I notice many people like to refer to God as "he or him". Is this really an acurate description or just an archaic vision?
2007-08-16 17:18:58 · 19 answers · asked by ? 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
It is anthropomorphism. Since it is impossible to know God, or even conclusively prove God exists, we tend to give God human characteristics.
2007-08-16 17:23:30 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It depends on which of the 2500 or so gods you are referring to. Many of them are male and many are female so assign sexual terms as you see fit. The main god of the Old Testament seems to be male and the god of the New testament is definitely male. There are some gods that are neither one nor the other so I suppose you can call them "it".
As gods are created by humans you can call your own god whatever you want to.
2007-08-17 00:25:43 · answer #2 · answered by tentofield 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
God or Spirit has no gender, so yes, its archaic. A more correct description would be Father/Mother. We've really got to stop creating God in our image.
2007-08-17 00:24:25 · answer #3 · answered by monte54que 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Many of the traditional religion be they ancient or evvolved from one that is, centre around the Father being God,Its not just people who call God the Father Messengers,Sons and Visionaries of God too describe God as HIM and AS THE FATHER.
2007-08-17 02:40:02 · answer #4 · answered by thiru 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
God refers to Himself in the masculine
2007-08-17 00:26:46 · answer #5 · answered by ? 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
This is simply because English does not (unlike French) contain a suitable pronoun of neutral gender. The problem arises in many contexts other than speaking of a god; a workaround is to use the word "one" as a pronoun, but this isn't very popular.
2007-08-17 00:25:11 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
God is always referred to as male in the bible - never neuter or female. Thus, *if* we take scripture as inspired, then we must accept that God has male, rather than female or neuter, qualities. This does not mean that he is male in a physical sense. Medical science, for example, would not be able to determine God's sex scientifically.
Jim, http://www.life-after-harry-potter.com
2007-08-17 00:24:34 · answer #7 · answered by JimPettis 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
do u notice that in English, that the pronoun form of "person" is he ?
it might seem a little sexist; but that's how the English language is
same thing for God; I prefer to think of Him as genderless
only humans need gender
2007-08-17 00:25:53 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The concept of God is archaic.
2007-08-17 00:24:42 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
Genesis 1
27. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
2007-08-17 00:28:28 · answer #10 · answered by See the Light 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋