God is omnipotent, present everywhere

On closer inspection, there are many verses in the Bible that indicate that God is not everywhere, but bound to a certain place, just like you and I are.

In Genesis 18:20-21 for instance, the Lord says:

"The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me.”

And if you think that makes God sound like a sheriff preparing to do in some bad guys; a few verses later the Lord states: "If I find forty-five [righteous people] there, I will not destroy it." (Gen 18:27) Six verses later on, Genesis states: “When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham, he left.”

This is by no means the only account in the bible where we see the Lord going somewhere like a living, breathing guy. In Deuteronomy 33:2 for instance, Moses tells how God goes to battle: “The LORD came from Sinai and dawned over them from Seir. (…) He came with myriads of holy ones from the south, from his mountain slopes.”

Examples like this reflect that God of the bible really is a God of ancient beliefs. In ancient times, people had a very rudimentary image of their gods: they were supernatural persons - but persons they were. Gods could walk, talk, eat, sleep etcetera.

Yahweh was no exception. In old bible passages, He too is sometimes still portrayed as a 'person' who can speak face to face with mortal people and who can be at a particular place at a particular time.

The belief was very persistent. Distant echoes of it can still be found in our own culture. We call our churches 'houses of God' - a direct remnant of the belief that gods are physically present at certain holy places.