God

[Scrawly]

Close your eyes. Visualize/think long and hard about God. Literally.

What do you see? How do you envision God? How does God look like - right now?

[seanD]

Old man with a beard. Unfortunately that's the image that immediately pops up, probably because of the Michelangelo painting and countless renaissance paintings.

[Christianbookworm]

Light? God is spirit, so He doesn't have a physical form!

[Scrawly]

Light? God is spirit, so He doesn't have a physical form!

So you envision God as light? Anything more? Doesn't God dwell in unapproachable light (1Tim. 6:16)? Where does the resurrected Jesus fit into your conception of God?

[JonathanL]

Old man with a beard. Unfortunately that's the image that immediately pops up, probably because of the Michelangelo painting and countless renaissance paintings.

Well, technically, it isn't wrong, due to the Incarnation, but maybe imagining Him as a 30-ish year old man instead of an "old man with a beard" would be more correct?

[Christianbookworm]

Jesus is fully divine and fully man. Of course I don't know what exactly He looked like since we don't have puictures.

[Scrawly]

Well, technically, it isn't wrong, due to the Incarnation, but maybe imagining Him as a 30-ish year old man instead of an "old man with a beard" would be more correct?

So your conception of the Trinity/God is essentially Jesus in a physical resurrected body (still wearing earthly attire and such?) standing or sitting in the heavenly realms located in another dimension and sovereignly controlling the entire cosmos?

[JonathanL]

So your conception of the Trinity/God is essentially Jesus in a physical resurrected body (still wearing earthly attire and such?) standing or sitting in the heavenly realms located in another dimension and sovereignly controlling the entire cosmos?

Well, not my conception of the three Persons as a Trinity. But since Jesus has taken on permanent human nature it makes sense to me that we can imagine Him as a human male, even if we aren't going to know exactly how He looks until He returns.

[Scrawly]

Well, not my conception of the three Persons as a Trinity. But since Jesus has taken on permanent human nature it makes sense to me that we can imagine Him as a human male, even if we aren't going to know exactly how He looks until He returns.

Thanks, so it would be fair to say you don't think the totality of God is relegated to a corner portion in another dimension where he is more-or-less standing around in a glorified human body sovereignly controlling the entire cosmos? That would be a very finite/human view of the divine, yes?

[JonathanL]

Thanks, so it would be fair to say you don't think the totality of God is relegated to a corner portion in another dimension where he is more-or-less standing around in a glorified human body sovereignly controlling the entire cosmos? That would be a very finite/human view of the divine, yes?

That's correct. But I still think it's not wrong to conceive of God as a human being, as long as you're aware that it's not the complete picture.

[Scrawly]

That's correct. But I still think it's not wrong to conceive of God as a human being, as long as you're aware that it's not the complete picture.

Would it be fair to categorize the complete picture as a mystery -- at this point in time -- from our perspective?

[JonathanL]

Would it be fair to categorize the complete picture as a mystery -- at this point in time -- from our perspective?

Yes.

[Jedidiah]

Close your eyes. Visualize/think long and hard about God. Literally.

What do you see? How do you envision God? How does God look like - right now?

I do not really envision God. The best I can do is to think of Him as He appears in the Son.

[Jedidiah]

Old man with a beard. Unfortunately that's the image that immediately pops up, probably because of the Michelangelo painting and countless renaissance paintings.

Funny while that seems to be the popular image, I have never visualized God as an old man of any sort.

[seanD]

I do not really envision God. The best I can do is to think of Him as He appears in the Son.

Funny while that seems to be the popular image, I have never visualized God as an old man of any sort.

That's how I eventually envision it, but it takes a bit more time for my head to wrap around the theological complexity of that. OP was talking about what visualization instantly pops in your mind that very split second. I think of God as an actual person than a complex entity -- more of a father figure. I guess it comes down to what visual image a person's been exposed to the majority of the time.