God's gender

[OopsMartin]

So, when the bible says that man is the glory of God, I think along these lines. Man is created to reflect what God is like in a way that women are not. There are different glories.

And this is the root of your errors. This is gross error. What you are saying is that the masculine is more like God than the feminine. And by relation all males are more like God than all females. This is the heresy that the Mouser bunch teaches.

We can go on and say that this scholar is more knowledgeable than that one ad infinitum. I know many who are in agreement with my conclusions. Where logic refuses to go there can be only limited discussion. We must each be convinced of our conclusions for we will reap of them. I may not be all knowledgeable or all knowing but I am fully convinced that the roots behind the premise that God is masculine (and by relationship thus male) to the exclusion of the feminine, is a destructive theory at best, for both masculine and feminine people.

It doesn't really matter all that much if it is proposed that God is neither or that God is comprised of both. It is acceptable in my opinion to say that God has chosen to relate to humans more often in masculine terms than in feminine terms. I've no problem with that. But it does matter when one proposes that God is masculine to the exclusion of the feminine.

[Floatingaxe]

So, when the bible says that man is the glory of God, I think along these lines. Man is created to reflect what God is like in a way that women are not. There are different glories.

Hey, Neo!

Yipes! Is that ever off the mark!

Have you never heard of the word "man" being used as "mankind"? Stop "thinking along these lines"!

[Emily~Anne]

God is my Heavenly Father, not my Heavenly mother.

[OopsMartin]

God is my Heavenly Father, not my Heavenly mother.

you might be interested in a quote by Chrysostom, one of the early church fathers.

--

Thou art my Father, thou art my Mother, thou my Brother, thou art Friend, thou art Servant, thou art House-keeper; thou art the All, and the All is in thee; thou art Being, and there is nothing that is, except thou.

Chrysostom (Nicene & Post Nicene Father, no. 10, 1st ser., ed. Philip Schaff)

Our preoccupation with masculinity wasn't shared to such an extreme by early Christians, EVEN those who were highly patriarchal.

[Neopatriarch]

My poll results from a few days ago:

masculine__________________[ 12 ] ** [75.00%]

feminine___________________[ 0 ] ** [0.00%]

both_______________________[ 1 ] ** [6.25%]

neither_____________________[ 3 ] ** [18.75%]

don't know__________________[ 0 ] * [0.00%]

My current poll results:

masculine____________________[ 25 ] ** [64.10%]

feminine_____________________[ 0 ] ** [0.00%]

both_________________________[ 3 ] ** [7.69%]

neither_______________________[ 10 ] ** [25.64%]

don't know____________________[ 1 ] ** [2.56%]

Ovedya's poll results:

God is...

Male______________________[ 33 ] ** [54.10%]

Female____________________[ 1 ] ** [1.64%]

Gender Neutral (Neither)______[ 16 ] ** [26.23%]

Gender Inclusive (Both)_______[ 11 ] ** [18.03%]

Buteros' poll results (from last September):

That God is male________________________[ 15 ] ** [44.12%]

That God is female______________________[ 1 ] ** [2.94%]

That God is both male and female__________[ 3 ] ** [8.82%]

That God is neither male nor female________[ 15 ] ** [44.12%]

In all three polls people tended to vote for either God is male/masculine or God is neither/neutral.

From what I've read in these threads, some of the basic and common arguments in favor of God being neither or gender neutral are:

1. The argument from apophatic theology: God is not gendered because categories like "father", "king", and etc. are earthly categories which cannot properly be applied to God who is infinite.
   
2. Masculine language for God is figurative (perhaps as an accommodation to us limited human beings) and does not personally indentify who God is gender-wise.
   

Some of the main arguments for God being masculine:

1. Masculine language is used throughout the bible to refer to God and there is a strong correlation between this language and God's personal identity.
   
2. God takes masculine roles like husband, father, and etc. and these roles indicate his gender.
   

Many posters simply stated their position with a comment and left it at that.

If anyone would like to extend these lists, I'm open to that.

-Neopatriarch

[Floatingaxe]

My question is: How does a spirit have gender? This is basic. God is spirit.

[roselady]

I think he is both. Why? Cause he made them both male and female and created them in him image... that says both to me.