Metaphors for God have long permeated our theology. In our efforts to understand that which we can not understand we use imagery that makes sense to us. Sometimes this imagery is incredibly helpful in connecting us to God and gaining insight into the mystery of our faith. Sometimes these metaphors are brutal. They do disservice to God, our faith and the fellow believers who buy into them. So I am going to share some of the metaphors that I find helpful, some I find atrocious, and others that are perhaps a bit satirical.
Helpful Metaphors:
(All of these come from the Bible, which gives them validity perhaps outside my blog!)
God as the Mother Hen – Actually a Biblical reference. God gathers His children under His wing to protect them. The thought of being enveloped by God has always been reassuring to me.
God is our Rock – There is an image of immovable strength that comes from God as our Rock
God is the Living Water – Water is essential to life. For God to be the living water, always flowing and providing true quenching of our every need, that is something we can begin to grasp the enormity of.
Jesus as the Lamb – The sacrificial nature of Jesus’ love for us is so clearly given in the lamb imagery.
Jesus as the True Vine – Our life as Christians flows from Christ. We are all attached to the same vine and exist to bear fruit.
Jesus as the Light of the World – What image more clearly shows the nature of the coming of the King and the truth of the Good News than that of the light shining in the darkness?
The Holy Spirit as our Advocate – This legal metaphor reinforces the work of the Spirit on our behalf. Who could better advocate for us than the one who knows us best and can communicate in ways we can’t even express?
The Refiner’s Fire – This metaphor for the sanctifying work of the Spirit has always gripped me. Inside of the fire you can only submit to its work, let it shape and purify you and come out of it with strength, usefulness and resolve you have never known before.
There are numerous more beautiful metaphors… Feel free to add some to this list
Flawed or Just Plain Stupid Metaphors
Jesus as the CEO – There are so many books these days showing the CEO style of leadership Jesus exhibited. Which is great except that Jesus would have made a horrific CEO! All the things that make a CEO in a modern corporation effective and good, an ability to make profit, to market their company effectively, to make hard decisions that require the abandonment of individuals, and hiring the best and the brightest were not part of Jesus’ agenda whatsoever. He found the most average people ever to be part of his leadership. He talked about leaving the 99 to find the 1. He said the last shall be first. His ministry, message and mission are irreconcilable with those of being a CEO.
Jesus is my Co-Pilot – One of my favorite bumper stickers! We have just used a metaphor to equate ourselves with God. If Jesus is our co-pilot that indicates that we are actually piloting our lives, or at least we have the same ability to that Jesus does. Truly ridiculous.
God as the Clockmaker – This metaphor has been around for a long time and was especially popular amongst Deists. They like to believe that God created this whole thing, set up creation, but now that the clock is wound, he isn’t really involved in anything. This is the perfect humanist perspective: God created it, but now everything is up to us. This also suggests an inability for God to interact with and step into his creation. If that were true the whole Incarnation wouldn’t have much validity.
Metaphors I am waiting for someone else to start using….
God is Al Gore – The Holy Spirit is the Internet, it connects us all and gives us access to the power of God and Al Gore created the Internet right?!?
God is Hugh Hefner – God is some relaxed 70 year old man who wears pajamas all day and lives in a mansion all day surrounded by buxom blondes. Doesn’t that make you want to be a Christian too. (Wait as I am typing this I realize U2 kind of made this metaphor already by talking about the Playboy Mansion as a our societies ideal for heaven. The song is called Playboy Mansion and it is on the Pop album. So there you go, someone already mocked this idea)
Jesus the Green Beret – Jesus is a lean mean fighting machine. He went into the desert by himself for 40 days and survived on nothing but rocks and sand. He took the battle on in fierce one on one combat and lived to tell about it. He is coming back and will reign down Rambo like fury on all of who crossed him last time!
Jesus is Jack Bauer – Jack Bauer can do anything, fly anything, drive anything and kill anybody. No rules apply to Jack Bauer. Jack Bauer has given himself as a sacrifice at least twice every season. Jack Bauer has been resurrected multiple times. Jack Bauer can do more in one day than anyone since God created the world. Even then it took God 6 days. That show would have been called 144 instead of 24. Wait, I am actually starting to believe this metaphor.
I am sure you can come up with some other ridiculous metaphors… Feel free to leave them for all to enjoy.
January 10, 2007 at 4:51 pm
What no Jesus is Chuck Norris? We all know Chuck Norris is the reason Waldo is hiding (one of my favorites.)
January 10, 2007 at 6:41 pm
Did you know…Chuck Norris can speak braille.
Jesus as Hugh Hefner…Does that make church “The Grotto”?
January 11, 2007 at 2:14 pm
I always liked Jesus as our “helper” it shows how he is always there and he knows where we’ve been, where we are in life, and where we’re going. We just need to let go of ourselves and let him help us.
February 18, 2009 at 7:51 am
thanks for this
this has helped me so much in my re project
July 31, 2010 at 5:00 pm
I’m trying to draw together a list of the vulgar or demeaning metaphors for God, like “the man upstairs” or “the chief” or ??
July 22, 2011 at 3:51 pm
Pockej tady na me.
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