Trying To Further My Understanding..

[Nein]

I’ve been attempting to further my understanding of a few religions, so I’ll begin with Christianity.

My question would be this:

How does one know God is a “Him?”. It refers in the bible as Him and or He then further on in the book it also refers to God as the Holy Spirit. Can someone explain.

I had a few others, but I’ll begin with this. I thank you for the time in reading this and helping me further my understanding of this religion.

Blessed Be.

 

[xexon]

History has always looked upon man as the stronger of the two sexes. Natural selection, if you want to call it that.

Religion followed that course as well. Most anyway.

Today, we can see that as sexist thinking.


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[Nein]

Thank you for answering my question. Much appreciated.

I had thought that during the time period that the bible was produced that it was a male dominated society and perhaps that was the justification. Which also lead me to wonder if certain parts of the bible also had the same instillation of references due to the time period..

 

[xexon]

The big three religions are all male dominant.

Which is a shame really. I think a female touch in their holy books would have done them a world of good. What good is yin without yang?


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[XAAX]

I’ve been attempting to further my understanding of a few religions, so I’ll begin with Christianity.

My question would be this:

How does one know God is a “Him?”. It refers in the bible as Him and or He then further on in the book it also refers to God as the Holy Spirit. Can someone explain.

I had a few others, but I’ll begin with this. I thank you for the time in reading this and helping me further my understanding of this religion.
Blessed Be.

Its funny, I am starting to see myself become one of the regular members that go, oh here we go again...lol...

Welcome Nein, I will say that your question was one of my earliest posts. Some claim it is do to a lack of a word in their language for a genderless being, and others claim that this is just the way it was written. The typical Christian belief omitted women when they put together the setup of God in the trinity (Father, Son, Holy Ghost) and for the most part, they just don't question it. My advice, just except it as what it is and don’t worry about it. You won't find a reasonable explanation because there really isn't one other than males dominated when the religion was formed. People can argue, but that is the bottom line.

 

[Mr. Hair]

How does one know God is a “Him?”. It refers in the bible as Him and or He then further on in the book it also refers to God as the Holy Spirit. Can someone explain.

Well, as far as I can recall Christianity has traditionally taught that God is beyond gender divisions, and so I'd take a wild stab at it being more of a linguistic convention rooted partly in the cultural traditions among which that particular religion was formed in and partly in the inflexible nuances of the English language.

As an example, I believe modern French bibles tend to avoid this problem by using a personal, genderless pronoun.

 

[xexon]

That "Our Father" bit didn't help either.


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[Mister Emu]

How does one know God is a “Him?”.

Outside of the Mormons I don't know of many who will say God is a male...

I refer to "Him"(God the Father) as Him because that is how "He" decided to represent "Himself" to us.

 

[XAAX]

I refer to "Him"(God the Father) as Him because that is how "He" decided to represent "Himself" to us.

Did "He" choose or did they choose "Him" to be represented...The difference is important.

 

[Nein]

My pardons if this topic was already brought to this forum. I was busy reading alot of the threads and didn't realize this was one of them. However, Thank you for responding to my question.

I appreciate everyone's input in regards to this question. Been most helpful.

Blessed Be. ;o)

 

[xexon]

I think the term "he", and "father " are used more for the sake of conversation than actual gender reference. People grow up hearing it and it never occurs to most to change it or question it.

Wow. Four its in a short sentence.


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[9harmony]

personally i believe God is beyond gender...

but one thing that's important to consider is that the English language does not contain a genderless pronoun other than 'it' and 'it' just does not suffice when speaking of God. So i think 'He' & 'Him' are simply used for that reason.

 

[Mike182]

Did "He" choose or did they choose "Him" to be represented...The difference is important.

is that difference really that important? i don't think God would really care either way if it wasn't *him* that chose to be refered to as male, so long as *he* got *his* point across, why would it matter?

 

[angellous_evangellous]

The big three religions are all male dominant.

The holy Spirit is not.

 

[XAAX]

personally i believe God is beyond gender...

but one thing that's important to consider is that the English language does not contain a genderless pronoun other than 'it' and 'it' just does not suffice when speaking of God. So i think 'He' & 'Him' are simply used for that reason.

I disagree Harmony...I much prefer "It" to "He"..."IT" does not mislead the nature of God...

 

[XAAX]

is that difference really that important? i don't think God would really care either way if it wasn't *him* that chose to be refered to as male, so long as *he* got *his* point across, why would it matter?

Oh, I completely agree Mike. I'm not saying that God "cares"(in the human sense of the word), one way or the other. The difference exists in the personal understanding of God. Many times people are mislead in their understanding due to outdated inaccurate teachings. This, in my opinion, is just another example of such. I am speaking from my own experience.

When I was a Christian, I was taught to believe that God was Male. Once the old god (male) retired and Jesus took over, no one can get into heaven without going through him (I am summarizing the belief). In the bible women have been given almost no credit for anything good. In turn, almost every great Man in the bible had his life screwed up by a woman. So anyone who wants to tell me that the bible is not slanted against women and for men, save your breath. The religion is the same way, if you don't believe me, you need to read the bible a little better.

Once again this is the Christian account. I am not talking about any other religion. Some may fall into the same category but I am not referring to them in this post.

 

[Paraprakrti]

I’ve been attempting to further my understanding of a few religions, so I’ll begin with Christianity.

My question would be this:

How does one know God is a “Him?”. It refers in the bible as Him and or He then further on in the book it also refers to God as the Holy Spirit. Can someone explain.

I had a few others, but I’ll begin with this. I thank you for the time in reading this and helping me further my understanding of this religion.

Blessed Be.

How does one know God is anything?

Obviously, "Him" refers to a personal aspect of God while the "Holy Spirit" refers to His capacity as dwelling with individuals. These are just two aspects of the same Entity.

 

[Paraprakrti]

I disagree Harmony...I much prefer "It" to "He"..."IT" does not mislead the nature of God...

"He" doesn't necessarily mislead the nature of God, just as referring to God in a personal capacity doesn't necessarily mislead. Everyone assumes that it is a case of gender bias and anthropomorphism, but that simply may not be true. It may very well be that the Personality of Godhead has male form.

 

[Mister Emu]

When I was a Christian, I was taught to believe that God was Male. Once the old god (male) retired and Jesus took over

Ummm... what kind of Christian were you?

In turn, almost every great Man in the bible had his life screwed up by a woman

What women messed up Moses? Abraham? Paul? Peter? John? Jacob? Joseph(both)?

 

[Gentoo]

My question would be this:

How does one know God is a “Him?”. It refers in the bible as Him and or He then further on in the book it also refers to God as the Holy Spirit. Can someone explain.

I don't think that one does know that God is male, some do believe that though. My thoughts are that by assigning a deity a gender, it brings the concept of deity closer to us. Doesn't seem so unattainable or foreign as if the deity were genderless. Also, by bringing the concept closer in description to that of (wo)men, then one could expect that the message is more likely to get across.

Did that make sense?