God the Father Statue

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I recently visited some religious place and they had displayed for veneration a statue of God the Father. It was a white statue with some gold on it. He was standing on some cloud like thing. The person who had the statue said you could never touch it and that you had to handle it only with a cloth. The person said someone gave it to them. She did not say where I could get one.

Does anyone know where I can get a statue like this?
 
What would be the point?

“In their joint mission, the Son and the Holy Spirit are distinct but inseparable. To be sure, it is Christ who is seen, the visible image of the invisible God, but it is the Spirit who reveals Him.” (CCC 689)

“No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.” (John 1:18)
 
Sounds like hogwash to me. I personally dislike depictions of God the Father as they are all images of an old man with a big beard in flowing robes.

As for not being allowed to touch it and only being able to use a cloth to do so, they invented that rule.
 
Christ is God of flesh and blood. Thats why there are depictions of Him and not often of God the Father (most images of God the Father are based on the Sistine Chapel ceiling).
 
TimOliv said:
Sounds like hogwash to me. I personally dislike depictions of God the Father as they are all images of an old man with a big beard in flowing robes.

As for not being allowed to touch it and only being able to use a cloth to do so, they invented that rule.
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Certainly statues can be touched … perhaps it’s very old and fragile, or very valuable, and for that reason can’t be handled?
 
LilyM said:
Certainly statues can be touched … perhaps it’s very old and fragile, or very valuable, and for that reason can’t be handled?
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I understand that statues can be touched. If there is a rule that it cannot be touched (I saw no mention of fragility) such a rule is an invention of whoever is displaying this statue.
 
The owner told me that the woman who gave her the statue told her it could not be touched with bare hands. The statue’s owner did not know if it was for reverence or because of the statue’s fragility. I can say it was a white porcelain looking statue with goldleaf and well polished.

As far as depictions of God the Father, I know there is a famous old icon of God the Father in Poland that is held in great veneration by the people. Of course there are many other which show simply a man with a beard. Personally, I have no problem with God the Father images.
 
I often wonder if the Holy Spirit would ever be depicted as a Man. Like a middle aged man (no im not being disrespectful) since the Father is always depicted as an older Man and Jesus a younger Man.
just a thought.
anyway, perhaps oil from bare hands would effect the finish of the statue?
 
It says somewhere in the Bible “No person can see God and live” so I’m not fond of depictions of the Father. Jesus is the exception because He’s God manifested in human appearance. Venerate Christ, not some porcelin artist’s opinion on how the Father looks…
 
scapularkid8 said:
It says somewhere in the Bible “No person can see God and live” so I’m not fond of depictions of the Father. Jesus is the exception because He’s God manifested in human appearance. Venerate Christ, not some porcelin artist’s opinion on how the Father looks…
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and that’s why you have a depiction of God the father in your signature? :confused:
 
Gold Leaf rubs off very easily, personally I’d never use gold leaf on anything that is likely to be often handled, rubbed against or regularly cleaned. I can’t see how using a cloth will protect the gold leaf either but it may lessen some destruction to it. I think it is the gold leaf that needs protecting and that is why the lady has said to only touch it with a cloth.

As an artist I have often pondered whether to paint a picture of God the Father or not. I did one oil painting that I haven’t finished and I don’t think I will bother finishing it, you see how do you paint Love? Christ Jesus is as someone else said, the visible image of the invisible God and as for the Holy Spirit, God chose Himself how to appear as a Dove or as tongues of fire and wind, God leant these visual images to us. Jesus and the Father are the one and the same ‘To have seen Me is to have seen the Father’…so I dropped the idea of painting God the Father.
 
I’m not venerating as if it’s sacred like the OP said about the statue. I just enjoy the artistic quality of the picture, that’s all.

(I knew someone would say that!!)
 
LilyM said:
and that’s why you have a depiction of God the father in your signature? :confused:
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I’m not venerating as if it’s sacred like the OP said about the statue. I just enjoy the artistic quality of the picture, that’s all.

I used “depiction” as having more of “icon” connotation. Maybe I wasn’t clear enough. Sorry.

(I knew someone would say that!!)
 
In iconography the goldleaf background or halos are subsequently covered with a varnish to protect the precious metal from an individual’s hand and when an icon is kissed. If loose gold leaf is used it is burnished to a high shine - if patent gold leaf is used it cannot be burnished, though in either case the icon is varnished to protect the paint and gold from general use.I don’t know what is done with a statue.
 
For what it’s worth, I remember reading about some person “seeing” the Father and she said that He looked EXACTLY like Jesus except had white hair and looked older EXCEPT, even though He looked older, His skin was perfect – none of the wrinkles and other stuff associated with aging.
 
I think it is a heresy to paint God the Father as an old Man. It implies that the Father is older than the Son. That more than poor theology. It’s heresy. There has never been a moment when the Father has not existed. There has never been a moment when the Spirit has not existed. There has never been a moment when the Son has not existed. You cannot be an Eternal Father without an Eternal Son. Duh. Therefore to make the Father look older is simply wrong.

Shame on the Church in the West for allowing this visual heresy to be spread!

T:😦
 
BT2 said:
I think it is a heresy to paint God the Father as an old Man. It implies that the Father is older than the Son. That more than poor theology. It’s heresy. There has never been a moment when the Father has not existed. There has never been a moment when the Spirit has not existed. There has never been a moment when the Son has not existed. You cannot be an Eternal Father without an Eternal Son. Duh. Therefore to make the Father look older is simply wrong.

Shame on the Church in the West for allowing this visual heresy to be spread!

T:😦
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There is at least one iconographer who agrees with you…

theworkofgod.org/Library/Trinity/Father/Icon.htm
 
imho an image of God the Father cannot exist because no one has seen the Father - the image is just an imagined human depiction of “god” (most look like a wise, aged, robed Socrates look-alike to me)
 
…Blessed are the pure of heart-for they shall see God…(a promise made-and something to strive for)👍
 
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