. Maybe he has to set his God-meter to 1 instead of 11 in order not to overwhelm our puny senses, but the point is, we’re able to see God and live; even in the OT, certain people were able to see God in certain ways, and live.

Judges 6:22-23:
Gideon, now aware that it had been the messenger of the Lord, said, “Alas, Lord God, that I have seen the messenger of the Lord face to face!” The Lord answered him: You are safe. Do not fear. You shall not die.
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Tis_Bearself said:
God is God. You see Jesus, you’re seeing God. You’re also seeing the whole Trinity.
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Not in the Eucharist, though. We receive Jesus, not the Father or the Spirit, per se, in the Eucharist.
Tis_Bearself said:
We see God face to face every time we go to Mass.
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As a spiritual commentary, it works. But, what we actually “see” are the “physical accidents of bread and wine”. Are they bread and wine, though? No, they’re Jesus. But I’d hesitate to call that “face-to-face”, in any common understanding of that word.
jredden92 said:
I thought it was written that no one shall see God face to face and remain alive. I’m wondering if this should be taken literally as meaning you’ll drop dead.
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That was the ancient Hebrew understanding.
jredden92 said:
Also wondering if it’s possible to see God and how would you do that?
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Yes, it is! If your body dies and you’re in a state of grace, you will continue to be alive – and you’ll see God face-to-face in the eschaton! (Yeah, I know… you meant “before my body dies”. That would be a “no”, then… 😉 )
 
I suppose you have a point about Eucharist not being “face to face” given that in “Adoro te devote” refers to Thomas Aquinas wanting to see Jesus’ “face being unveiled” at the end.

One could also claim that in Scripture, God manifesting himself as “God’s messenger” or even as Jesus in human form walking around weren’t truly “the face of God” (although Gideon obviously thought seeing God’s messenger was the same as seeing the face of God or else he wouldn’t have worried about death.)

However, the Apostles did see Jesus at the Transfiguration in his glorified state, so presumably they saw “the face of God” by looking at him, and they did not die.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
One could also claim that in Scripture, God manifesting himself as “God’s messenger” or even as Jesus in human form walking around weren’t truly “the face of God” (although Gideon obviously thought seeing God’s messenger was the same as seeing the face of God or else he wouldn’t have worried about death.)
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Right. We see that dynamic throughout the Old Testament. The cultural notion, back then, was that the messenger was seen as if the person himself. (So, if you harmed the messenger, you had in fact acted violently against the king who sent the message, and bore the consequences of violence against him.) So, in this case, to see the angel was to see God – and brought the fear that this would imply.
Tis_Bearself said:
However, the Apostles did see Jesus at the Transfiguration in his glorified state, so presumably they saw “the face of God” by looking at him, and they did not die.
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I agree that, in Jesus, we see God. But, seeing Jesus in His glorified body is not the same as experiencing the Beatific Vision. When you said, upthread, that we cannot see the Beatific Vision in a sinful state, you were correct! So, seeing Jesus – even in His glorified body (as at the Transfiguration and post-Resurrection appearances) – isn’t the same thing.
 
I’m wondering if Jesus saw God while still alive. He didn’t drop dead. Though trying to imitate Jesus closely enough to see God seems like an impossible dream.
 
Gorgias said:
Right. We see that dynamic throughout the Old Testament. The cultural notion, back then, was that the messenger was seen as if the person himself. (So, if you harmed the messenger, you had in fact acted violently against the king who sent the message, and bore the consequences of violence against him.) So, in this case, to see the angel was to see God – and brought the fear that this would imply.
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The implication was that the appearances of said Angel were appearances of the second Person of the Holy Trinity.
 
Well I believe God is pure Spirit so not literally having a face but maybe seeing the Spirit of God while still alive. It’s a metaphor to say God has a face. Maybe seeing Jesus’s face is the closest thing to it if you want interpret it literally.
 
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Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

19 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

21 Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”
 
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