why do people like to think of God as having human characteristics?

Question

such as jealousy, anger, etc...

and why do people believe that you can offend or hurt God?

Answer 1

Biblical dogma.
Church teachings so people stay "in the club", "on the team" etc.
Try reading other scriptures to find different understandings of God. And/or go within your own heart in meditation.
God is within the heart of each and every living being--- within each atom, in fact. Look inside instead of always looking outside.

Answer 2

Because god is a construction of human imagination. It's a very human-centric fantasy that is just a reflection of humanity. People believe you can offend or hurt god because they are taught this. People should learn things like what you can learn about brights instead. They should understand what being a bright is, then continue being religious if they wish.

I was willing to believe that religion could be based on truth, I still could be convinced if given any reason to believe based on logic, I just don't see any strong reasons, ever.

If you religious people believe that your beliefs are strong, then you should not be afraid of opening your heart to the idea that you may be on the wrong path. If what you believe in is actually as strong and true as you believe it is then you will not be dissuaded from it when you challenge it yourself. Why don't you test it and see what happens?

http://www.the-brights.net/

Answer 3

Because such things are written in the Bible.

These anthropomorphisms are there , not to put forward the idea that God is physical in any way, but to teach a lesson in terms that we humans can understand via our language and experience.

Answer 4

We are made in God's image according to the Bible so we have to have some characteristics in common with him. We also believe the description God gave of himself in the Bible.

We hurt and offend God in sort of the same way we hurt our parents when we do something they told us we shouldn't do.

Answer 5

Humans think of god as human-like because we have no way of imagining anything else. We see everything through our own perspective, so of course god is seen as like us, only much more powerful.

I do think it's a good point about hurting god. If humans can hurt god, than we have power over god, which does not make god all that god-like. Interesting paradox.

Answer 6

it's just a form of human egotism. if you have a deity that looks like you you can imagine you know how "God" think, feels and reacts. if "God" looks like you then you're above all the other creatures on the planet so can dominate and exploit The Earth and it's creatures with impunity. this arrogant attitude will eventually destroy The Living Earth and cause the extinction of all that lives including humans. sometimes i loath my own species and pray for a worldwide pandemic that culls us back to reasonable and sustainable numbers..

Answer 7

God is unknowable by definition. He supposedly lives in a supernatural world. We live in a natural world, so we can't cross over and check him out. Until we are dead supposedly.
Anything we say or concoct about god is totally an educated or uneducated guess. We only know what we know within our natural world. Humans are the top of the food chain.
Anyone that claims to know the truth about god is looking to manipulate you against your will.

Answer 8

The Bible says that we are made in His image. It also says that He a jealous God. That's why we are to worship only Him. I think the people of Sodom and Gomorrah probably offended him, so His wrath fell on him.

Answer 9

We were created in His likeness, and the Bible speaks of God's jealousy, anger, and happiness.

Answer 10

Our words seem to be close enough to what God is like that He can use them.

He IS jealous. He will allow His children to have NO OTHER GOD than Himself. Its either Him or the other.

He does get angry. Just like a perfect father on earth gets angry when their child does something that is going to eventually hurt them or break their fellowship.