Reading about the tenants of Christianity or the rational for the doctrine of the trinity, we often hear about how God in the person of Jesus fully participated in this experience we call human life. God took upon himself our human nature and identified himself completely with us.
Why would God need to become human? Does this not imply that God was lacking in some aspects of his knowledge, particularly his knowledge of us? Does not that contradict our belief that God is all knowing?
The human condition teaches us that we need to personally experience something for ourselves to truly understand it (see our blog of May 16, 2012). In understanding other people, it is often said we should walk in another’s shoes before we criticize them. Did God need to walk in our shoes before he could understand us?
Asserting that God needed to become human to fully understand or identify with us is just our attempt to make God in our own image. Once again we try to reduce God to our level. If God is who we say he is—he is all knowing—then he would be able to totally understand us without becoming human. We might not understand how he could do that but our lack of understand does not mean he is unable to do so.
Let us not make God in our own image. Let God be God.
