What Does God Really Look Like?

I suspect it's only natural to expect humans to portray God as a strong- looking, muscular, gray- bearded man. We've portrayed Jesus as a young, handsome, kind, bearded fellow. But the real story is that we in The Natural haven't the foggiest notion what God and Jesus really look like. There's a darn good chance that Jesus was a short, dark man with kinky hair and a scraggly beard.

The Christian Church in Europe and The West have done a remarkable job at casting God and Jesus. Historically, Jesus and God could never have been represented as dark men. The world as we know it would have been turned upside down by this realization. But Jesus and his disciples looked more like Ethiopians than Englishmen. Even in Mel Gibson's The Passion of Christ, the actor playing Jesus was an American looking a bit like an Italian portraying a bloody Spaniard. 

I would think that most Christians today don't think about what I think about. These folks like their God to look like a muscular, chiseled Charlton Heston and their Jesus like a scruffy Orlando Bloom. 

But if you really believe in God, you know in your heart that He is not a person. How can He be?  And if you really believe in Jesus, you also know that He could never look like Orlando Bloom, Johnnie Depp, Brad Pitt, or Christian Bale.

I propose that God does not have a physical embodiment. How can He?  And I propose that God could not really be a He at all. And I'm totally okay with this realization because it gets us closer to what God really is - The Great Power, The Grand Creator, The Universal All. 

Perhaps all is God. Perhaps God is weaved info everything made or created. Perhaps that is what the ancients referred to as The Holy Spirit. I think the world would be better off removing all mystical elements surrounding God and Jesus. 

I suspect it's only natural to expect humans to portray God as a strong- looking, muscular, gray- bearded man. We've portrayed Jesus as a young, handsome, kind, bearded fellow. But the real story is that we in The Natural haven't the foggiest notion what God and Jesus really look like. There's a darn good chance that Jesus was a short, dark man with kinky hair and a scraggly beard.

The Christian Church in Europe and The West have done a remarkable job at casting God and Jesus. Historically, Jesus and God could never have been represented as dark men. The world as we know it would have been turned upside down by this realization. But Jesus and his disciples looked more like Ethiopians than Englishmen. Even in Mel Gibson's The Passion of Christ, the actor playing Jesus was an American looking a bit like an Italian portraying a bloody Spaniard. 

I would think that most Christians today don't think about what I think about. These folks like their God to look like a muscular, chiseled Charlton Heston and their Jesus like a scruffy Orlando Bloom. 

But if you really believe in God, you know in your heart that He is not a person. How can He be?  And if you really believe in Jesus, you also know that He could never look like Orlando Bloom, Johnnie Depp, Brad Pitt, or Christian Bale.

I propose that God does not have a physical embodiment. How can He?  And I propose that God could not really be a He at all. And I'm totally okay with this realization because it gets us closer to what God really is - The Great Power, The Grand Creator, The Universal All. 

Perhaps all is God. Perhaps God is weaved info everything made or created. Perhaps that is what the ancients referred to as The Holy Spirit. I think the world would be better off removing all mystical elements surrounding God and Jesus.