Anthropomorphism: A Summarization Of God In The Bible

In the Bible, God is anthropomorphized and made to seem as though he were human. Anthropomorphism does cast human traits and characteristics onto unhuman things, but its goal is not mere labelization. In the Bible, anthropomorphic descriptions are typically mistaken as a way to convey that God is like us and is a man with a body. Such characterization is done not because God actually is a man, but rather, it is done to divulge spiritual truths about God that are normally beyond our level of understanding.

As in Genesis, “God created mankind in his image”(Genesis 1:27). Humans, though having been made in God’s image, are still the replica that never quite fulfills the true form of the thing it aims to reproduce. According to God, humans may be made to look like him, but this does not necessarily mean we are made to function on the same level as him. However, the imperfect recreation of God seen in humans was done purposefully to create a clear separation between what is God and what is human. If humans were made to the exact specifications of what God is, no longer would the

However, Lot’s wife looked back, and she was turned into a pillar of salt” (Genesis 19:26). God is capable of altruistic acts, but this does not mean that he is not one to fear. In the case of Lot’s wife, God destroys two cities and the immoral people contained within because of their absolute depravity. He then goes and kills Lot’s wife because her “look[ing] back” signifies her defiance to God’s will. She questions why God would destroy those people instead of accepting that he knows what he is doing. Though God kills off many people in this section of the Bible, he does so justly. Whether or not one may disagree with what God did to Sodom and Gomorrah, it can not be said to be “bad” if one keeps with the notion that God does not do