Question:
Dear Greg,
I
remember you saying something to the effect that we shouldn’t make images of
God because we are incapable of capturing the true essence of God’s infinity!
I was just wondering, does that mean that it would be wrong, as a labor
of love, to make an inanimate depiction of what’s described in Ezekiel
11:26-29, Ezekiel 8:2-3, Daniel 7:8-9 and Revelation 1:12-16 in an oil painting?
Sincerely,
Lee
Answer: Dear Lee,
As
I understand the Bible and what God intends, an idol is something that takes the
place of God and that inaccurately represents God and becomes the object of our
worship (thus becoming a false god).
To
represent what “God looks like” in any kind of accurate way is, of course,
futile. While this is not a perfect
analogy, consider this: any human attempt to depict God artistically, whether in
print, the spoken word or graphically in some nature, is incomplete—it is only
scratching the surface. The only
insight we have about God is from his special revelation (the Bible) and from
general revelation (the creation). In
some ways, trying to depict God artistically is like a horse or cow attempting
to depict, communicate or share the reality of what it is like to be a human.
But,
it is not wrong for humans to think about God—to wonder about him—to worship
him. In fact, that is part of what
being made “in the image of God” is all about. We are created with a
God-shaped emotional void and we long to fill it by connecting with God.
But God warns us not to worship the product of our minds and our
hands—for nothing we can devise is sufficient to depict the Holy and Perfect
God of eternity. I understand God as
saying, “Paint and write away, think and ponder to your heart’s
content—but in all of your creativity realize that nothing you produce is
something that should limit me to you—or should even be the object of prayers
and worship. I remain bigger than
anything you can imagine. Eye hath
not seen, not ear heard…”
In
Christ,
Greg
Albrecht