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God's Gender
- Thread starter Fool
- Start date
WalterTrull
Godfella
Technically though, why would God need a gender? The practical purpose would be?
true, that is why i'm asking.
From the Baha'i perspective God has no gender.
Epic Beard Man
Bearded Philosopher
This made no sense.....
That is like saying a square is both itself and a circle and more.
Epic Beard Man
Bearded Philosopher
As many threads in religious topics you’ve made, the answer should be infinitely clear.
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i've gone for days, weeks, without posting any threads. that doesn't hold any relevance to asking a question.
if it's clear, then why do some refer to it as "him"?
Woberts
The Perfumed Seneschal
I would assume that's because during the time period in which the bible was written, the man was the dominant member of the household. If it was written in a matriarchy, I'd bet that god would be referred to as "she".
Bible tells God is spirit and love and we are image of Him.
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
John 4:24
He who doesn't love doesn't know God, for God is love.
1 John 4:8
If we are image of Him, we are image of spirit, not image of physical matter. Maybe this could be compared to an image of house and to actual house that is in the picture also. Is the actual house paper, because the image is on paper?
lostwanderingsoul
Well-Known Member
You do know that many languages do not have "neutral" nouns. In Spanish "la casa" is female and "el toro" is male. Nothing is neutral. So the early languages of the Bible had to pick one or the other. Male or female. Since men were probably doing most of the writing, they chose male. Does not mean God is male but also does not prove God is female. Just a matter of language.
TheBannerofHomuraAkemi
Active Member
God is a spirit. It has no needs for a gender, because it doesn't need to prolong it's species for it is eternal.
Katzpur
Not your average Mormon
If God is "the Father," this answer should be clear. How many fathers do you know who are female? Either the Father is male or else Jesus' constant references to His Father have no real relevance. We know who Jesus' mother was -- Mary. Maybe He didn't have a Father.
I know, a lot of people are going to insist that Mary had relations with either Joseph or some other man, but if she was being honest when she told the Angel Gabriel that she'd been with no man, then Jesus had to have had a divine Father -- God.So, here's a question for you, Fool... If Jesus was truly a human being, He would have had forty-six chromosomes, a double strand of twenty-three from His mother and another strand from where? Or, wasn't He truly a human being at all?
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Epic Beard Man
Bearded Philosopher
The consequences of language and the influences of patriarchy. In Islam, Judaism, and Christianity God is the Lord, King, Father, all masculine categories.
Epic Beard Man
Bearded Philosopher
If God is "the Father," this answer should be clear. How many fathers do you know who are female? Either the Father is male or else Jesus' constant references to His Father have no real relevance. We know who Jesus' mother was -- Mary. Maybe He didn't have a Father.
So, here's a question for you, Fool... If Jesus was truly a human being, He would have had forty-six chromosomes, a double strand of twenty-three from His mother and another strand from where? Or, wasn't He truly a human being at all?
It's really hard for me that God has masculine and feminine traits in your belief considering being incorporeal is none of ours.
Sir Doom
Cooler than most of you
I don't believe Adam and Eve in the Bible to be factual, but the story seems to indicate Adam was male. The same story seems to indicate God is male as well, but that's not so clearly defined.
For my own belief I do not assign a gender to God and try to avoid referring to the concept by gender-specific terms to reflect that. Being a former Christian, I have yet to completely shake the 'he' from my common vocabulary, however. I do slip from time to time.
Also, there are certain Gods that do have gender within their own specific mythology and I will typically refer to those by whatever that happens to be. Odin or Aphrodite for example, would be 'he' or 'she' respectively.
I do think it's important to note that in many cases gender would properly be a maleable notion to nearly every concept of deity which relegates it to something of an aesthetic choice for the being in question.
Katzpur
Not your average Mormon
I don't believe He is incorporeal. If I did, I would agree that it would make no sense to assume that He has any sort of gender-related traits.
Epic Beard Man
Bearded Philosopher
This is a first for me! so God is of material substance like humans?
Katzpur
Not your average Mormon
That's what we believe, yes, that He has corporeal body, as does His Son, Jesus Christ. We believe the Holy Ghost to be solely spirit, which is what makes Him distinct from the Father and the Son. Just to be clear, though, we don't equate "corporeal" with "mortal." "Corporeal" refers only to the fact (well, the "fact, according to our belief"
) that His body is physical in nature. That does not mean we believe it to be corruptible or perishable. We believe it to be a perfect, glorified body of flesh and bones,subsisting solely on spirit and not requiring blood to keep it alive and well. We don't believe His body to be subject to pain, disease, disfigurement or death. So it would look essentially human but be immortal as opposed to mortal like ours.
Kelly of the Phoenix
Well-Known Member
While I use "He", it's just habit. I don't really care about the gender and if God is a cosmic being, it's likely irrelevant anyway. After all, gender is only useful for reproductive purposes, and people don't want God having sex. No word yet on how God feels about being grounded in His own house.