God Without Gender

[eik]

God always takes the gender pronouns (i.e. the metaphorical sex) of the one in authority. So a society that idolizes women will worship a mother goddess deity and see God as a she. A patriarchal society will see God as a male. As God's law established a patriarchal society. then it can be assumed God takes on the male role. You know when you see women priests that there is a reversion to mother goddess worship.

 

[Dawnofhope]

In keeping with the theme of the other two threads started just before this one, discuss here why God would need to have gender.

Abrahamic world views of God, generally consider the nature of God to be transcendent and beyond limited concepts of gender. Confusion arises because of the use of the pronoun “He”. However Abrahamic scriptures (Judaism, Christian, Islamic and Baha’i) view God as being beyond human’s capacity to know and understand God.

 

[SalixIncendium]

Abrahamic world views of God, generally consider the nature of God to be transcendent and beyond limited concepts of gender. Confusion arises because of the use of the pronoun “He”. However Abrahamic scriptures (Judaism, Christian, Islamic and Baha’i) view God as being beyond human’s capacity to know and understand God.

Can you please provide examples?

 

[Dawnofhope]

Can you please provide examples?

The Hebrew and Christian scriptures allude clearly to an unknowable God beyond human conception. For example:

"No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us."
1 John 4:12

But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?
1 Kings 8:27

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9

“Can you discover the depths of God?
Can you discover the limits of the Almighty?
Job 11:7

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counsellor?
Romans 11:33-34

For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.
1 Corinthians 2:11

The Quran and Baha’i writings elaborate on similar themes.

He is Allah, other than whom there is no deity, the Sovereign, the Pure, the Perfection, the Bestower of Faith, the Overseer, the Exalted in Might, the Transcendent, the Superior. Exalted is Allah above whatever they associate with Him.
Quran 59:23

That which we imagine, is not the Reality of God; He, the Unknowable, the Unthinkable, is far beyond the highest conception of man. – Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks

So perfect and comprehensive is His creation that no mind or heart, however keen or pure, can ever grasp the nature of the most insignificant of His creatures; much less fathom the mystery of Him Who is the Day Star of Truth, Who is the invisible and unknowable Essence...
Bahá'í Reference Library - Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, Pages 60-64
Gleanings from the writings of Bahá’u’lláh

 

[Sw. Vandana Jyothi]

In keeping with the theme of the other two threads started just before this one, discuss here why God would need to have gender.

God wouldn't "need" to have a gender, of course, but chooses to don a divine one from time to time as Him/Herself and every day as us in whatever gender we find ourselves this time around. I have not read the two threads yet, either, which precipitated your post but I question also whether a "mother" is necessarily of the female gender and "father" of the male? That is an assumption which might warrant fruitful investigation. Surely a mother is more than a birther of babies? A father more than a donor of sperm?

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

However Abrahamic scriptures (Judaism, Christian, Islamic and Baha’i) view God as being beyond human’s capacity to know and understand God.

I agree about understanding but disagree about knowing.

 

[Dawnofhope]

I agree about understanding but disagree about knowing.

So how do you know God?

There is always a paradox when it comes to knowing God. This paradox is captured in a verse from the Baha’i prayer:

“O Thou Who art the most manifest of the manifest and the most hidden of the hidden!”
Bahá'í Reference Library - Prayers and Meditations by Bahá’u’lláh, Page 248

Some Christians may come to know God through the exalted Personage of Jesus, some Muslims through Word of God as recorded in the Holy Quran and some Hindus through direct experiences within meditation. All these paths are valid to some degree but the ‘essence’ of God remains unknowable IMHO.

 

[Sw. Vandana Jyothi]

So how do you know God?

There is always a paradox when it comes to knowing God. This paradox is captured in a verse from the Baha’i prayer:

“O Thou Who art the most manifest of the manifest and the most hidden of the hidden!”
Bahá'í Reference Library - Prayers and Meditations by Bahá’u’lláh, Page 248

Some Christians may come to know God through the exalted Personage of Jesus, some Muslims through Word of God as recorded in the Holy Quran and some Hindus through direct experiences within meditation. All these paths are valid to some degree but the ‘essence’ of God remains unknowable IMHO.

I hope we aren't taking the post off-topic here and I personally value your opinions, Adrianji, here and elsewhere, but also respectfully disagree that the essence of God remains unknowable. Both Christian scripture and Hindu revelation speak of our true Selves being made in the image of God, that we are in reality a portion of, part and parcel of God Itself, that is that we are in reality, God's essence. Self-realization, liberation, moksha, means to attain that knowing, to experience "I and my Father are One, I am that I AM." I just feel certain there is a corresponding Bahá'í verse which speaks of this immortal Truth. The faith itself, as well as its source, is so rich with it. But alas, I would not know where to look.

 

[Thief]

If god were female who would listen to her word?

hence the pronoun.....He
is almost all of scripture

 

[eik]

.... However Abrahamic scriptures (Judaism, Christian, Islamic and Baha’i) view God as being beyond human’s capacity to know .... God.

Not true.

 

[Heyo]

In keeping with the theme of the other two threads started just before this one, discuss here why God would need to have gender.

I made it a habit to refer to god (the concept) as "it" (neutral gender).
I refer to named gods (literary constructs) by the gender given to them by the author. (Not always possible as some gods are very gender fluid or even species fluid. Loki is the (male) god of mischief but she is also mother to Sleipnir.)

 

[Eddi]

He needs to have a gender as to not have one would render him inanimate, and he wants us to think of him as a person - not a thing.

Even though he is a thing

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

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

Actually, for you, I'd recommend reading this:
Principle of charity - Wikipedia

But if it gives you a sad little glimmer of joy to think that I don't know the nuances of how "omnipotence" is defined, then I won't shatter that illusion for you.

Keep telling yourself that it's not that I was going for brevity and readability over satisfying any pedants; it really is the case that you're better than me, so bravo to you for pointing that out.

*pats Jay on the head.*

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Actually, for you, I'd recommend reading this: Principle of charity - Wikipedia}

To be charitable, the problem with your statement was that it was sophomoric and shallow to the point of being effectively worthless. Parenthetically, the so-called principle of charity addresses how one should deal with arguments. The problem with your post was its defective premise.

*pats Jay on the head.*

 

[ChristineM]

hence the pronoun.....He
is almost all of scripture

Not all

 

[Thief]

View attachment 42241

Not all

is that....Venus?

 

[ChristineM]

is that....Venus?

Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love, beauty, passion, pleasure and sex, known as Venus in Rome,

The painting is by Botticelli, on display in Florence

 

[Katzpur]

In keeping with the theme of the other two threads started just before this one, discuss here why God would need to have gender.

What does "need" have to do with it?

 

[firedragon]

In keeping with the theme of the other two threads started just before this one, discuss here why God would need to have gender.

It depends on what your idea of God is. Predominantly, the God of Judaism and Islam does not contend God has a Gender.

Yet, maybe you have some other idea behind your question. The way you structured it you have assumed that God has a gender so its a loaded question. So "why" cannot be answered by those who don't believe God has a gender.

 

[Hockeycowboy]

If god were female who would listen to her word?

Sad but true.