Since the beginning of time, there have been many man-devised idols of bizarre appearance. Men have bowed down to the ground before carved stones, wood or even photographs. Man has indeed created many gods, and lords. However, the ideas that mankind have labeled “God” fall far short of the God of the Bible. This God is dynamically alive. He does not allow mankind to decide who He is, what He’s like or how He is to be worshipped. The Creator God of the Bible has distinct characteristics and a faultless intellect.
When one reads the Bible’s commandments forbidding the worship of idols and false gods, many think only of ancient times when the world was filled with pagans worshipping all manner of strange and frightening gods. From the beginning man has turned away from his Creator and established counterfeit gods to take His place. Whether modern or ancient times, few people throughout history have understood who God is and the relationship that God wants to have with His creation.
Consider ancient Israel. For many generations they grew as a people without a way to worship God. They lived as slaves in a foreign land with many foreign gods. They were miserable and longed to be saved from the terrible conditions they were forced to endure in Egypt. Their Creator heard their cries and initiated their rescue, which involved many astounding miracles. Those ancient Israelites knew who had saved them. Beyond a doubt they understood that the incredible miracles were the work of the God of their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
However, they soon reverted to the gods of Egypt. Shortly after their escape into the desert, God called Moses to Mount Sinai to receive His Laws. Meanwhile, the children of Israel became restless: “Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, ‘Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'” (Exodus 32:1). They made a calf of melted gold. Everyone was incredibly pleased with it, and they prepared a feast, with dancing, singing, and drinking. “So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, ‘Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord’” (Exodus 32.5). God condemned this, saying, “They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass” (Psalm106:20 ESV).
That historical occasion was prophetic of what mankind has continued to do. God says Israel created her own gods: “You also carried Sikkuth your king and Chiun, [pagan gods] your idols, the star of your gods, which you made for yourselves” (Amos 5:26). When God speaks of these idols in scripture, He calls them what they are – pagan gods with names such as Moloch and Chiun. But the people of Israel called these idols “God.”
It is necessary to look behind the label “God” to see if the deity being worshipped is the God of the Bible. “Then Moses said to God, ‘Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” (Exodus 3:13). Moses knew it wasn’t sufficient just to say, “‘God is His name.” “God” had to be defined. The children of Israel were in Egypt where Ra was called “God”; Osiris was called “God”; Isis was called “God”.
God later specified Himself as “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. …” (Exodus 20:2). “And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8). He challenges those who think to define Him: “To whom will you liken Me, and make Me equal And compare Me, that we should be alike? They lavish gold out of the bag, And weigh silver on the scales; They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god; They prostrate themselves, yes, they worship” (Isaiah 46:5-6).
Long centuries of man’s conflicting ideas of “God” have demonstrated that each nation gives its god its peculiar characteristics, and every individual gives his god his personal peculiarities. The Greek philosopher Xenophanes (540 BCE) observed that men of different races picture their gods like themselves. The Thracians picture them as fair and red-haired. The Ethiopians see their gods as black. They created gods in their own image. Scholars have coined a word that they apply to any religious statement that depicts God in the bodily form of a man, or that shows God as having qualities of thought, will, or feeling like those experienced by man. That word, “anthropomorphism,” is technically defined as applying the characteristics of a human body or human qualities to God. Philosophers and theologians coined the word because they believe man has a natural tendency — or necessity — to conceive of God by likeness with man himself.
Scripture makes many statements about God’s personal characteristics. God walked in the garden (Genesis 3:8). He ate with Abraham (Genesis 18:8). He wrote with His own hand upon the tables of stone (Exodus 31:18). God has ears (Isaiah 59:1). He has a mouth (Isiah 58:14). The scriptures abound with similar references. Man is created in the shape and form of His Creator God: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them'” (Genesis 1:26-27).
Man’s destiny is to “be like Him” (I John 3:2; Psalm 17:15). From eternity, God has possessed hands, ears, eyes, arms — and feelings, emotions, reason, will. Therefore God, when He began His plan of reproducing Himself, created Adam and Eve with His body shape, and with a mind capable of creative thought like God’s. However, man is now physical while God is spirit. And man’s mind, unlike God’s, is limited in power. But man is wrong to assign his wrong motivations to God. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9).
God has feelings and emotions — man has feelings and emotions. But the characteristics of God’s mind are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control (Galatians 5:22, 23). The characteristics of the natural human mind — the works of the flesh — are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, contentions, competitions, wrath, strife, troublemaking, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and similar things (Galatians 5:19-21).
Humanity’s approach has been either to assign an evil nature to God, or to interpret God erroneously in terms of himself. However, scripture states that humanity’s purpose is to give up his nature and put on the nature of God. The Apostle Peter states that we are to be “partakers of the divine nature” (II Peter 1:4). In Philippians, the Apostle Paul said, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). God’s mind comes by the gift of God’s Holy Spirit; God’s Spirit comes through repentance and baptism (Acts 2:38).
Some have created a “Christ” who is weak and sanctimonious. Others have created a “Christ” who was a notorious leader of an underground liberation movement. Others have created God in their own image when they say God has given exclusive privileges or rights to their class, their race, their color, their ethnic group. Many scriptures directly contradict this concept. For example: “Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34).
The Bible states that Christ was the stamped, impressed character image of God, with the mind of God (II Corinthians 4:4; Philippians 2:5-7). He is our example: “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps” (I Peter 2:21). Any opinion of the nature or character of God that conflicts with His example is of our own creation.
Paul said, “For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.” (I Corinthians 8:5-6).
Our Creator earnestly desires to have a close, loving, family relationship with his children, which includes all humanity. To have that loving bond, the individuals involved must know and understand each other very well. Our God knows each one of us completely, but until we know God, we will miss the magnificent connection with Him that He desires and offers us. His nature and character are scattered throughout scriptures through many examples in the Old Testament and through the words of Christ and His Apostles in the New. It is a very enlightening read.
Staff