History Main / GrandpaGod

** '''The Creation of Adam and Eve'' portrays God as a bald, grey-bearded old man like many other portraits, but here, God has a frazzled, slightly messy beard, and lacks the musculature of many similar depictions of God. Still, God's face is one of grandfatherly love, perhaps because God's glad that his son Adam is going to get set up with a nice girl.

** ''The Vision of Ezekiel'' shows God looking like your typical wise grandfather with a flowing grey beard, except his open red robe shows off that has God's rock-hard abs, which indicate omnipotence.

Of course, in order to keep from mistaking Him one of those old people we like to make fun of, He needs all that other fantastic aura stuff, so even if He's old, He can still scare the bejeezies out of us if He feels like it.

** ''The Disputation of the Holy Sacrament'' differentiates God the Father from God the Son by displaying God the Father as man with long grey beard and hair down to his shoulders, presiding over God the Son's throne.

Of course, in order to keep from mistaking Him one of those old people we [[AcceptableTargets like to make fun of]], He needs all that other fantastic aura stuff, so even if He's old, He can still scare the bejeezies out of us if He feels like it.

* ''LightNovel/InAnotherWorldWithMySmartphone'' depicts God in a Japanese way, as an old bearded man wearing glasses and [[KimonoIsTraditional a kimono]].

* TropeCodifier is found on the ceiling of the Art/SistineChapel. Michelangelo's elderly, bearded portrait of God emphasizes the Creator's wisdom and has solidified the tradition of representing the Christian God as an old man.

* [[FanonDisContinuity Much as we'd like to forget it]], the crew of the ''Enterprise'' met a Grandpa God in ''Film/{{Star Trek V|The Final Frontier}}'' (aturally "He" turned out to be an AxCrazy phony). However "God" makes it clear he's taking AFormYouAreComfortableWith because IHaveManyNames.

* [[FanonDisContinuity Much as we'd like to forget it]], the crew of the ''Enterprise'' met a Grandpa God in ''Film/{{Star Trek V|The Final Frontier}}''. Naturally "He" turned out to be an AxCrazy phony. However 'God' makes it clear he's taking AFormYouAreComfortableWith because IHaveManyNames and that's just the one he figures they'll be most comfortable with.

* [[FanonDisContinuity Much as we'd like to forget it]], the crew of the ''Enterprise'' met a Grandpa God in ''Film/{{Star Trek V|The Final Frontier}}''. Naturally "He" turned out to be an AxCrazy phony.

* Lampshaded in ''Series/OdysseyFive'' (though the "old white guy" turns out to be a Sufficiently Advanced Alien taking AFormYouAreComfortableWith instead).

* Lampshaded in ''Series/OdysseyFive'' (though the "old white guy" turns out to be a Sufficiently Advanced Alien taking a FormYouAreComfortableWith instead).

** He's also not a half bad guy, even giving Homer his Frisbee back when he arrives in heaven, and agreeing to delay the Apocalypse when Homer pleads his case about loving his family more then he would enjoy heaven without them (He even Lampshades this by yelling "DeusExMachina" when he does it. He also told Homer that religion was more of a personal thing, which lead him to starting his own theological path in life (Although that last one might of been a dream, since its implied an act of God torched the Simpsons home when he was too big of a dick about it).

* Creator/TerryPratchett's works often sum up this trope as "the big beard in the sky". Literature/TheLastContinent'' in particular features a god who takes this form because it's what the wizards expect a god to look like, but doesn't really understand ''why''.

* Creator/TerryPratchett's works often sum up this trope as "the big beard in the sky".

* An old, grey, one-eyed "Mr. Odwin" shows up in ''Literature/TheLongDarkTeaTimeOfTheSoul''. He sleeps a lot and considers clean linen to be the best thing in the universe.
** Odwin = Odin. Odin has one eye. Odin is bearded. Odin has to succumb to the Odinsleep once yearly to replenish his power. Final nail in the coffin: his son, Thor, also shows up as a pretty major character.

Some believe that this portrayal of the Christian God is taken from the Greeks' image of [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Zeus]]. Of course, it could also be that Zeus's portrayal came about from the same association of divinity with wisdom and age that motivated Christians to portray God as elderly. After all, this same association motivates artists to create mystical old men like SantaClaus and WizardClassic characters like [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Gandalf]] and [[Literature/HarryPotter Dumbledore]].

* Creator/CSLewis's apologetic book ''The Problem of Pain'' points out that Christians aren't claiming that God is some kind of generic nice guy who just wants people to enjoy themselves. (And, it's obvious that the world isn't ruled by this kind of generic nice guy.) Lewis's label for this conception of God is "the Grandfather in Heaven," and sure enough, an unserious trope like Grandpa God does often consist of portrayals of the kind of benevolent geezer that Lewis was contrasting against his own more serious ideas about God.

* The Highfather from ComicBook/NewGods is an archetypal Grandpa God, with some Obi-Wan thrown in for good measure.

* One of the panelists at the [[SerialKiller "Cereal Convention"]] in ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' is a tall, wild-haired, thick-bearded man whose table-tent name plaque reads "God".

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* This was how God was treated by Rennaissance artists such as Michelangelo and his famous rendition of the Sistine Chapel. It was likely drawn from earlier and similar depictions of Zeus.
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** ''The Vision of Ezekiel'' shows God looking like your typical wise grandfather with a flowing grey beard, except his open red robe shows off that God's rock-hard abs, which indicate omnipotence.