What’s Wrong with Creating God … ?

What’s Wrong with Creating God:

In Your Own Image?

What is the Difference between Loving God for Who He Really Is vs. Loving an Image of God You Created?

Scriptures Addressing the Conundrum

Scripture Reference	How It Relates to the Question
Exodus 20:4-5 (Second Commandment)	“You shall not make for yourself a graven image…” This commandment warns against making any physical or conceptual image of God, emphasizing that God must be worshipped as He truly is, not as we imagine or craft Him to be2 36.
Isaiah 40:18, 25	“To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?” This passage highlights the futility of trying to represent God with images or human ideas, underscoring His uniqueness and incomparability3.
Romans 1:21-23	Paul explains that people, although they knew God, “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man…” This is a clear warning against substituting the real God with a version of our own making4.
Acts 17:29	“We ought not to think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.” Paul explicitly teaches that God cannot be reduced to human constructs or idols3.
John 4:24	“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” True worship is based on God’s revelation of Himself, not our preferences or inventions.
Colossians 1:15	“He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God…” Jesus is presented as the true and perfect revelation of God, as opposed to any false or imagined image4.
Deuteronomy 6:5	“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” This command calls for total devotion to the real God, not a partial or imagined version7.
Matthew 22:37	Jesus reaffirms the greatest commandment: to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind-implying a relationship with the true God, not a self-fashioned deity57.
1 John 4:8, 16	“God is love…” To know and love God truly is to understand Him as He has revealed Himself, not as we might wish Him to be17.
John 14:15	“If you love me, keep my commandments.” Loving God is demonstrated by obedience to His revealed will, not by following our own ideas about Him5.

Scripture Reference

How It Relates to the Question

Exodus 20:4-5

(Second Commandment)

“You shall not make for yourself a graven image…”

This commandment warns against making any physical or conceptual image of God, emphasizing that God must be worshipped as He truly is, not as we imagine or craft Him to be2 36.

Isaiah 40:18, 25

“To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?”

This passage highlights the futility of trying to represent God with images or human ideas, underscoring His uniqueness and incomparability3.

Romans 1:21-23

Paul explains that people, although they knew God,

“exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man…”

This is a clear warning against substituting the real God with a version of our own making4.

Acts 17:29

“We ought not to think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.”

Paul explicitly teaches that God cannot be reduced to human constructs or idols3.

John 4:24

“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

True worship is based on God’s revelation of Himself, not our preferences or inventions.

Colossians 1:15

“He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God…”

Jesus is presented as the true and perfect revelation of God, as opposed to any false or imagined image4.

Deuteronomy 6:5

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” This command calls for total devotion to the real God, not a partial or imagined version7.

Matthew 22:37

Jesus reaffirms the greatest commandment: to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind-implying a relationship with the true God, not a self-fashioned deity57.

1 John 4:8, 16

“God is love…” To know and love God truly is to understand Him as He has revealed Himself, not as we might wish Him to be17.

John 14:15

“If you love me, keep my commandments.” Loving God is demonstrated by obedience to His revealed will, not by following our own ideas about Him5.

Key Interpretations

Loving God for Who He Really Is means seeking to know God as He reveals Himself in Scripture, through Jesus Christ, and by the Holy Spirit.
- It involves humility, obedience, and a willingness to let God define Himself, not us4 57.
Loving an Image of God You Created is warned against throughout the Bible as idolatry-whether the image is physical or conceptual.
- This is loving a projection of our desires, fears, or culture, not the living God2 34.

Ultimate Scriptural Purpose

The Bible consistently urges believers to pursue the true knowledge of God, to grow in relationship with Him, and to avoid the trap of idolatry-whether by physical images or false ideas-so that our love and worship are directed to the real God, not a counterfeit3 45.

Key Takeaway

True love for God is rooted in knowing, seeking, and responding to God as He truly is-not as we imagine or prefer Him to be.
- The Bible calls us to reject idols and false images, and to love God with our whole being, in spirit and in truth 2 3 4 57.

Citations:

Answer from Perplexity: pplx.ai/share

—From God's Perspective