Why does God have a gender?

[nobspeople]

The bible speaks of God as a 'he' or 'him'.
Is it possible that's not true? Is it possible God is an 'it' more than a 'he' or even a 'she'?

If God is not a 'he', would that change how you think of 'him'?
Would it change anything about 'his' story?

I've seen some believers see this concept as offensive. Are you one of those people that are offended if God is spoken about as a 'it' or 'she'?

[Purple Knight]

So it's got to be male for them to understand it is above them, because they were primitive.

Did the ancients not have plenty of "female" goddesses?

Not the Jews. I'm not insulting them to say this, since it was true of many societies at the time, but it seems to me they were on the highly patriarchal side.

He is the Lord their God. Were there even such things as female lords?

[Miles]

Does the biblical God have a biological gender? No, the God of the bible is neither male nor female, it states : "God is a spirit" and therefore biblically not gender bound.

And spirits can't have genders? How do you know?

I didn't say I know I said that "[the bible] states" :God is a spirit".

Then why bother saying "[The Bible] states : "God is a spirit"? If you don't know it's so, then why assume that by saying "the Bible states" I will know it's so?

And are you saying that when the Bible says X is a fact that it might not actually mean X is a fact? What does it take for you to know what the Bible says? When the Bible says

"The soldiers nailed Jesus to a cross." (Mark 15:24.)

Do you not know what this means? If someone asked you about the story of the Crucifixion and what happened after Jesus was put upon the cross couldn't you say, "Well I know the soldiers nailed him to a cross"?


When the Bible says "God is a spirit" Just what is it that's keeping you from knowing God is a spirit?

Spirits in scripture are not presented as naturally biological nor as being classified by sex or gender (but rather by rank and position). I know of no scriptural indication spirits were made with the ability to procreate but of course, if you do have evidence to the contrary, please share.

So when you imply that spirits have no gender it's not with any knowledge of the subject, but simply your assumption. And we should take your assumptions as fact because . . . . . . . . . ?



Gotta go. Dinner time.

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[Tcg]

Does the biblical God have a biological gender? No, the God of the bible is neither male nor female, it states : "God is a spirit" and therefore biblically not gender bound.

And spirits can't have genders? How do you know?

I didn't say I know I said that "[the bible] states" :God is a spirit".

Then why bother saying "[The Bible] states : "God is a spirit"? If you don't know it's so, then why assume that by saying "the Bible states" I will know it's so?

It's not hard to support a claim that the Bible states: "God is a spirit". Supporting a claim that the Bible is accurate when it states so is a whole different ballgame.


Tcg

[Miles]

Does the biblical God have a biological gender? No, the God of the bible is neither male nor female, it states : "God is a spirit" and therefore biblically not gender bound.

And spirits can't have genders? How do you know?

I didn't say I know I said that "[the bible] states" :God is a spirit".

Then why bother saying "[The Bible] states : "God is a spirit"? If you don't know it's so, then why assume that by saying "the Bible states" I will know it's so?

It's not hard to support a claim that the Bible states: "God is a spirit". Supporting a claim that the Bible is accurate when it states so is a whole different ballgame.
Tcg

If one feels a theological claim in the Bible is true then I would expect them to believe the Bible as a whole is theologically accurate. Of course this presumes that all cherry-picking is put aside.



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[JehovahsWitness]

So it's got to be male for them to understand it is above them, because they were primitive.

... female gods were quite common around the ancient world.

Kali. ...
Sekhmet. ...
Ishtar. ...
Hecate. ...
Izanami-no-Mikoto. ...
The Morrigan. ...
Papatūānuku. ...
Tiamat.
Frigg
Nemesis
Ma'at
Mami Wata
etc.
etc.

To say nothing of the Roman goddesses

Minerva (Athena)
Juno,
Flora,
Vesta,
Venus,
Ceres,
Diana,
Salacia,
etc.
etc.


Or the Greek goddesses

Achelois
Alectrona
Amphitrite
Antheia
Aphaea
Aphrodite
Artemis
Athena
etc.
etc.

Or the many Mesopotamian goddesses

Damgalnuna
Nammu
Nanshe
Tashmetu
Sarpānītu
Tiamat
Ki
Tiamat
Geshtinanna
Inanna
Gula
Nanshe
Ninhursag
etc.
etc.

Even the ancient Canaanites had their goddesses. Canaan being consider to be the predominant origin of the ancient Israelites.

Anat
Arsay
Ashima
Atargatis
Baalah
Ba'al Hadad
Ishara
Ishat
Kotharat
Liluri
etc.
etc.





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Have you not just contradicted yourself?








JW

To learn more please go to other posts related to ....

GOD, GODS and ... THE DIVINE NAME

[JehovahsWitness]

Then why bother saying "[The Bible] states : "God is a spirit"?

Because the bible is the text under discussion.

If you don't know it's so, then why assume that by saying "the Bible states" I will know it's so?

You are in no position to prove any assumptions so unless you are employing your mind reading capabilities may I suggest we return to the topic at hand without pontificating into nonsequential strawman arguments as to the veracity of scripture. A topic not raised by me or anyone thus far in the thread except yourself.


JW

[JehovahsWitness]

Spirits in scripture are not presented as naturally biological nor as being classified by sex or gender (but rather by rank and position). I know of no scriptural indication spirits were made with the ability to procreate but of course, if you do have evidence to the contrary, please share.

So when you imply that spirits have no gender it's not with any knowledge of the subject, but simply your assumption.

.

No, I was clear enough , I have a very solid knowledge of the content of the bible. To the best of THAT knowledge ( ie based on my existing knowlege of scripture) there is no indication therein that spirits were made (created) with the ability to procreate.

If you have evidence to the contrary, please share. Otherwise it is safe to say such information does not exist in scripture.



JW

[Purple Knight]

Have you not just contradicted yourself?

You can see it that way if you like. I admit I need to stop making sweeping statements.

I do, however, see the Greeks and Romans as a lot less primitive than their contemporaries. Most of the civilisations you list as having female gods are overwhelmingly ahead of their time in other ways besides just not being as blindly patriarchal as their contemporaries. Perhaps there's a connection.

Regardless of whether I erred in saying something too sweeping about something exceptionally vague like primitiveness (okay, I probably did), I still maintain that it would have been a huge pill to swallow for the ancient Jews to consider anything the Lord their God except a male human. And I don't think God is in the business of tricking them into being disobedient by appearing as things they aren't as likely to trust, such as serpents or women, so if it appeared as anything it was going to be a male human. For their benefit. That was my basic point.

[bjs1]

I still maintain that it would have been a huge pill to swallow for the ancient Jews to consider anything the Lord their God except a male human.

This is not true of ancient Judaism or modern Judaism.


“Although the Gender of God in Judaism is referred to in the Tanakh with masculine imagery and grammatical forms, traditional Jewish philosophy does not attribute the concept of sex to God.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_of ... ite_note-1


“Although many places in scripture and Talmud speak of various parts of G-d's body (the Hand of G-d, G-d's wings, etc.) or speak of G-d in anthropomorphic terms (G-d walking in the garden of Eden, G-d laying tefillin, etc.), Judaism firmly maintains that G-d has no body. Any reference to G-d's body is simply a figure of speech, a means of making G-d's actions more comprehensible to beings living in a material world.”
https://www.jewfaq.org/g-d.htm


The Medieval document Rambam's Guide for the Perplexed is largely dedicated to explaining these anthropomorphic representations in the Jewish text, and repeatedly points out that God has no sex.

[JehovahsWitness]

Have you not just contradicted yourself?

You can see it that way if you like..

Thank you, well then with your kind permission I have indeed decided to see it that way. With one breath you say the ancients needed their gods to be male and then state that female godesses were relativley common and provide a long list of ancient female gods to illustrates your point.


JW