beanpie

THE GOD OF THE BIBLE - part one

by Mr. TrueIslam


Zecharia Sitchin, a scholar of ancient Near East religions, in his
The 12th Planet observes,

"In all ancient pictorial depiction's of gods and men, this physical
likeness is evident. Although the biblical admonitions against the
worship of pagan images gave rise to the notion that the Hebrew God
had neither image nor likeness, not only the Genesis tale but other
biblical reports attest to the contrary. The God of the ancient
Hebrews could be seen face-to-face, could be wrestled with, could be
heard and spoken to; he had a head and feet, hands and fingers, and a
waist. The biblical God and his emissaries looked like men and acted
like men-because men were created to look and act like the Gods (l)."

Reference is made above to the infamous passage of Gen.1:26 where
Eloheim proclaims, "na'aseh'adam beselmenu kidemutenu"-Let us make
man in our Image after our Likeness." Here Adam is said to be made
in the image and after the likeness of God. The current orthodox
exegesis* of this passage renders the image and likeness here
referred to as a "spiritual" likeness, therefore eliminating any
possibility that God "looks" like man. However, those who understand
Hebrew know that this is a most inappropriate interpretation of that
passage. The Hebrew words Selem (image) and demute (likeness),
according to Finis Jennings Dake in his Annotated Reference Bible
(1963) denotes the "outward form, not (the) attributes (2), " In
Israelite Religion, Helmer Renggren says;

"…the meaning of the words; `selem" and `demute,' hardly allows this
statement to refer to anything but CORPOREAL SIMILARITY (3),"

Maryanne C. Horowitz, in her article "The Image of God in Man – Is
Woman Included?" affirms also that the "image," Selem, is a Hebrew
term which "contained anthropomorphic corporeal imagery (4)." These
same Hebrew words are used through out the Old Testament and always
have this meaning of corporeality (5). This to apply any meaning
here other than Adam's physical, corporeal similarity to God is to
violate the principle of contextual exegesis.

The Prophets, when they saw God, indeed saw a Man. Ezekiel,
describing his vision of God, says,

"And above the firmament that was over their heads was a throne, as
the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the
throne was the likeness as the appearance of a MAN above it. (v2) And
I saw the color of amber, as the appearance of fire round about
within him, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from
the appearance of his loins even downward (Ez. 1:26-7."

In Ez. 10:20, this "Man" sitting on this throne is identified as the
God of Israel. The color of this Man/God that Ezekiel saw is also
interesting. He was the "color of amber" as though fire was within
it. Rev. Ishakamusa Barashango notes,

"The Revised Standard Version of the Bible renders the work amber
as `gleaming bronze.' The word `amber comes from a Hebrew
word `Chasmal' which is a golden-brown substance that was used by the
ancients to produce static electrical charges. (6)".

This Man was a Black Man. The Prophet Daniel also beheld God. He
saw Him as "the ancient of Days… whose garment was white as snow, and
the HAIR ON HIS HEAD LIKE THE PURE WOOL. (Dan.7:9."

The Hebrew word for man is "ish". This is used in reference to God
several times. The author of Exodus states emphatically "YHWH `ish
milhamah. YHWH semo," meaning "The Lord is a MAN of war. The Lord
is his name. (15:3). "also in SA. 42:13 it reads,

The Lord (YHWH) goes forth like a mighty man (gibbor), like a man of
war (`ish milhamah) he stirs up his fury."

In Gen. 18, we read,

"And the Lord appeared unto him (Abraham) in the plains of Mamre: and
he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; (v2), And he life up
his eyes and looked, and, lo, THREE MEN stood by him: and when he say
them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself
toward the ground, and said, My Lord, if now I have found favor in
thy sight, pass not away… (v4) Let a little water, I pray you, be
fetched, and wash YOUR FEET AND REST YOURSELVES UNDER THE TREE".

Of these three men that appeared unto (Abraham), one of them was
Yahweh. The prophet Joshua (5:13) also sees a man (`ish) over
against him with his sword drawn." The prophet Joshua drops down on
his face and "did worship (v14) "this man, who was God. (7) George
Fohrer, in History of Israelite Religion, says,

"The statements that no man can see him (Ex.33:20) and that is
spirit, not flesh (Isa.31:3) of course do not mean that he is
formless or invisible, but rather that man cannot endure the sight of
him (cf Judge. 13:22) and that, in contrast to transitory `flesh', he
possesses an eternal vitality…All the evidence suggest that FROM THE
OUTSET Yahweh was conceived in HUMAN FORM (8)"

In The Growth of The Idea of God, Shailer Mathews states,

"Even among the prophets Jahweh was described with such vivid
anthropomorphism as to enable persons to form a mental picture of
this appearance. Not only was he portrayed as AN OLD MAN WITH WHITE
HAIR, but he had passions and policies like those of the rulers of
his time.The conception of God as spirit DID NOT APPEAR IN THE OLD
TESTAMENT. To the theologizing historians who in the eighty century
(B.C.) unified and expanded the literary date of their religion, GOD
WAS NOT A SPIRIT BUT POSSESSED A SPIRIT." (9)

Gawdawful

Is this the same Zecharia Sitchen that has made numerous appearances on Art Bell's radio programs? From this pro-Sitchen site:Outside of UFO nut circles, Zecharia Sitchen has zero credibility.


Warrenokie don't believe in them neither.


[off topic]beanpie, have you ever had pinto bean pie? Seriously, it is good stuff.

mike_decock

I actually The Twelfth Planet a while ago. It's pretty amazing how he stretches the evidence into fitting his theory.

-Mike...

beanpie

I have. What you have stated, about bean pie, is no exaggeration

beanpie

Zecharia Sitchen may not be correct 'bout most things but, God definitely appears, in the Bible, as a man.

variant 13

You see the problem is that if god looks like a man (or woman) people start to think...

Art is the way to kill gods - look how the big bearded bloke in the sky has worked for Christians.