What does God look like?

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I am a lifelong atheist, so I do not understand what exactly you think He is. When you picture Him, i.e. when you pray to Him, what do you picture? Is He a man? Is He made of molecules? Does He look like similar to Jesus only older? (See 2nd picture) Does He resemble a man but is see-through like a ghost? (not made of molecules) Is He a giant? Is He not humanlike at all - is He like a cloud, a whispy, formless collection of magical powers? Can He take on various forms, like a tree, or a cat? If so, what is His main form though?
Where does He reside? Is He above the clouds? Is He farther out in outerspace which is why we can’t see Him with telescopes? If we can’t see Him, how do we know what He looks like? How did/do painters know what to paint? Is all artwork of Him completely the figment of the imagination of the painter? (Just their interpretation of what they think He might look like)

Secondary question - If God is not a man (God the Father and/or God the Holy Spirit) where did Jesus get his Y chromosome from?! :confused: Does He have sperm?! :eek:

I don’t know if this question belongs in the Traditional Catholicism thread but I didn’t know where else to put it, since I am specifially asking about how Catholics picture God. I don’t get it! Thanks for taking the time to indulge my curiousity.
 
samiam1611 said:
I am a lifelong atheist, so I do not understand what exactly you think He is. When you picture Him, i.e. when you pray to Him, what do you picture? Is He a man? Is He made of molecules? Does He look like similar to Jesus only older? (See 2nd picture) Does He resemble a man but is see-through like a ghost? (not made of molecules) Is He a giant? Is He not humanlike at all - is He like a cloud, a whispy, formless collection of magical powers? Can He take on various forms, like a tree, or a cat? If so, what is His main form though?
Where does He reside? Is He above the clouds? Is He farther out in outerspace which is why we can’t see Him with telescopes? If we can’t see Him, how do we know what He looks like? How did/do painters know what to paint? Is all artwork of Him completely the figment of the imagination of the painter? (Just their interpretation of what they think He might look like)

Secondary question - If God is not a man (God the Father and/or God the Holy Spirit) where did Jesus get his Y chromosome from?! :confused: Does He have sperm?! :eek:

I don’t know if this question belongs in the Traditional Catholicism thread but I didn’t know where else to put it, since I am specifially asking about how Catholics picture God. I don’t get it! Thanks for taking the time to indulge my curiousity.
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Many times you may find God depicted as old man with a beard. The reality though is that we do not know what he really looks like. Of course He is GOD…so it’s not like He is stuck with a literal appearance that we humans typically think of.

God. An infinite Being…is not going to be able to be “figured” out in scientific terms. He transcends time and space, and thus is not bound to what we understand the Universe to be. Therefore He is not made of molecules or anything really…as if He was made of something, that would mean He would not transcend that something and therefore would not be an Infinite Being.

We understand that God make humans in His image and likeness. This corresponds not to a literal human body, but rather…my mind went blank on this. Someone else will have to fill in for me there…

God revealed Himself as a man…Jesus. We believe He was fully God and fully man. So everything that goes into a man…went into Jesus…except Sin. Obviously this is a Mystery as to how this really works…but the accounts of Him when He walked this earth are of such natures.

Artists paint God as an old man…because that is how one of the ways we are able to grasp His nature. We don’t know what He really looks like.

Hope this answered most, if not all your questions. Maybe someone else can explain the image and likeness better than I can.
 
I always pictured him as an older man, but I think he might not actually have a physical body. That is just how we picture him.
 
God the Father and God the Holy Spirit certainly do not have physical bodies. They are pure form without matter, in Thomistic terms. They therefore do not “look” like anything. You might as easily ask, “What does gravity look like?” or (perhaps more accurately) “What does your imagination look like?” Our images of them are at best representative of some aspect of an infinite nature, and there are many different visualizations.

I, however, always visualize
http://creationwiki.org/pool/images...monster.jpg/250px-Flying_spagetti_monster.jpg.

God the Son (Jesus) does have a body, but it has been argued for centuries what it actually looks like. The Shroud of Turin is our best bet, but, hey, maybe Dogma was right and Jesus was a black dude.
 
Its not really easy to explain because we aren’t really able to visualize God.We say that God is one with 3 divine persons.its like one person might be the will,the second might be the mind,and the third might be power.We can’t visualize the will being a distinct person but we are told that this one God has a Father,Son,and a Holy Spirit.Together they are one and separate they are one.Jesus said"the father is in me and i in the father."The Holy Spirit proceeds from the father and the son.Therefore the Holy Spirit is in both the father and the son.Its a mystery.Yet at the same time the Son contains the father and the Holy Spirit.Its like the Holy Spirit can come out of the Father or Son and yet they both still contain the Holy Spirit.Its like the Holy Spirit splits but He is still one.It might be easieer to visualize if I said the H.Spirit is a spirit and since He’s spirit He can come apart and still be in two places yet He is whole in both.He can also split in any no.of pieces and still be whole in each piece.
 
There is no imagining what God looks like. We’ll know when we get there. However, God is Love, so God is beautiful. It’s true we are made in God’s image, but that image is intellect and free will, so there is no visual picture in that respect. We do know that Jesus said, “Whoever sees Me, sees the Father.” He didn’t mean a physical appearance, of course.
 
God is pure spirit so he does not “look like” anything. Jesus Christ, the second person of the blessed Trinity, took on a human nature in addition to his divine nature so did take on a human body, so he looked like a human being, specifically a 1st century Jew. Artists are free to picture God in any way their imagination takes them but don’t confuse human creativity and subjective ideas with an absolute reality.
 
What does God look like?
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Like Jesus Christ 🙂

*I have a fun exercise that will help us have somewhat of an idea of what it’s like to see God.
  1. Go to the hardware store
  2. Purchase a powerful flashlight
  3. Go home
  4. Turn off all the lights in the room
  5. Point flashlight toward your face
  6. Turn on flashlight and stare into the light
  7. Repeat steps 4-6 if you want to experience it again.*
 
According to the Catholic Church, God has no physical body; God is spirit. Some people get confused when Genesis says that we were made in God’s image, then assume that “in God’s image” means our physical bodies. Nope, it is not so. It is simply referring to our inherent goodness, what little intelligence we have, and the light of Christ within us. Of course, we usually smother that image of God, which is part of what sin is. (Sorry for the sidetracking!!) Anyways, my source is the Catechism of the Catholic church:
“In no way is God in man’s image. He is neither man nor woman. God is pure spirit…” (370).
[For purposes of clarification, the reason we use the word “he” yet claim that God “is neither man nor woman” in the same sentence is that “he” is a very convenient pronoun that people have grown accustomed to using. No biggie there, just convenience and habit].

That alone can answer many of your questions, I hope.

You also ask about what we personally envision when we pray to God. I personally don’t “envision” anything for God, but I feel with my heart the presence of LOVE. After all, that is what God is, which is how God can be spirit. If I am praying specifically to the Jesus part of the trinity, I would see Jesus as artists depict him. If I ask for the intercession of Mary or a saint, same there.

As for the painters, you were completely correct in saying that it was the painter’s interpretations, because we tend to paint what we are familiar with or what we can find models for. There are not many visible spirit models out there for us to use to paint God! More creative, imaginative artists probably have tried to paint God differently than the standard human cliche. 😛

As for your very last question, Jesus is also God/Spirit that exists in eternity (not time) but was incarnated into human form. You are talking about the incarnation, then. You are correct that Mary would have supplied half of the chromosomes. But doesn’t it make sense, from a believing Christian’s point of view, that the God who crafted every chromosome that exists on earth today could have easily crafted some extras for Jesus? God the creator can easily, well, create. 👍
 
samiam1611 said:
I am a lifelong atheist, so I do not understand what exactly you think He is. When you picture Him, i.e. when you pray to Him, what do you picture? Is He a man? Is He made of molecules? Does He look like similar to Jesus only older? (See 2nd picture) Does He resemble a man but is see-through like a ghost? (not made of molecules) Is He a giant? Is He not humanlike at all - is He like a cloud, a whispy, formless collection of magical powers? Can He take on various forms, like a tree, or a cat? If so, what is His main form though?
Where does He reside? Is He above the clouds? Is He farther out in outerspace which is why we can’t see Him with telescopes? If we can’t see Him, how do we know what He looks like? How did/do painters know what to paint? Is all artwork of Him completely the figment of the imagination of the painter? (Just their interpretation of what they think He might look like)

Secondary question - If God is not a man (God the Father and/or God the Holy Spirit) where did Jesus get his Y chromosome from?! :confused: Does He have sperm?! :eek:

I don’t know if this question belongs in the Traditional Catholicism thread but I didn’t know where else to put it, since I am specifially asking about how Catholics picture God. I don’t get it! Thanks for taking the time to indulge my curiousity.
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Hello Lifelong Atheist,

Jesus Christ is the image of the Father. In fact to see Jesus or imagine Jesus is to see the entirety of the divinity.

St. Phillip, the Apostle said to Jesus, " Lord, show us the Father and it will be enough for us".
Jesus replied, Phillip, I have been with you so long and you still don’t recognize me…" “He who has seen me has seen the Father”.

No one has seen the Father except he that comes from the Father. But in Jesus, the fullness of the divinity is manifest in human form.

You will have no other proof.

mangy dog.
 
samiam1611 said:
I am a lifelong atheist, so I do not understand what exactly you think He is. When you picture Him, i.e. when you pray to Him, what do you picture? Is He a man? Is He made of molecules? Does He look like similar to Jesus only older? (See 2nd picture) Does He resemble a man but is see-through like a ghost? (not made of molecules) Is He a giant? Is He not humanlike at all - is He like a cloud, a whispy, formless collection of magical powers? Can He take on various forms, like a tree, or a cat? If so, what is His main form though?
Where does He reside? Is He above the clouds? Is He farther out in outerspace which is why we can’t see Him with telescopes? If we can’t see Him, how do we know what He looks like? How did/do painters know what to paint? Is all artwork of Him completely the figment of the imagination of the painter? (Just their interpretation of what they think He might look like)

Secondary question - If God is not a man (God the Father and/or God the Holy Spirit) where did Jesus get his Y chromosome from?! :confused: Does He have sperm?! :eek:

I don’t know if this question belongs in the Traditional Catholicism thread but I didn’t know where else to put it, since I am specifially asking about how Catholics picture God. I don’t get it! Thanks for taking the time to indulge my curiousity.
Click to expand...
hmm I think there is some misunderstanding here 🙂

God the Father does not have a body. He is Spirit. So we don’t know what He looks like, - probably He can appear in different ways but really He does not have a body. The artists portrayed Him in this way symbolically. I do not picture the Father in any way when I pray. He does not live in outer space, He is not made of molecules, like I said He is Spirit, and He exists in Heaven and everywhere. (though He is not part of creation, or of time).

God the Son, Jesus, does have a body, so we can picture Him in a particular way: how He appeared on earth.

God the Holy Spirit also does not have a body, He is pure Spirit.

God is everywhere… the Nicene creed might help:

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, light from light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary
and became truly human.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father [and the Son],
who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
 
(I think the following is accurate. If not, someone please correct me :o) As far as where God resides, He is Omnipresent which means He is everywhere. But He is most present in Heaven and in the Eucharist.

As far as where Heaven is my personal belief (which I have heard validated elsewhere before) is that it is not a place within time and space such as up in the clouds or in outer space. It is a spiritual realm that is very real but without “direction” that one can be pointed to in order to find it, like with a spaceship, for example. It is beyond human understanding.
 
Rolypoly said:
(I think the following is accurate. If not, someone please correct me :o) As far as where God resides, He is Omnipresent which means He is everywhere. But He is most present in Heaven and in the Eucharist.
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It is true that God is everywhere spiritually… as for the Eucharist and Heaven, - that is where Jesus’ Body is. 🙂 that is my understanding.
As far as where Heaven is my personal belief (which I have heard validated elsewhere before) is that it is not a place within time and space such as up in the clouds or in outer space. It is a spiritual realm that is very real but without “direction” that one can be pointed to in order to find it, like with a spaceship, for example. It is beyond human understanding.
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that is how I think of it also.
 
Monica4316 said:
hmm I think there is some misunderstanding here 🙂

**God the Father does not have a body. He is Spirit. **So we don’t know what He looks like, - probably He can appear in different ways but really He does not have a body. The artists portrayed Him in this way symbolically. I do not picture the Father in any way when I pray. He does not live in outer space, He is not made of molecules, like I said He is Spirit, and He exists in Heaven and everywhere. (though He is not part of creation, or of time).
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Thank you everyone, for yours responses so far. I do have a question about this particular post. Hopefully I do not derail my own thread too much.
Could you explain the difference between God the Father and God the Spirit? I understand God the Son aka Jesus. I understand God the spirit as far as I understand any other religion’s concept of God. I do not understand God the Father part, if He is not physical like Jesus but also not the same thing as the spirit. (“He exists everywhere”). Is the point of this part of the trinity simply that He made Jesus? (supplied the chromosomes, if you will.) Would it be fair to say that before Jesus, God was only the spirit, and then once He made - whoops, I mean begotten - Jesus, He became the Father? Was He, in fact, not always a trinity, only became one when Jesus was born?
 
(someone please correct me again if I am mistaken) The Second Person of the Trinity (God the Son) was pure spirit before entering space and time and becoming incarnate as our Lord Jesus Christ at which point His Divinity (which was begotten and not made) was united with His Humanity (which has a beginning point). So God has always been a Trinity. God the Father is Creator, God the Son is Redeemer and God the Holy Spirit is Sanctifier.
 
samiam1611 said:
Thank you everyone, for yours responses so far. I do have a question about this particular post. Hopefully I do not derail my own thread too much.
Could you explain the difference between God the Father and God the Spirit? I understand God the Son aka Jesus. I understand God the spirit as far as I understand any other religion’s concept of God. I do not understand God the Father part, if He is not physical like Jesus but also not the same thing as the spirit. (“He exists everywhere”). Is the point of this part of the trinity simply that He made Jesus? (supplied the chromosomes, if you will.) Would it be fair to say that before Jesus, God was only the spirit, and then once He made - whoops, I mean begotten - Jesus, He became the Father? Was He, in fact, not always a trinity, only became one when Jesus was born?
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Okay this is really complex theology, but good question 🙂 I am not a theologian but here is what I read:

God is one, but He exists as 3 Persons. It’s hard for us to imagine anyone that exists in 2 or more persons. But the point is that God is, fundamentally, a relationship… that is why God is love, according to Christianity. Because each Person in the Holy Trinity loves the others. But there is only one God, not three.

Before Christ’s Incarnation, all 3 were spirit - that is, none of them had bodies. God the Son is eternally begotten by the Father, that means - not in the Incarnation, but always. The Father is the source… God the Son comes from Him, not as creation, but as a Son - being begotten by Him (we are talking about spiritual realities not physical or biological!). The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, through the Son (there are some complexities here in how the East and West understand this concept, and whether the Holy Spirit proceeds only from the Father, or the Father and the Son, or the Father through the Son, but that is a whole new topic). I’ve heard it described that the Holy Spirit is like the love between the Father and the Son, though I don’t know if how theological that this.

Now at the Incarnation… God the Son took on human nature. From that point on, He’s had a Body, and He still has it now. We call Him, Jesus Christ. He is now in Heaven (body and spirit).
Rolypoly said:
(someone please correct me again if I am mistaken) The Second Person of the Trinity (God the Son) was pure spirit before entering space and time and becoming incarnate as our Lord Jesus Christ at which point His Divinity (which was begotten and not made) was united with His Humanity (which has a beginning point). So God has always been a Trinity. God the Father is Creator, God the Son is Redeemer and God the Holy Spirit is Sanctifier.
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sounds perfect to me 🙂 again I am not a theologian, but it’s exactly what i was taught.
 
samiam1611 said:
I am a lifelong atheist, so I do not understand what exactly you think He is. When you picture Him, i.e. when you pray to Him, what do you picture? Is He a man? Is He made of molecules? Does He look like similar to Jesus only older? (See 2nd picture) Does He resemble a man but is see-through like a ghost? (not made of molecules) Is He a giant? Is He not humanlike at all - is He like a cloud, a whispy, formless collection of magical powers? Can He take on various forms, like a tree, or a cat? If so, what is His main form though?
Where does He reside? Is He above the clouds? Is He farther out in outerspace which is why we can’t see Him with telescopes? If we can’t see Him, how do we know what He looks like? How did/do painters know what to paint? Is all artwork of Him completely the figment of the imagination of the painter? (Just their interpretation of what they think He might look like)
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Hi, Sam! Maybe this will help some ?

Exodus 33​

18 Moses said, “I pray thee, show me thy glory.” 19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you my name `The LORD’; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face; for man shall not see me and live.” 21 And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand upon the rock; 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; 23 then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen.”

Read more: ewtn.com/ewtn/bible/search_bible.asp#ixzz1LzyPGpjq

Your second question is easy.

God, can do all things.

May your quest be abundantly graced.

God Bless
:):coffee:
 
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