Comments on: Must God Be a He-Man?

By: Dennis

Dennis — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 23:34:32 +0000

I don’t think you should have acquiesced. I have no problem believing that God is male and female and neither. I do use the male gender when I pray and I have no problem with that either. I am interested though in whether you think there is something called maleness and something called femaleness and if so, how you would describe each.

By: sdgalloway

sdgalloway — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 23:04:55 +0000

I’ve long thought that the concept of God as a male gender and the concept of the father/son/holy spirit was more of an analogy then a reality.. If we were created in his image, then where does that include the female, IF gender is an issue? To me the concept of God as only masculine limits just who and what God is.

We put labels on deity simply because we don’t quite understand deity ourselves, not being one. We try to present God in packages we can grasp, but we should remember that we don’t grasp them as well as we think. Thinking of God as gender neutral or containing both attributes of the feminine and the masculine is not really all that bad a concept. Some of relate better to one then the other. I believe God understands and appreciates that.

By: denver

denver — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 22:55:54 +0000

Personally I like Dogma’s take on the non-gender thing – when the Metatron (the voice of God angel) came into the last scion’s house all aflame saying “I am the voice of the one true God… ” and she put him out with a fire extinguisher, later she said “take what you want, just don’t kill or rape me.” And he said he couldn’t rape her, because he wasn’t equipped to do so. And pulled down his pants. And said, as only Alan Rickman can, “I’m as anatomically correct as a Ken doll.” And he was.

Inappropriate, sure, but funny.

On a serious note, I get that you thought you were giving in to this guy”s expertise so I don’t blame you, but I wouldn’t have cut it. First of all, it was explaining why you used the vernacular you did, which I’ve seen other authors do plenty of times (though perhaps their target demographic wasn’t “the average Christian reader”). Secondly, it’s not like it was a minor thing that was cut to help story flow. It was explaining something that dealt with not only the rest of the book, but our habits when it comes to theology in general, and your personal philosophy, to boot. Sometimes editors are not good at their jobs. But you’re good at writing, so we’ll keep reading.

By: Don Whitt

Don Whitt — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 22:00:00 +0000

You should never let someone edit your writing unless you feel it actualliy improves it, John. Neutering text is a form of thievery. They’re stealing your thoughts and feelings. .

Gender is meaningless in the context of God. As is species or element or time and space, for that matter. How can the finite describe the infinite?

By: micki7

micki7 — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 21:20:43 +0000

Absolutely NOT! I guess my opinion has something to do with Jesus weeping (yep! REAL men cry) over Jerusalem and saying: As a MOTHER (a feminine aspect of God/Goddess/Source?) HEN would gather her beloved chicks, would I have gathered you but you wouldn’t have it (my paraphrase)….Somehow I think the “Manly Man” version would be gathering them just for the next fry up or barbeque!

By: Robyn Sheppard

Robyn Sheppard — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 16:43:45 +0000

We do tend to overlook the fact that God was female for many thousands of years before she was male. It wasn’t until Judaism succeeded in elevating its own tribal warlord to the status of the Supreme Deity that God as a woman was killed off.

My own belief that just as “in Christ there is no east or west,” so in God there is either no male or female, or (and this is where I lean now anyway) both male and female.

Ultimately, as a woman who has a very dysfunctional relationship with her father, I’m much more comfortable with the Goddess than I ever was with a God.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 14:54:00 +0000

You’ve been killing up on here lately, Don. Great stuff.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 04:53:00 +0000

I’m pretty sure that my lady English teachers in the public school taught me that “He” was the divine pronoun and had no gender significance. Of course they could have been wrong, but, try to tell them that.

By: Ace

Ace — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 08:20:18 +0000

"Mean and women are equal when it comes to God’s love but not in the area of gifts as in talents and abilities"

Uh, no. Maybe if you are talking about physical brute strength (and even then you can always find indivdual examples of stronger women and weaker men) but if you are this is just your way of rephrasing the childish "Boys are smarter than girls and that justifies treating them badly!" sentiments I hear so bloody often, well I'd tell you want to do with it but it would require some 4-letter words.

By: Ace

Ace — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 08:16:48 +0000

I've seen in some translations it is written "you will want to please your husband and he will lord it over you" which has a rather different feel to it.

I don't know which is the more accurate translation, not being fluent in biblical Hebrew, of course.

Food for thought.