Wednesday, May 26, 2010

CAREER DAY: What does God look like?

Good morning! It's 7:45am, and I'm at the WV State Fairgrounds for Career Day. Sophomores from Greenbrier County will be discerning their calling by talking with folks in various professions. I'm representing ministry (in Nikes and a cardigan, of course). The students move around the facility by doing a "treasure hunt," in which they have to answer questions about the various professions. My question is, "What does God look like?"

Throughout the day, I'll be asking students to post their answers on this site or Facebook. See what our students have to say!

Grace & peace,
Stephen

35 comments:

Abbey and Jessie said...

A white dove.

brooke Bailey said...

no one knows

Zachary said...

I have no idea.

cyrus said...

hes got a skoal ring in his back pocket and he has a dip in his lip with a rebel flag tattoo and a lynyrd skynyrd shirt sttin in his truck with his dog box in the back with his coon hounds screamin

Josh said...

Long Hair and Big and Muscular

Ashleigh said...

I have no Idea

Micah Dolan said...

long hair and a lengthy beard

Anonymous said...

do not make a graven image of god, silly

tyler said...

i think hes black

ryan said...

i think he has a beard.

Rochelle said...

The image that everyone always says he looks like.

kelsey said...

anything you want him to like...

Seth said...

God, to me, has no true earthly image. We will only know what His face looks like when we meet Him on the Day of Judgement.

Katrina said...

I think god has kinda longesh brown hair not to skinny but not to fat.

DJ said...

Nobody really knows what he looks like....

alice said...

a bright light

Sarah Elkins said...

God looks like an energy field that doesn't have a beard, robe or sandals. "He" also doesn't have gender, race or religion.

Arlene Thompson said...

I believe God looks like a spirit.

Anonymous said...

If you've seen a newborn baby smile, you've seen God.

Barry

katlyn simms said...

like the wizard off of Oz.

Corey VanBibber said...

A black man..... Tupac.

sam romine said...

morgan freeman

samantha said...

like a person but not like any we have ever seen

Anonymous said...

if i must guess, i would say he looks like Jesus

Aaron Bugby said...

If i must guess i would say he looks like Jesus

kodie redden said...

if i had to guess i would say that he looks middle eastern

autumn said...

a human male.

Michael Walker said...

has long hair and a beard

amber said...

i think that god look like tupac.

donna said...

I'm not sure what God looks like.

Adainah Kaczmarski said...

No body knows what God looks like and it shouldnt matter because he is what he is and its only what he does for us everyday by letting us live is what matters.

Julie said...

it depends on what mood I'm in and how I am feeling. So He is ever-changing

Scottie said...

The only person who has ever looked upon Him has been Moses. So God probably is so indescribable that when looked upon by humans they can not bear it.

Anonymous said...

Doesn't the bible say "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth". This question is sinful according to the holy word.

Stephen Baldwin said...

as you can see, it was an interesting morning. i enjoyed the chance to have conversations with students! most came to me looking for "the answer," when i simply wanted to start a conversation by hearing who they imagined visually when they prayed. to my surprise, only TWO students had ever even considered the question--a sad commentary, on whom i'm not sure. (the same number of students thought my question was "sinful".) "no one knows" was the most common answer. while i would agree with it, few went on to offer any ideas about any sort of visualization of a God they said they prayed to. what do these responses mean? that they've simply never considered the question? that their churches never asked them to express their faith creatively? that they don't actually pray? or that they don't do so with a visual image in mind? when i did this exercise with students in Nashville, they were filled with creative expressions of God. why was that not the case here? i'm relucant to draw conclusions based on such a small sample, so i'll sit with these questions for a while longer.

if you're looking for a synopsis, here's a brief attempt. 1) three students described a God who looked strikingly similar to... themselves. 2) only one even considered that God might not be male. 3) far more assumed God was "black". 4) one person felt so strongly about the question itself being "sinful", they posted later that night and included a KJV translation of a passage from Exodus. i wish they would've made their perspective known in person so we could've talked about their concern! 5) i spoke with one student who recently converted to Islam, which is a rare thing in rural WV. (he spoke far more openly about his faith that his Christian student counterparts did.) 6) not a single student expressed interest in ministry as a calling/profession. not a one! i didn't expect there to be a line, but...not a one!

thanks to all the sophomores who came by and talked. feel free to be in touch! may God bless you all.

peace, stephen