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Bill it is not "creating anything in our own image" to say what God says
about Himself and He calls Himself
a FATHER, never a mother. How anyone can get "female" gender out
of that I will never know. Using similes
to explain love and caring doesn't change anything. The sad thing is
how far we have fallen in not being
willing to accept His Truth as is. judyt
Dean insists > To have a masculine
quality is to be a male.
Dean, are you willing to put your
proposition to the test? Isaiah 42.13 says
that "the LORD shall go forth like a mighty man; He
shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud;
He shall prevail against His enemies." Does this verse stand as
indisputable proof that God is a male? It certainly attributes masculine
qualities to him: after all, one cannot dispute the fact that this
verse likens him to a mighty man and a man of
war. If your proposition is correct, Dean, we would have
to conclude, based upon this verse alone, that God is indeed male. But what if
the Bible attributes feminine qualities to God: by the same logic, wouldn't
that make God female, also? While you're considering that question, let us
read the very next verse: " I have held My peace a long time, I have been
still and restrained Myself. Now I will cry like a woman in labor, I will pant
and gasp at once." The Lord groaning like a woman in labor: surely there isn't
anything more feminine than the cries of a woman in labor. Or how
about this: "As a mother
comforts her child, so I will comfort you" (Isa
66.13). Surely you
would agree with me, Dean, that to be like a mother who comforts her child is
to display certain feminine qualities. Or what about this: "You neglected the
Rock who begot you, and forgot the God who gave birth to you" (Deu
32:18). Dean, the verb (chayal) used of God's giving birth
in this verse is otherwise used in Scripture only of women in
labor.
So what do you think, Dean: Do these
feminine qualities make God female? May I answer for you? Of course it
does not. These are similes, comparisons. They speak not of God's gender
or sexuality but his relationship with creation. God is not male,
just as he is not female. AND to claim one in abstention to the other is
to neglect the other as being every bit as truthful and descriptive of our
God. I am saying, let those comparisons depict his relationship with
humanity and not his gender. In Deuteronomy 4.15-16 God tells his people what
he thinks of them creating him in their image: " Take careful
heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the LORD spoke to you at Horeb
out of the midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make for
yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or
female." We need to be careful, too, lest in our language for God we make
of him something he is not.
Dean, please do not think when I defend
Friesen that I think of God as being in the least bit female, or both male
and female, as opposed to male only. I do not. When we read that God
created humans both male and female in his image, this is not a reference to
God's gender; it speaks instead to his nature as a relational being, a
being-in-communion: the Father with the Son and the Son with the Father, in
and through the Holy Spirit. That being so, there is no "image of God" in
humanity apart from relationship: the image of God is persons in
relationship with others persons and God himself. It is that which reflects
his glory.
Bill
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, February 08, 2006 8:10
AM
Subject: Re: [TruthTalk] Rightousness
(jd 2 cd)
----- Original Message -----
Sent: 2/7/2006 10:15:34 PM
Subject: Re: [TruthTalk] Rightousness
(jd 2 cd)
cd: Is Jesus male or female John/Lance/Bill-If he is God as
you say what is he?
Jesus is a man, Dean, and he is God -- two
natures in one person. Please stop confusing the two.
You create God in Adam's image, and Judy
calls us earthly minded: what a joke! Have you considered how close you
are getting to a doctrine which claims that God the Father came
down and had physical-sexual intercourse with Mary? You do claim he
is male, don't you? That's like saying, since he has the equipment, why
didn't he use it? This is ridiculous. "Male" is a physical/biological
term. "Father" is a relational term, the same with "Son." You don't have
to confuse the two. Yes, sometimes these terms coincide, but
they are not requited to. Please, brother, stop with the
accusations and smears (what has gotten into you?!), and just consider for
a moment what you are suggesting: that God, being Spirit, has to have male
attributes, over against female or a mixture of both -- as if he
must have something between his legs or he can't be God. My
gosh, people, he is Spirit; he is neither male, nor female
-- nor both. Stop with the foolishness.
Bill
cd: I realize you guys will not accept the
Webster definition for the meaning of English words- as the rest of the
world does- and have developed a whole new language but that is
what I am using. To have a masculine quality is to be a male. God doesn't
have a sexual organ as one is not needed in heaven as He can
create humans from rocks or bones and still be the provider for the
family as is the Father of a family. Thank you for the using words like
silly-foolish and such like as you are only verifying my position in Jesus
Christ and building my future:-) Notice # 4 if you are able-in the
English language one can be male without the organ .Hence a masculine
spirit is a male spirit-What are you not getting Bill-is all that dancing
around making you tired?
Masculine
M`ASCULINE , a. [L. masculinus, from masculus, mas.]
1. Having the qualities of a man; strong; robust; as a
masculine body.
2. Resembling man; coarse; opposed to delicate or soft; as
masculine features.
3. Bold; brave; as a masculine
spirit or courage.
4. In grammar,the masculine gender of words is that which
expresses a male,
or something analogous to it; or it is the gender
appropriated to males, though not always expressing the
male
sex.
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