From: conditt@tsd.arlut.utexas.edu (Paul Conditt)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Is God male, female or neither?
Date: 28 Jan 93 08:32:54 GMT
Organization: Applied Research Laboratories, University of Texas at Austin

In article <Jan.27.00.29.20.1993.3005@athos.rutgers.edu> pkammer@liege.ics.uci.edu (Peter Kammer) writes:
>On the subject of God and gender:
>
>        There does not seem to me to be any more theological problem
>referring to God as She, particularly if this makes someone more
>comfortable in the relationship with God.

This line of reasoning can be *very* dangerous.  It would make my
personal relationship with God easier if I viewed him as not caring
whether I sin or not.  It'd be easier for me to approach his throne
if I made myself believe that it doesn't matter that my sin hurts him.

>        As you (Fiona) point out, giving gender to God gives Him a
>human characteristic, and further, limits His nature (any time one limits
>the nature of God it's a sure sign you're treading on theological quick
>sand).
>        The anthropomorphism of God makes the personal relationship
>easier however.  Viewing God as Father makes the relationship easier,
>but many of the _traditionally_ female characteristics are found in God.
>The most obvious is "Creator", but "Protector" (could go either way) and
>"Healer" also fall in this category, so I can't see any problem with
>viewing God as a Mother as well as a Father.

God is not human, but we are made in his image.  This probably doesn't
mean so much that we look like God, but that we have instilled in us
many of the qualities of God.  The labels of male and female characteristics
are ones that *we* (humans) place on our personalities, not God.

I still can't understand the need to make God gender-neutral.  It seems
like this is just another area where our society is creeping into the
church.  I'm a male because of biological characteristics.  Does calling
me a woman make me not a male?  Jesus calls God a male by referring to 
him as "Father".  All references to God in the Bible are in the 
masculine.  This may be because of translation, but I doubt it.  As I 
said in a previous post, why is it so hard for us to accept God as
being our Father, a male?  Is it just because it's not politically correct?
Remember, we're not called to be politically correct, we're called to
glorify God.  God is a constant, never changing.  If God refers to
himself as male in his Holy Word, then I'd say that trying to make
him gender-neutral is not glorifying to him.  And besides this, what's
the point?  Does the fact that God is male make me superior to females
just because I have the same gender as God?  I don't think so.  When we
accept Jesus, we are no longer "male nor female, slave nor free, Jew nor
Gentile".

>-Peter K.
>
>------------
>Peter Kammer               We are the music makers,
>pkammer@ics.uci.edu           And we are the dreamers of dreams,
>203peter@vax.stmarytx.edu  Yet we are the movers and shakers     --Arthur
>BITNET: 203PETER@STMARYTX     Of the world for ever, it seems.    O'Shaugnessy


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