There are many ways in which God (in the Judeo-Christian form of the Diety) is described. Most of these don't appear to have any basis in either the literature or the mythos of these two religions. So I thought I'd look at a few of the descriptions that come from either the Septuagint (known to Christians as the Old testament), or in the final case, from the book of Revelation.
I think my favorite description of God comes in Isaiah 6 verses 1-4, simply because it shows the sheer awesomeness of God. Basically Isaiah describes God by talking about other things. For example, the first thing he mentions was that the hem of his robe filled the temple. By way of comparison, on us, the hem is at most an inch and more often only about 10mm; this hem, the tail end of the robe, filled one of the biggest buildings of 5th century BC Israel - a space roughly 3500 cubic meters.
I think my favorite description of God comes in Isaiah 6 verses 1-4, simply because it shows the sheer awesomeness of God. Basically Isaiah describes God by talking about other things. For example, the first thing he mentions was that the hem of his robe filled the temple. By way of comparison, on us, the hem is at most an inch and more often only about 10mm; this hem, the tail end of the robe, filled one of the biggest buildings of 5th century BC Israel - a space roughly 3500 cubic meters.
The next thing that is mentioned is his entourage. We have an indiscriminate number of seraphim, what are now considered (at least in christian circles) as the greatest of angels. They have 6 wings. With two of them they are covering their faces (so that they don't see the incredible glory of God, like Elijah had to wait in the cave - another awesome description of God), with two of them they are covering their feet (so they don't sully the sanctity of they ground - like Moses and the burning bush) and with two of them they are flying (even if for no other reason than they can this shows awesomeness). Still we haven't recieved a clear physical description of God.
Then these guys start singing. They're singing about how awesome God is, even though there isn't much that can compete with them. Their voices shake the entire temple, meaning that even without direct contact with the ground, their voices are having the same effect as an earthquake, and they're just God's crew.
My next favorite description of God has already been mentioned. It comes in 1 Kings 19. Elijah's life has been threatened and so he is feeling quite depressed (understandably). It shows both the awesome power of God and seemingly conversely, his incredible gentleness. Elijah is hiding in a cave in Mt Horeb when God tells him to step outside for a moment and see God's glory. A tornado style of thing comes and tears up the mountain, an earthquake shows up and shakes the mountain around, and then comes an inferno. We're also told that God wasn't in any of them. This is merely the glory of God. When we actually do see God, it's in a gentle whisper that essentially says, 'don't worry, I am here'.
The final description of God, as I've said, comes from Revelation, in particular Chapter 19 v 10 - 16. Here, we are given a description of Jesus. This isn't the baby jesus of the stable (yes lack of capitals was intentional there) or the caucasian jesus on the cross (which conveniently forgets that Jesus was a Jew and therefore didn't have blue eyes) - this is a warrior king about to ride into battle. His eyes are fire, he wears many crowns (making him a King of kings), his robe is dipped in blood (presumably the blood of his enemies, meaning that he is riding out against an already defeated army), out of his mouth comes a razor sharp sword where there should be words, he is the one who treads the winepress mentioned in chapter 14 which leaves the blood of his enemies flowing at a height of around 6 feet for 300km, and finally on his thigh is tattooed KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS as his name. Yes he does have tickets on himself, he isn't meek and mild like we've been told.
Then these guys start singing. They're singing about how awesome God is, even though there isn't much that can compete with them. Their voices shake the entire temple, meaning that even without direct contact with the ground, their voices are having the same effect as an earthquake, and they're just God's crew.
My next favorite description of God has already been mentioned. It comes in 1 Kings 19. Elijah's life has been threatened and so he is feeling quite depressed (understandably). It shows both the awesome power of God and seemingly conversely, his incredible gentleness. Elijah is hiding in a cave in Mt Horeb when God tells him to step outside for a moment and see God's glory. A tornado style of thing comes and tears up the mountain, an earthquake shows up and shakes the mountain around, and then comes an inferno. We're also told that God wasn't in any of them. This is merely the glory of God. When we actually do see God, it's in a gentle whisper that essentially says, 'don't worry, I am here'.
The final description of God, as I've said, comes from Revelation, in particular Chapter 19 v 10 - 16. Here, we are given a description of Jesus. This isn't the baby jesus of the stable (yes lack of capitals was intentional there) or the caucasian jesus on the cross (which conveniently forgets that Jesus was a Jew and therefore didn't have blue eyes) - this is a warrior king about to ride into battle. His eyes are fire, he wears many crowns (making him a King of kings), his robe is dipped in blood (presumably the blood of his enemies, meaning that he is riding out against an already defeated army), out of his mouth comes a razor sharp sword where there should be words, he is the one who treads the winepress mentioned in chapter 14 which leaves the blood of his enemies flowing at a height of around 6 feet for 300km, and finally on his thigh is tattooed KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS as his name. Yes he does have tickets on himself, he isn't meek and mild like we've been told.
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