Created in His Image

So I already shared this in Sunday School yesterday (that's when the thought came to me) and I've already told Kendall, but now it needs to be blogged. This isn't a rip on other religions. At least it's not supposed to be. If it comes off that way it was not intended and feel free to rectify any of my mistakes or misinformation in a comment.

So in Sunday School yesterday we were studying the story of the brother of Jared and we started talking about how God has a body of flesh and bones and how we're created in his image.  This set me on thinking of other religion's gods and their appearance. Some are glorified humans somewhat like God really is, however others are personifications of nature or like in the Hindu religion some have multiple arms and eyes and elephant heads.  One such example is Ganesh. Ganesh is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon.  He is easily identifiable by his elephant's head and four arms.  The story of the birth of this zoomorphic deity, is as such.  

Once goddess Parvati, while bathing, created a boy out of the dirt of her body and assigned him the task of guarding the entrance to her bathroom. When Shiva, her husband returned, he was surprised to find a stranger denying him access, and struck off the boy's head in rage. Parvati was stricken with grief, and to soothe her, Shiva sent out his men to fetch the head of any sleeping being who was facing the north. The company found a sleeping elephant and brought back its severed head, which was then attached to the body of the boy. Shiva restored its life and made him the leader of his troops.

While I respect these religions with inhuman deities and enjoy studying them, I can't help but feel their gods were meant to be feared. I can't find any love in the human/god relationship.  All there is is worship and fear.  Not only do their stories point to fearful and quick-to-anger deities but so do the gods' forms. Even if they weren't associated with vengeful violent stories their differences alone would frighten people. Human beings by nature fear that which is different. Now our God, the true God, resembles us.  While he has been known to deal out somewhat frightening justices He only does so when absolutely nessicary; He isn't a blood-thirsty deity.  Not only is He thought of as kind and merciful, His physical body is like ours. Being like us, instead of some fantastical creature, makes Him more approachable. We can face Him without fear of differences.  We can know He truly is our Father and He didn't just create us out of dirt or trees.  We truly are His children and we look like Him.  He is our Father and He loves us.