These essays are written in sequence and build on each other. Read the preceding essay here.
We recall our discussion about the need to apply a special mindset in appreciating the Word and all that appertains to it.
We have also discussed the fact that man cannot truly understand God as He Is.
God does not have human traits1
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics to an entity that is not human.
For example we may say that a pet dog “has a guilty look” after a bout of bad behavior.
But dogs don’t experience guilt. The look we have labelled such is a manifestation of the fear the animal feels based on previous experiences of the behavior of its owner in such situations.
Anthropomorphism is dangerous in the things of God. It is an aspect of one of the two enemies of spiritual understanding that we explored earlier – lack of humility.
In our discussion about levels of understanding, we used the gap in nature between animal and man as an analogy of the gap between man and God.
We cannot arrive at a useful concept of God by starting from a human characteristic and trying to “upgrade” it, as if the Creator is merely a super-human-being.
This would be like what animal psychologists tell us about the attitude of dogs towards their owners. To the dog, its owner is the leader of the dog pack – the alpha dog.
In other words, human beings are “super-dogs” as far as dogs are concerned. This is high praise from the dog, but in the actual sense it drags humanity down to the level of dogs.
We cannot blame the dog – that is the highest it can conceive.
God does not have human traits. Humans have a spiritual image of some of the traits that are in God.
For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country,
— KJV, Matt 25:14-15
who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.
And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one;
to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
Careful consideration of the parable (which we shall explore in detail in a later essay) would reveal that by “talents” are meant human spiritual virtues, seeds of spiritual images of God-like traits, that man is to develop in himself.
For human beings seeking God, only consistent application of The Word in such a way as to develop these latent spiritual virtues can help us begin to arrive at a humanly accurate appreciation of Him.
No man knoweth the Son,
— Matt 11:27
but the Father;
neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son,
and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him
Example: God’s Love
When we think of God’s Love we often think of human love and then project upwards from there, envisaging the very best “love” we are capable of imagining.
This is the mistake of anthropomorphism. It drags God down to the human level, and therefore dishonours Him.
God’s Love (and every Divine trait) should be considered as something unimaginably high, and we should consider human love as a pale image of it, just as some animal traits are a pale image of human traits.
We can never envisage the traits of God properly with our physical brains. We can only begin to appreciate this higher Love by trying to live a life of pure and selfless Love as described in The Word.
We arrive at a higher concept of Him in our spirit, our intuition, through constant efforts to live The Word and therefore to experience His Will.
Today’s Resolution
- In all our thinking and praying, we shall not “humanize” God.
- We shall not forget that He is Highest Love and Highest Power, existing infinitely far above us, and that he reaches out graciously towards us through His Will only out of Love for us.
- For the curious reader the book “Thinking About God” by Stephen Lampe provides an extensive overview of some of the issues raised here. ↩︎
The Word, (Re)Discovered 