Is God male?

http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9966

The problem is that you believe God is anthropomorphic. You believe God is an old bearded man, a Zeus, up in the sky, in the clouds...

We believe God is "wheresoever you turn".


The problem is with your perception of God. You do not comprehend God with comprehension due unto Him.

God is the Mind, the Consciousness of the Universe. The Universe is the construct of the Divine Mind within itself. You cannot SEE God, just as a thought cannot see the Mind that thinks it and called it into being.

Can a Mind manifest its TOTALITY within one single thought? This would be impossible, as the Mind cannot create Itself within Itself. What is created within the Mind is THOUGHT and THOUGHT is ILLUSION. That is, when you think and envision something it is "Real" but it is ONLY "real" within the context of the fact that it was created by THAT which is REAL. You can close your eyes and think about a beautiful green pasture with sheep grazing on it... Those sheep exist only within your mind. Now can any one of those sheep ever BE you? No, of course not.

We are thoughts within the Mind of God, but we are not the Thinker and NO thought could ever be the Thinker Himself.

Man is not God. Man is nothing, just as ALL things are truly Nothing. Nothing exists ONLY God. The Universe is the construct of God's Mind and we are thoughts within it. i do not say of my thoughts in my mind that they are me, but neither is there separation between me and them or between them and each other. They simple are not the Reality, i am the Reality. So in relation to God, WE are not the Reality, God is the Reality. We are nothing but thoughts within the construct of God's Universal Mind, sitting here discussing things with other thoughts. We are not little "particles" of God, as though God is some mass that can be divided or added together. There is NOTHING, ONLY God.

I am not a christian and have no belief in God, but I dont deny it's existence. I believe if their is a God, it would be a female. Since we incoporate human personality and nature into our idea of god, I think women are more of the creators, compassionates, and healers that a god would need. Men tend to be more dominant and the emotionaless (just when we are around everyone else!!!) I don't believe male qualities could have created such a beautiful place.

Welcome to the forum Freethinker (you might want to go over to the intro area and introduce yourself).

So do you not think that God could exhibit BOTH male and female qualities, or do you think males don't possess any redeeming virtues?

Net Doc,
i guess we could say God is a genderless being----techniqually---please correct me if i am wrong because i am very flawfull...isn't adam and eve suposed to be the first of the genders, hence their bellybuttonless bellies. Doesn't some religious text say Eve was made for adam meaning that God created a male and said hmmm whats the opposite, pooof eve. yeah, to sum it up I now believe he is genderless. i think i need to go look at the Sistine chapel creation part again
oh, and us guys are worthless....

Freethinker said:

Net Doc,
i guess we could say God is a genderless being----techniqually---please correct me if i am wrong because i am very flawfull...isn't adam and eve suposed to be the first of the genders, hence their bellybuttonless bellies. Doesn't some religious text say Eve was made for adam meaning that God created a male and said hmmm whats the opposite, pooof eve. yeah, to sum it up I now believe he is genderless. i think i need to go look at the Sistine chapel creation part again
oh, and us guys are worthless....

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Don't worry - there's no right or wrong on this topic, it's a matter of opinion. None of us can know the gender.

To those of you who said God doesn't need/have a gender, amen! I also agree with Prima. The pronouns he, him, etc. were probably put there because males were the dominant gender at that time, not because God is male.

Eve is not so much Adam's opposite as she is his companion. Basically Adam was lonely, so God created a friend.

If a man walks in the forest and says something... is he still wrong???

I always wanted to marry "Miss Right", I just didn't know I was marrying "Miss Always Right".

Sometimes the difference between right and wrong is what gender you are!!!

And YES, I am only kidding (as I put on my flame suit).

the fact that the Bible refers to God as male is an anthropomorphism- God taking on attributes of humanity in order for us to understand him better in his Word.- God is a spirit- without body.

However, JESUS CHRIST is male- Jesus Christ is fully GOD- he is the 2nd person of the trinity. The man was set up in a leadership position. Because she was deceived, woman was set up in a submissive position. This is why God refers to himself as "male." It is to show his authority.

Jesus Christ is fully male because of the portion of scripture 1 Tim 2:9-15: In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

The function of sex is to increase genetic variation by mixing the genetic components of two individuals into their offspring, facilitating adaptation to changing environmental conditions. Biologically, it is a relatively recent scheme, used by only a minority of long-lived organisms with low reproductive rates.

Would this function apply to God?

I rest my case....

i don't really know how this ties in with your question/argument, and I do not believe that God oversees evolution (that's what it sounded like in your last statement)

Tzeitel -- God does not need a biological mechanism to vary the morphology of His descendants. He does not even reproduce. he does not need to contend with changing environmental conditions that would threaten extinction for His descendants if they didn't have a mechanism to change and adapt.

My point is, none of the reasons sex exists applies to God in any way. He's no more likely to have sex than to have flippers or the salt-excretion device of an albatross.

Of course,I could argue the other way, if you'd prefer.

God doesn't have flippers??!! I feel disillusioned.

In the Christian Bible it refers to God as male (note the He, Him, His, Fathers etc). Though no one has ever seen God, or have they? No one really nknows whether God is a He or a She, it ,of course, could be argued both ways. Also the Bible is a piece of history, and history is only what someone decided to write down. The Bible was also, in some parts like Genisis, written metaphorically. Becasue everyone knows no one but God was around to witness the making of the world so how wold they know.

Betweenangelsandinsects

The reason that God is masculine in the OT is that the Hebrew of the Bible had only two genders: masculine and feminine. The default value was masculine. It is for example perfectly gender neutral to use a "masculine" plural for a mixed gender lot, like for example "inhabitants". Translators into Greek and other languages having three genders should probably have used the neuter, but it is a very common phenomenon in translating to be hypnotized by the source language, and so they chose masculine for God. Other religions, like Sikhism, make a point out of the Supreme Being being the Mother AND Father of all. There is even (or, at least used to be) a hymn in the hymnal of the Church of Sweden expressly invoking God by "You, who are Father as well as Mother to us".

betweenangelsandinsects said:

In the Christian Bible it refers to God as male (note the He, Him, His, Fathers etc). Though no one has ever seen God, or have they? No one really nknows whether God is a He or a She, it ,of course, could be argued both ways. Also the Bible is a piece of history, and history is only what someone decided to write down. The Bible was also, in some parts like Genisis, written metaphorically. Becasue everyone knows no one but God was around to witness the making of the world so how wold they know.

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I think the idea was that God told people and they wrote it down. God is beyond male and female, if God were male it would make it a limited being.