Given that the Bible orginally speaks of God as being gender-neutral...?

Question

...and that the subsequent usage of the masculine third person singular pronoun was based solely on the linguistic limitations of Latin (and English), why are some of you so ooutraged when someone uses a feminine 3rd person pronoun?

Answer 1

All language about God is symbolic. If a religious community prefers the feminine 3rd person pronoun, they should use it, no questions asked.

Answer 2

He nonetheless speaks... Now we can try what we anticipate of we are listening to from God in accordance to the scriptures. If in any respect there's a deviation from God's personality as said in the Bible then your listening to your own mind's eye or something else fullyyt. to assert that God doesn't communicate except via what's printed in the Bible a great deal restricts the artwork of the Holy Spirit.

Answer 3

Not to get picky but it is not gender. Gender refers to a language like the French use la and le in front of objects to denote gender. When we speak of the Bible, it is sexual identity or sex yet God is a spirit. When a person uses she for God it sounds almost like a feminist statement not about God because God traditionally has been referred to as Father God.

Answer 4

It's people being silly. Personally, the idea of God being a man makes sense, because of the Father Figure thing, and he must have some form (He's not just a floating ball of light) so it makes sense for Him to take on one gender or the other, but it's really silly to get all up in arms when someone refers to God as She. Could actually be quite nice to have a mother figure God.

Answer 5

Well, actually the language mostly holds God as masculine and there are fewer instances of God as feminine.
It is generally accepted though, that when God is referred to as a masculine term, it is God in the role of giver, and when God is a feminine term, God is in the role of receiver.

Answer 6

Well, I'm not "outraged."
But, to answer your question, the Bible says God made MAN in HIS image and made WOMAN in the image of MAN. God refers to HIMSELF as the everlasting FATHER, and we all know that fathers are men.

So, maybe that will help you see how the Bible does not actually refer to God as gender neutral.

I used caps for emphasis, since italics are not available here. I have a little heartburn from working so hard at my job, yesterday, but while I know God is definitely a HE, I'm not outraged over other folks' not grasping that, yet. I don't grasp calculus completely, and I'd hate for someone to be outraged at me for that.

Answer 7

That is a very good question. Maybe because they really have not read their Bibles and crossed referenced word meanings with a good dictionary. Also checking in to the history of the Bible is a very good idea.

Answer 8

Isa 54:5 For your Maker is your husband; Jehovah of Hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of all the earth.

Jer 31:32 not according to the covenant that I cut with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt (which covenant of Mine they broke, although I was a husband to them, says Jehovah).

God called Himself the "husband" of Israel. That is a masculine term, in Hebrew. And, of course, Jesus called him "His Father."

Answer 9

In English, God is referred to as "he," although God is without gender. The angels are also neuter in gender.

Answer 10

God made man in his own image. That means he was a man. God made women from Adam's rib to be a companion for man, this means their were men before women.