Is it permissible to ask the question, "Who is God?" As I began to formulate an answer to this question, I struggled for a while because I could not depict who God actually was. In retrospect, the first analysis that I began to do required that I used my mind to explore this seemingly impossible question. My mind shuffled through the most common images that people have portrayed to be God. These images consisted of an elderly white male whose curled gray-bearded and long wavy hair depicted him to be a wise man. However, this image did not sit right with me because although God has all knowledge and wisdom, God surely could not age because all things that age must have a death. It is my belief that God (The Father) has never had an actual birth, but has always existed and has remained the same throughout time. The image of this God who has displayed clear signs of age was immediately disqualified, and my search continued.
The next picture that exploded in my mind was that of a much younger looking, white face individual, who had long curly dark hair. As I looked into his this blue-eyed version of God, His face expression was extremely confident and He had also appeared to be physically strong. This image was also challenging because although it is true that God has all power in His hands, I found it hard to believe that God was white. As I continued trying to figure out whom this God was, I begun adding and removing physical attributes about Him that I thought He would have. So I started customizing God’s appearance almost as if I was creating a character on The Sims. I shuffled through Black, Hispanic, Asian, and many other ethnic versions of God. I continued for minutes trying to mix and match different physical features that I thought God would have. After shuffling through these images in my head, I was confident that I had finally “built” the perfect God. This God took upon the physical features of all mankind. While His face was not symmetrical, this version of God seemed to be a representation of people from every ethnicity and race.
Finally, I sighed with tremendous relief, I had constructed a God that was a perfect representation of all people. However, that image did not suffice with me for long. As I internalized this imaginary image of God, another uncomfortable feeling overtook me and caused me ask myself, “Does God have a gender?” My mind could not rightfully articulate why God, whose power is endless, would identify with a gender. To believe that God is solely male implies that God is limited to a specific gender and sex and could not empathize with woman, as with man. Once again, this idea did not sit right with me, causing me to become frustrated.
As a human we are taught to label everything. We are trained at an early age to label colors, animals, clothing, and even people. Being raised under this form of social control caused me to become frustrated when I could not accurately label a being who is in all actuality, label-less. I wasted so much time trying to make God inclusive when in turn I was making him exclusive. Exodus 3:15 proclaims that God Is the “I AM”.
God is both He and She.
God is both Black and White
God is both Short and Tall
God is both Human and Animal
God is both Water and Fire
God is both Dust and Wind
God is both Grass and Tree
God is both Hot and Cold
And lastly,
God is both Homosexual and Heterosexual
After I reached this conclusion, I was satisfied because I finally felt confident knowing that God is just God. The more we try to place God into isolated categories, the more we deny God access in our life. We are only looking for God through the tiny lenses we are able to see with our human eyes but we have to understand that God could never be defined through the intellect of the human mind. In order to really see and understand God we must embrace all things because God is and is in everything, if you don't believe it just take a moment to look around.
