The Bible refers to God as a "He", and many people argue that man is created in God's image, but does that really make any sense? As we all know, what distinguishes a male from a female is the reproductive system. As far as we know, God is a spirit, not a human or an animal, so does it even make sense for God to have a reproductive system? Yes, according to Christianity, he fathered Mary's child, but there is no indication that there was a sexual union between them. (She's not called the Virgin Mary for nothing, you know!)
2006-10-26 04:48:56 · 23 answers · asked by tangerine 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
No. The male pronoun is used because God is the supreme being and there is no other way to refer to him. The use of the pronoun it would be inaccurate.
2006-10-26 04:51:39 · answer #1 · answered by Preacher 6 · 3⤊ 2⤋
Dear Tangerine,
No, I do not believe that God has a gender, at least not as we human beings understand it to be. (But God is definitely not It either.) That bothered me for a time when I was younger and was a feminist. I still believed the Bible to be Truth and God's Word but I figured all I needed to do was re-write the Bible (KJV) and take out all the sexist language.
When I finally got around to reading the Bible from cover-to-cover I first read The Living Bible translation. Since then I've been reading it each year using a variety of modern day translations. I did not change the Bible but the Bible did change me.
Being in my 50s, I no longer worry about the gender-issue. I realize that language is limited and God is not. We could take all of the knowledge and all of the wisdom of all human beings past, present, and future and still not be able to come up with a thimble-full of wisdom in comparison to the Wisdom of our awesome Creator.
Two verses that really blew my mind away (so to speak) some years ago was Matthew 23:8,9 (I encourage you to look it up in your own Bible(s))
"But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven ..."
I don't even hear anyone using those verses in sermons.
2006-10-26 12:03:27 · answer #2 · answered by JOYfilled - Romans 8:28 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
God is HE. In the beginning was the word and the word was good and the word is God.
God did not father Mary's child but He became flesh and dwelt in Mary.
You have to really study the Bible to understand that it is in the spirit realm. Flesh or physical intellect will not understand the Bible and God's purpose for humanity. During Jesus' time on earth there were a lot of philosophers who tried to rationalize spiritual things.
So a lot of your questions require a real spiritual desire to understand the things in the Bible and God if your motives are to refute the Bible with intellect and physical motives you will just go in circles.
"God takes the foolish things of this world to confound the wise."
2006-10-26 12:01:46 · answer #3 · answered by cantstandrudeness 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
No. Not even in my own beliefs which use the images of God and Goddess to define Male and Female attributes.
You have to consider that when the Bible was actually written, Men ruled. Women were akin to property and children even less so (unless they were males of a dominant tribe). So, of course, when they wrote about their creator, it was automatically a HE... because who else could rule (according to their way of thinking) except a male?
2006-10-26 12:07:16 · answer #4 · answered by riverstorm13 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I believe God is the same Gender as you are.
Since God created you in his own image, God looks just like you.
To others, God will look like those others.
God is seen as each person's image.
Ex: My vision of God is a cute blonde girl with a tan.
The people in the bible who referred to God as a He were mostly men.
I believe God looks exactly the same as you and not a resemblance to Zeus with gray hair and a Santa Claus beard.
2006-10-26 11:54:58 · answer #5 · answered by Cuddly Lez 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Pure spirits like God and angels do not have gender. Yet, God has chosen to reveal Himself to humankind in the image of "Father", which is why we refer to Him using male terminology.
2006-10-26 12:12:34 · answer #6 · answered by PaulCyp 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
God bless you dearly. God is an everlasting flame what does I am need of gender that is earthly and not of spirit God is real and will reveal this to the children spirits to the spirits I and I chooses.
2006-10-26 12:08:20 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
The words in the bible are "let US make a man in OUR image", this is plural not singular. Only one god, I don't think so, maybe several, male and female. If this ONE god was male, how did he know how to make a female?
2006-10-26 12:06:20 · answer #8 · answered by colin.christie 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋
actually the bible is wrong, thats because something as great as a god cant have connection to jesus as the way christians belive because god is too great for being 1 in 3 as u belive jesus was created he is a man that was sent by god how can god take human form and come to earth? jesus was raised to heaven before crucifixation he was never the son of god
2006-10-26 11:58:40 · answer #9 · answered by Mac C 1 · 1⤊ 2⤋
In His word, the Bible, He always refers to Himself in the male gender. Christ came to Earth as a man not a woman.
2006-10-26 11:51:37 · answer #10 · answered by Red neck 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋