Can your biblical God be seen?

Question

So which is the correct version of this fable?

Exod. 24:9,10; Amos 9:1; Gen. 26:2; and John 14:9

God CAN be seen:

"And I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my backparts." (Ex. 33:23)
"And the Lord spake to Moses face to face, as a man speaketh to his friend." (Ex. 33:11)
"For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." (Gen. 32:30)

God CANNOT be seen:

"No man hath seen God at any time." (John 1:18)
"And he said, Thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see me and live." (Ex. 33:20)
"Whom no man hath seen nor can see." (1 Tim. 6:16)

1 of the 1,000's of self-contradictions in the bible...

http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jim_meritt/bible-contradictions.html#introduction

Answer 1

Yeah, I get your point but I feel that with all I've been through. Trials and tribulations. That somehow something unseen, benevolent, and powerful has seen me through these difficulties. Can you dig it.

Answer 2

oro
I'm getting the feeling that you have not actually read these scriptures but are just repeating their misinformation.

In Genesis 33 Moses sees the burning bush. God used the bush to represent himself. Even then Moses was overwhelmed and hid his face.

Jacob wrestled with an angel of the Lord. This angel was God representative, but not God.

Those were really easy if you actually read the bible. They all are. Go ahead, read for yourself and see if you can find something. Stop being somebody else's puppet, and use the incredible brain God gave you. Will you always blindly follow people who's most notable characteristic, is that they could NOT figure out what the scriptures mean?

Answer 3

The solution is simple. All you need to do is accept what the Bible says. If the people of the OT were seeing God, the Almighty God, and Jesus said that no one has ever seen the Father (John 6:46), then they were seeing God Almighty, but not the Father. It was someone else in the Godhead. I suggest that they were seeing the Word before He became incarnate. In other words, they were seeing Jesus.
If God is a Trinity, then John 1:18 is not a problem either because in John chapter one, John writes about the Word (Jesus) and God (the Father). In verse 14 it says the Word became flesh. In verse 18 it says no one has seen God. Since Jesus is the Word, God then, refers to the Father. This is typically how John writes of God: as a reference to the Father. We see this verified in Jesus own words in John 6:46 where He said that no one has ever seen the Father. Therefore, Almighty God was seen, but not the Father. It was Jesus before His incarnation. There is more than one person in the Godhead and the doctrine of the Trinity must be true.

Answer 4

The Bible is a collection of texts written and redacted by hundreds of authors and scribes over a period of millennia. Of course it contradicts itself. Here's a tasty one for you, my favorite: 1 Samuel 15:3, God commands the Israelites to commit genocide; 1 John 4:8, God is love. That kind of contradiction makes your seen/unseen problem seem a little picayune, IMHO.

But you see: noticing that doesn't make me an unbeliever; it makes me a non-fundamentalist. Simply because the Bible contains innumerable errors and contradictions doesn't mean that it's worthless; far from it. In fact, every movement for human enlightenment and emancipation of the past 500 years has its roots, ultimately, in the basic ethos of the Judeo-Christian tradition. So don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Besides being an atheist or a fundamentalist, you can also be a thoughtful, discerning believer.

Answer 5

Question: "Has anyone ever seen God?"



Answer: The Bible tells us that no one has ever seen God (John 1:18) except the Lord Jesus Christ. Moses “saw” God, but he did not see God in all His fullness. Exodus 33:19-23 describes this. When God and Moses spoke “face to face,” it is just a figure of speech indicating they were in very close communion. In Genesis 32:30, Jacob saw God appearing as an angel – He did not truly see God. Samson’s parents were terrified when they realized they had seen God (Judges 13:22), but they had only seen Him appearing as an angel. Jesus was God in the flesh (John 1:1,14) so when people saw Him, they were seeing God. However, this is different than seeing God with all His glory and holiness displayed. People have seen visions of God, images of God, and appearances of God – but no one has ever seen God in all His fullness (Exodus 33:20).

Recommended Resource: Knowing God by J.I. Packer.

Answer 6

God cannot be seen. For 2,000 years, the Orthodox Christian church has maintained this fact.

However, in the OT, Abraham was visited by 3 angels, who much later was revealed to be God in trinitarian form.

Christianity is a trinitarian religion, not a single god like "Allah". The "lord" can manifest himself any way He wants. However, God in His basic form cannot be seen by humans.

(Note: if you're question is a "not so veiled" attempt to discredit the Bible, that's fine. But keep in mind that there have been a number of interpretations of the Bible. The Protestant interpretation in the 1600's was much different than the orginal Greek. The Orthodox version of Christianity would not perplex you as much as the evangelical versions...just fyi)

Answer 7

I can see God in a million things a day. Every time I look at the sky or see a bird fly. When I pass a beautiful flower or see a sunset. Each time I visit the ocean or walk barefoot on the warm ground. In all these things, I see God! But, especially, when I see a baby and see the innocence of an angel upon that beautiful face. That, my friend allows me to see God. He is everywhere, all the time, with everyone who allows Him into their hearts. Just open your eyes and you will, also, see God everywhere, in all things that He has created.

Answer 8

Hi there,

Looks like you are actually asking these questions not out of curiosity but to question GOD. If this is ur quest to find God then you should do it by reading the Holy Bible in the right way and not by just taking portions from here and there and interpreting. Every line of the Bible touches lives of millions in different ways. God speaks to you through this Holy Bible but if u do so in solitude and prayer.
We cannot understand God's action with our brains. He does what He wants in His way and anyway because He is God.

The truth is Our God is an omnipotent God and you can see Him in your everydaylife and in everybody only if you wish to.

Answer 9

If the God we all believe in could be seen...then He would not be called God. The Roman Catholic Church would have a field day making statues, busts and images of Him which He forbid under the Old and New Testaments and even in the Holy Quran.

Answer 10

Has your question taken into account the various Persons of the Trinity? Some Christian biblical scholars have suggested that visible manifestations of God in the Old Testament were "christophanies" (visible manifestations of Jesus, the second Person of the Trinity).

Answer 11

Matthew 5:8

Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.

This verse says yes!

I know a sweet woman who is pure in heart, and she will see God. She also makes herself available to all of us here on yahoo answers, it goes to show, we really can't see the true. God has to open our spiritual eyes, and spiritual ears to see and hear God. I have been blessed with every visit I have with her.