In keeping with the theme of the other two threads started just before this one, discuss here why God would need to have gender.
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God Without Gender
- Thread starter SalixIncendium
- Start date
Thief
Rogue Theologian
I for one have been toying with the idea tha God is more feminine
given birth to all that live
Because if God wasn't male, how could He have a half-breed kid with a girl?
Don't you understand Christianity?
Tom
Perhaps one should first explain why God would need.
If God is omnipotent, then God can do anything.
If God can do anything, then God can meet any criteria we use to determine any gender.
... so if we base determinations of gender on objective criteria, then God is all genders.
OTOH, if we base determinations of gender in how the person self-identifies, the God's gender(s) or lack thereof is/are whatever God identifies as... and it would be awesome for the "God is male" to acknowledge this.
I didn't see the other threads yet. I am just starting my day, but I always assumed God had no gender. I believe God does present itself as having gender in earthly manifestations, as that is how the human brain would perceive a personified God. There are male Gods, and female Gods, but they are all just manifestations of a broader 'God', one who has both, or neither, gender.
That is the way I see it, anyways.
That is the way I see it, anyways.
I'm totally with you.
The idea that God is limited to one gender is ridiculous to me. It's like limiting gravity or light to a particular human characteristic.
But when it comes to Creation that's totally female. Women do all the creating. Men only serve to spread DNA amongst women. Otherwise, men are entirely dispensable in the creation game.
Tom
Spirit of Light
Be who ever you want
Personally I do not God has a gender in the way we understand it
He wouldn't. If God doesn't have a spiritual body, he wouldn't need a gender, or clothes, or food, or any other physical thing. We're just used to say "he" for cultural reasons.
Ladinsky/Hafiz has what to me, at least, is a perfect poem for this thread:
Once a young woman said to me,
“How does it feel to be a man?”
And I replied, “My dear, I am not so sure.”
Then she said, “Well, aren’t you a man?”
And this time I responded, “I view gender
as a beautiful animal that people often take
for a walk on a leash
and might enter into some odd contest
in hopes of winning a strange prize.”
My dear, a better question for Hafiz
would have been, “How does it feel to be a heart?”
For all I know is Love.
I find my heart infinite,
and everywhere.
Once a young woman said to me,
“How does it feel to be a man?”
And I replied, “My dear, I am not so sure.”
Then she said, “Well, aren’t you a man?”
And this time I responded, “I view gender
as a beautiful animal that people often take
for a walk on a leash
and might enter into some odd contest
in hopes of winning a strange prize.”
My dear, a better question for Hafiz
would have been, “How does it feel to be a heart?”
For all I know is Love.
I find my heart infinite,
and everywhere.
The way I understand it is that God is neither male or female, but He can have what we humans view as masculine or feminine characteristics (or both) in how He relates to us. It's like how angels aren't male or female because they are purely spiritual beings, and can appear to humans either way. As for Christ, He is a male because He has a human nature and body, but the Divine nature of Christ is not male or female.
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God didn't have sex with Mary, if that's what you're assuming.
You know this how?
Tom
If god were female who would listen to her word?
For one, it was the Holy Spirit Who made Mary pregnant, not the Father. The Holy Spirit has no body, let alone a penis. For you to think that the Father had sex with Mary, you'd have to believe that the Father has a physical body to be able to do so, but I think only Mormons believe that. God the Father does not take a human body.
The point is that it was a miracle. The infinite Creator can make anything exist just by willing or "speaking" it into existence. So willing a zygote into a woman's uterus is a piece of cake. After all, He created an entire universe.
To sneak around Jayhawker's comment I'll rephrase your question: "Why would people need for God to have a gender?"
That is a good point. Men are stubborn and often look down on women so maybe there's a practical purpose for God relating to humans as a Father - to get males to listen for once.
A lovely example of Mencken's Law:
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.
And, for the rest of us, see Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Omnipotence
Gender is only for reproduction and since God is a spirit, he does not reproduce, but is the Creator or life giver; he is the progenitor of the human race, and can therefore represent himself as a Father.
Among humankind, God established the family arrangement where he placed the man as head of that arrangement. (1 Corinthians 11:3....it’s the reason why there is only one steering wheel in a car.) It is by no means a dictatorship. (1 Corinthians 11:3 In this arrangement even Christ has a head over him, as God is head or Father over all of his “children”.)
The woman was assigned a complementary role, providing support for her husband in his decisions and actions, and together, raising their children to respect both of their roles equally.
By being a “complement”, a wife makes her husband complete, and vice versa.
To represent his role to humans, he had to present himself as male because if he presented as female, he loses his authority.
All authority figures in the Bible are males because the buck has to stop with someone.
God’s position as Universal Sovereign means that he has absolute authority over all his creation.