Why would God be in the form of a human?

Question

I am a former Christian and one of the things that always bothered me is that God is always depicted in the form of a human figure? Now I know that I'm going to be told that man was created in the form of God, but that's just semantics and not what I'm getting at. What I mean is, why would God need form? If God was without flaw and all knowing and all powerful, why would he need a vessel in the first place? Wouldn't he be free of the need to intervene in creation from the design of creation? Wouldn't the very act of verbal communication serve no purpose other then to fulfill his own narcissisms? Which of course is impossible because an omnipotent being would be above narcissism. But in addition doesn't the linear process of verbal communication implies that God thinks linearly and not in an all knowing instant? H. P. Lovecraft once wrote "The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents". It is this this process that makes men individuals and not entities soley guided by our reactions. Where as if this where not true in God, he would not have form of a human or any sort of identity, he would simply be, without the need for judgment or thought. He would merely be a force, a force of law and science.

And please, if you are going to just shout versus at me or tell me I need to read the bible and not actually take part in a valid question then please sit this one out.

Answer 1

Lesson #1: Humans are stuck on themselves.

It's some component in the human brain that puts self above all else. It comes in useful when it comes to survival-type situations where you're faced with life and death but that elevated sense of self really gets out of hand after awhile. Achilles' Heel? Achilles' Ego is more like it. It's the cause of much of our downfall.

We don't really relate to a dog because it's a dog. We relate to a dog because of how much it reminds us of us. We see ourselves in the dog and anthropomorphize it and its intentions when usually the motives of the dog are totally different than we imagine.

Bugs Bunny is a rabbit. Mickey Mouse is a rodent. Yet these animals stand upright on two legs, have opposable thumbs, talk and act so much like human beings. You might as well say humans in a beastly suit.

A child will look at an bird and think this is a mama bird and this is a daddy bird and they will have little birdie kids. They're thinking of birds in human family terms despite the reality that the father drops his seed and hits the road never to be seen again by his "family". Look at the cartoon series The Land Before Time. See how they take the fabled story of the dinosaurs and humanize so many varied aspects of it. Look at the "aliens" on Star Trek. Come on now. ALL of them looking like humanoids with various skin conditions??

So it's no surprise that self-absorbed human beings make their God-figures human too. It can even go so far as to break down by gender with God and Goddess...Mother Earth and Father Time. When a human being fails to see itself in something else they see the object as a monster. Which is why the Alien from Aliens resembles an insect like a roach or something.

Human beings even name inanimate objects like living people. Ships and nations called "She" and "Her"??? Understanding how strong the drive is in people to focus on self can also tell you how to understand empathy and its opposite callousness.

John Lucas

Answer 2

from my understanding god did NOT NEED to become man. he wanted to do so to save humanity.  he created humans for his pleasure, they are said to be the only creatures which have free will and intellect vs. animals who don't have intellect, or angels who are not suppose to have free will.  i tend to think of it in this way as a sort of correlation, but not exactly the same: intelligent ppl tend to want someone to talk to, but not a dumb person, someone who will challenge them. and even though god is all knowing it is fun to see people try.  kind of like a teacher enlightening their students.  i don't think the explaination puts god in the best light, but this is how i see/try to reason it.  

hope it helps

Answer 3

In my opinion it's simply because humans can't really understand the real nature of God and therefore depict Him as something they can understand.  

Answer 4

When i was a small child, i pictured God as female and rather like a manta ray in form.  I understand now that God has no specific form.  If God appeared human, it would mean that almost every being in the Universe was worshipping an alien.  We don't see God as a green tentacled octopus-like being or a giant metal insect, or whatever, so they presumably don't see God as humanoid.  It would be completely absurd.

Answer 5

Well, Fireball gets my "best answer".  God had to  become one of us in order to call us back to Himself.  It's up to the individual to answer the call.

Answer 6

In the world we live in kings, queens, and other royalty step down to speak and see what usn be doin, why wouldn't God, or where did they get it from.

Answer 7

He wasn't in human form originally, He was in Heaven which is a spiritual realm. The only reason that Jesus came to earth in human form was to live amongst men and preach the gospel of the kingdom of God then die to take the punishment of everyone upon Himself. He was like the scapegoat of old where people THOUGHT that all their sins could be taken by the goat which was then killed.

Jesus went willingly to the cross to take our punishment so that we would not need to do so, but His doing so is no good to the individual who will not accept that. He did it as a gift and a gift that is rejected is of no use at all.  To be forgiven and go to Heaven when you die you need to accept that Jesus has taken your punishment. The price for your sins (eternal death) has been PAID IN FULL.

Answer 8

There are two ways of looking at this:

1. We may draw God in the form of a human because that's easy for us to draw Him as. Would you like to try and draw 'merely a force'? Nobody ever said, "God up in heaven looks exactly like a human. You will see Him as an ordinary human with a halo." No! How can we draw god? Of course God doesn't need a form. That's just the easiest way for us to think of him.

2. Jesus was human. Yes, Jesus was also God, but to come down and talk to us on our level, befriend us and everything else, he had to become a human like us. That is the whole essence of the story of Jesus - God became human to save us. Therefore, many pictures you will have seen are artists' impressions of Jesus, who was in the form of a human.

Answer 9

No such thing as a former Christian!  If you were once a Christian then you will always be a Christian!  Since you are saying you once were then you never were!   The fact that you are questioning Gods word also tells me a lot, so keep on questioning because true Christions don't question God or his Word( The Bible)!! If you believe truely in your heart what he does and how he is human than you wouldn't need to question because you love and trust him and take as it is because He is GOD, thats all that matters to Christians and the faith we have in him!

Answer 10

To properly understand the nature of Jesus, one has to resort either to a divine source or to what Jesus himself declared and emphasized. It can be proved that the Qur’an is the word of God remaining intact as revealed.

In contrast, it can be proved that both the Old Testament and the New Testament are not divine but human writings, and so are the writings of modern and liberal theologians.

Islam emphatically asserts that there is no deity but Allah. The Qur'an abounds with explicit statements of this fact that leave no room for re-interpretation or twisting the meaning in any direction. As an example, take this verse, which may be translated:

*{Allah is He besides Whom there is no god, the Ever-living, the Self-subsisting by Whom all subsist; slumber does not overtake Him nor sleep; whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth is His; who is he that can intercede with Him but by His permission? He knows what is before them and what is behind them, and they cannot comprehend anything out of His knowledge except what He pleases, His knowledge extends over the heavens and the earth, and the preservation of them both tires Him not, and He is the Most High, the Great.}* (Surah 2:255)

Similarly, both the Old Testament and Jesus’ words in the Gospels confirm the Islamic concept of pure monotheism. Following are a few examples:

Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God (Exodus 34:14)

You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them (Exodus 20:1-5)

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and him only you shall serve.’” (Matthew 4:10)

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one (Mark 12:32)

Jesus also asserts his humanity: :

“As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God.” (John 8:40)

“By myself I can do nothing: I judge only as I hear.” (John 5:30)

“But in vain they do worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” (Matthew 15:9)

Referring to Jesus as a “Word” of Allah is an expression of the Will of Allah in creating him in the womb of Virgin Mary without a father, by the word “Be”. The same Divine Command is applied to Yahya (John the Baptist) in the Qur'an, when Allah talks about Yahya who was born from a very old lady who was not capable of bearing children, which means:

*{So We responded to him and gave him Yahya and made his wife fit for him; surely they used to hasten, one with another In deeds of goodness and to call upon Us, hoping and fearing and they were humble before Us.}* (Surah 21:90) :

Adam the father of humanity was created from dust, as is confirmed in the words that mean

*{Surely the likeness of `Isa is with Allah as the likeness of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him, Be, and he was.}* (Surah 3:59)

Are these references to Adam and John the Baptist any different from the same descriptions of Jesus? In other verses we read what means:

*{When the angels said: O Maryam, surely Allah gives you good news with a Word from Him (of one) whose name is the Messiah, `Isa son of Maryam, worthy of regard in this world and the hereafter and of those who are made near (to Allah).}* (Surah 3:45)

*{O followers of the Book! do not exceed the limits in your religion, and do not speak (lies) against Allah, but (speak) the truth; the Messiah, `Isa son of Maryam is only a messenger of Allah and His Word which He communicated to Maryam and a spirit from Him; believe therefore in Allah and His messengers, and say not, Three. Desist, it is better for you; Allah is only one Allah; far be It from His glory that He should have a son, whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth is His, and Allah is sufficient for a Protector.}* (Surah 4:171)

The word "spirit" in this verse is a reference to the Willful power of Allah in creating the fatherless Jesus. The more miraculous creation of Adam, without father or mother was also a "spirit’" from Allah. Could one claim that Adam, and hence all humanity, was an incarnation of God for that same argument?

Similarly, the Gospels portray Jesus as a human man in all respects:

On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus (Luke 2:21)

“The son of man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a gluttonous man…’” (Matthew 11:19)

Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his head.” (Matthew 8:20)

One of those days, Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. (Luke 6:12)

Jesus wept (John 11:35)

The Qur’an esteems Jesus, yes, but Ibrahim (Abraham) and Musa (Moses) are given even higher esteem. There is nothing

Answer 11

He did that so we can be forgiven...