Why do people relate to different images of God?

Question

Suggest reasons why people relate to different images of God. You might refer to influences such as religious background, age, gender and the media

Answer 1

Thinking in terms of images suggests a kind of materialism, rather than knowing God "in Spirit" as Jesus recommended. Worship in Spirit does not create images, just the real thing. More on my bio.

Answer 2

cause.... we're different?

Answer 3

I can think of at least half a dozen possible meanings of your question and at least a dozen ways to answer you. Could you narrow down and be more explicit what you are asking?

Answer 4

It is in our nature as humans to feel comfort and security, and thusly become closer to those things which are familiar to us. If you stare into the mirror everyday and see a white woman, and don't interact with many men or many black people, you might feel uncomfortable being around them.

The same goes for god, in many ways. If you are brought up with the image of a blond haired white skinned Jesus, that is what you will relate to.

This could also explain 'why' Jesus is white and blond haired in Western culture. The west is dominantly white, Jesus is really important for a lot of people, so they made him white.

Answer 5

Because we are different individuals.

Answer 6

I think we all want to be in charge. We want God to be the way we think he ought to be rather than who he really is. God is scary. He's holy and powerful. He made the earth and everything in it. He made the mountains tremble when he came down to visit Moses with the 10 commandments. This is not some god we can manage! This is the God who is! He's wild and uncontrollable.

When the Israelites were exposed to God's raw power at Mount Sinai, they waited for Moses to go up on the mountain before making for themselves a golden calf to worship. The calf was decidedly *not* scary. They weren't afraid of it. It wasn't going to demand anything of them.

I think that's why we have so many different ideas about God: We all want a god that we can manage without personal cost.  

Answer 7

People do relate different images to God because in everything around us, we can feel god's presence in all his creation. He's the one who created everything with his personal touch.

Everything was created by himself meaning everything have a direct relation to him....^_^

Answer 8

An interesting book, dont know if you can find it is: "The Two Babylons" by Dr. Alexander Hislop . He explais all the roots of image worship

Oh! just found the book online:http://www.biblebelievers.com/babylon/

Answer 9

It's called Ethnocentrism.

Answer 10

It is because each person relates to God individually.  Evidently, one size does not fit all.