The Symbols for God and Our Creative Imaginations

We use a lot of symbols to articulate our understanding of God. I think a lot of unnecessary arguments between believers occur as a result of a misunderstanding of symbols and symbolic language. Symbols are relative constructs inherently linked to the communities that create them. Said differently, our symbols for God are not immutable or exhaustive constructs. God is immutable and exhaustive, which is the reason for our need for evocative symbols in the first place. How does one articulate with words the reality of an immutable and exhaustive God without a transient, culture-bound, symbol?

It is impossible! The symbols used are, however, transient and culture-bound. We would do well to remain humbly cognitive of this fact. Does this render all of our symbols irrelevant, or worse yet deprecated? No! It simply means we must understand our symbols as symbols. They point to something that words alone cannot describe. This consequently requires us all to make more room for other symbols for God. This truth is no more obvious than in discussion concerning the symbol “Father.” God is articulated, by me, as “Father.” I do, however, understand that this is a symbol. It points towards something the symbol “Father” describes, albeit in a limited sort of way. God could be “Mother” as easily as God can be called “Father.” God also can be symbolized in terms of “Wind,” “Warrior,” or a “Female Chicken,” as Jesus of Nazareth himself once symbolized (Luke 13:31-35). So, we use symbols to talk about our immutable and exhaustive God. Symbols are good, but can lead to idolatry if we are not careful. Symbols are good, but creative imagination is better, at least in conversations concerning the wonderful God with whom we journey daily. Our creative imaginations push us toward new and varied symbols with which we humbly try to describe our God. Our creative imaginations exist as sacred spaces in which God and our deepest being intersect, within Christ Jesus. It is here that we take up Christ’s call to seek, knock, search, and explore the unfathomable depths of our immutably wonderful God. So, search, but don’t live and die by your own symbols. They are just symbols, after all. Don’t loose touch with the God towards which they point. Be creative …