NationStates Jolt Archive

I constanly hear people refer to god as "him". Does god even have a gender?

Personally I don't believe in god or any other kind of higher being/existance.

The Judaeo/Christian/Muslim god is supposed to be a 'he' at least is always refered to as such in things like the Bible mostly based on the creation story about how man was made in gods image so therefore god must be a man, but that probably has to do with the fact that its a patriachal religion, more than any real truth.

If there is any real god/higher being sort of thing I doubt it has any gender at all.

...and yet again there's this familiar feeling of a...déjà-vu...

I say god has a very own gender category...and I would like to call it... smpum. so it's neither 'he' nor 'her' nor 'it' but simply 'sm'.
(of course, this statement further loses any relevance as soon as you find out that I don't believe in any god and couldn't care less whether sm is male, female or genderqueer.)
Sorry. :p

smpum
Looks good.. Not too sure if it sounds that good though hehe.
However, I agree. I believe 'God' can not be classified under a gender.

Well, according to one middle eastern myth, God made a woman called Mary pregnant. That's the only evidence I can think of that he's male.

god by its very nature can assume any form. it is the creator of all life,therefore,since we all came from its imagination,it can take our forms. god can appear as an 80 year old german grandmother or as a 8 yr old black boy.

the real question is: what denomination is god???


(im being flippant of course) :P

Well if they angels don't have landing gear I'm guessing God doesn't either. Or the angels would have been all pissed of like Lucifer and risen up and be all like, "Where's my cock?" "I'd like a pair of tits too"

Or perhaps God is just a Hermaphrodite and the angels don't want any of that shit.

I want a spikey tail and horns, I hear England has some good surgons?

Toodles :fluffle:

I constanly hear people refer to god as "him". Does god even have a gender?

Personally I don't believe in god or any other kind of higher being/existance.

I agree with you.

basically,to me and most of the people i know, God is refered to as "He" as a masculine sense, because he is supposed to be an authoritarian figure.

although if you have spoken to religious leaders or read literary interpretations, they consider Him an omnipresent entity and as such has no gender.

sidenote: im nuetral when it comes to religion,and i just study it for knowledge. so dont flame me

I believe him to have taken a "male" form for several reasons.

-Supposedly, God created Adam first in His image, telling me that God is "male", since Adam is male.

-Mary gave birth to God's son. Unless it was some kind of pre-modern invetro-fertilization, I think God...y'know..."knocked her up".

-I don't know why, but I've always pictured God as a happy dude on a hammoc in a tye-dye shirt. Yeah, God's a hippie.

But this is not to say that he can't BE female. God IS omnipotent after all. He can make 2 + 2 = 5 if he wanted to.

There are a lot of replies on here for people who supposedly don't believe in God. Why even reply then? What's the point? Noticed also that the same unbeliever's usually have the most to say on the subject of God. Are they merely seeking God?

i would say you can call God a Him, but, he is something above our thinking level, of how a Race (well, maybe there are Gods on far away planet's too) can be. So we just call God a Him, but i think he should be something not pointable. Not to be put in a Category.

...and yet again there's this familiar feeling of a...déjà-vu...

I say god has a very own gender category...and I would like to call it... smpum. so it's neither 'he' nor 'her' nor 'it' but simply 'sm'.
(of course, this statement further loses any relevance as soon as you find out that I don't believe in any god and couldn't care less whether sm is male, female or genderqueer.)
Sorry. :p

How does that look, anatomically speaking :D

God can be any sex he/she/it wants. Look the India Gods with their six billion alter egos. :D

maybe he's both :O

Well one of the basic tenets of Christianity is that God created us in His image. Gender-specific term notwithstanding, I'd say that has to make God 'Other' since God created both men and women. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll duck for cover before the seculo-fascistas turn yet another religion topic into a flame war.

-Mary gave birth to God's son. Unless it was some kind of pre-modern invetro-fertilization, I think God...y'know..."knocked her up".

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Mary supposed to have been a virgin?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Mary supposed to have been a virgin?

You don´t need in-vitro-fertilization to become pregnant...want some explanation :p

-Mary gave birth to God's son. Unless it was some kind of pre-modern invetro-fertilization, I think God...y'know..."knocked her up".Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Mary supposed to have been a virgin?

Well... in that case God must be a woman. After all, the Bible was written by men (interpreting the Word of God perhaps, but still men). If they were old-fashioned enough, they'd believe that if a woman slept with another woman it doesn't really count (if, that is, they were willing to accept that a woman could sleep with another woman period). So in that case Mary could have "sex" with someone (namely: God) and still be a virgin.

Ergo, God is a woman.

just to highlight things...you also can have sex without getting pregnant, but that was not the point, right? Parthenogenesis is -so far- a scientific impossibility...and lesbian sex very rarely to my knowledge led to offspring :eek:

and lesbian sex very rarely to my knowledge led to offspring :eek:
That's where Faith steps in.

Logic tells us that God is a woman. Faith tells us that God can impregnate women.

and lesbian sex very rarely to my knowledge led to offspring :eek:

Gods a Lesbian? :O

well the Christians'll be pissed :(

That's where Faith steps in.

Logic tells us that God is a woman. Faith tells us that God can impregnate women.

Combining logic with faith is...strenous at best :p

Consider the possibility that god is transsexual? Does that count as "biblical" sex?

Consider the possibility that god is transsexual? Does that count as "biblical" sex?

that's what i said, or he could be that genestic thing where he's born with both.

Gods a Lesbian? :O

well the Christians'll be pissed :(

Just being hypothetical...guess i´m going to hell anyway for my last statement :eek:

that's what i said, or he could be that genestic thing where he's born with both.

These kind of genetic disorders normally lead to infertility...also most often to being mentally retarded...uh oh, I feel my feet getting warm, hell is coming

Is it sad that the first thing I thought of, when I saw the title, was GoD, the people in Command and conquer?

How about when I've never really played any of the games?

Consider the possibility that god is transsexual? Does that count as "biblical" sex?
If God was transsexual, that would mean God was a man born in a woman's body or vice versa. And that brings up all kinds of theological confusion.

If God were intersexed, however, it might be a different story. If God does indeed have man parts (as well as woman parts, obviously), but mentally considers Herself a female, then the 'lesbian but still able to impregnate Maria' *might* still work.

However, if such an intersexed God feels that S/He is truly 'inbetween', then things start getting just a tiny little bit unclear.

These kind of genetic disorders normally lead to infertility...also most often to being mentally retarded...uh oh, I feel my feet getting warm, hell is coming

Oh doctor i was in the most wonderful place, it was red and firey, and these people were poking me with big pointy sticks

:P

I´m already getting lost in the fog...now I can guess why in the german investiture dispute the secular side resorted to the sword

It is supposed that God is a singlular being without peer. As such, sexual reproduction is not an issue. That being the case, what would be the point of God having a gender at all, male, female or otherwise?

The only point of assigning God a gender is much the same as the only point for creating God in the first place, to give primitive man a stronger sense of self worth in a universe he was ill equipt to understand. Like this... "I don't know who made all this, so it must be a God. Since I am at the top of the food chain, God must favor me. Therefore, I assume man was created in God's image". Insistance on a God with a gender is simply proof that God was created in man's image, since that was what man could see and of which he obviously thought most highly.

Currently we are experiencing better imagination and more flexible linguistics. That leads to the question of God having a gender, and if so, why? It also leads us to the ability to refer to things without the He/She pronouns if we so choose. It doesn't mean that God is any more real, simply that man is growing up. Perhaps (and dare I say, hopefully) one day the human species will become adults, and at that point either find that there IS a God but God is nothing like what we ever imagined, or that there ISN'T a God but we have grown out of the need for one.

God doesn't need to have a gender at all.

why would God need to be male or female??

Personally I don't believe in god or any other kind of higher being/existance.

Then why does it matter to you? :confused:

God transcends gender. God encompasses both male and female, as well as any alternative you can think of. So it really doesn't matter how you refer to him/her/it/them - they all apply.

:p

God is a chick. :fluffle:

I constanly hear people refer to god as "him". Does god even have a gender?

Personally I don't believe in god or any other kind of higher being/existance.
Since in talking about god we can only talk about our images of god, it does not matter which gender you assign to god.

If god has low self-esteem, would that make him an athiest as he does not believe in himself?

God is a chick. :fluffle:

is that why there's at least one cataclysm every month?

is that why the3res at least one cataclysm every month?
Bingo! :D

I constanly hear people refer to god as "him". Does god even have a gender?

Personally I don't believe in god or any other kind of higher being/existance.

"Him" is in refference to His position (authority) and not towards His gender (God does not have a "gender" per se). Classically "Rullers" are reffered to in Masculin pronoun as recognition of their rulership (while feminine supposed ownership) [Egyptian Pharoah's for example were "He"/"Him" even when help by a female]. This is why in Christian theology God is Him while the Church is reffered to in the feminin (being the pride and possession of God, who is Lord).

God is most probably amorphous and androgynous.

And just for the record; men are nothing but degenerate females if you consider our chromosomes. So that kind of makes the claim that men are the pure half of the species a bit of a falacy.

according to the Bible, God is male

so i'm sticking with that answer

definitely genderqueer.

Answer me this question......if you don't believe in God, what happens after death? Nothing...? hm...that's something to look forward to alright.

Answer me this question......if you don't believe in God, what happens after death? Nothing...? hm...that's something to look forward to alright.

Sounds like bliss.

Answer me this question......if you don't believe in God, what happens after death? Nothing...? hm...that's something to look forward to alright.

what happens if you do beleive, and your wrong? dissapointment

If you don't believe and he does? pleasant suprise

The Judaeo/Christian/Muslim god is supposed to be a 'he' at least is always refered to as such in things like the Bible mostly based on the creation story about how man was made in gods image so therefore god must be a man, but that probably has to do with the fact that its a patriachal religion, more than any real truth.

If there is any real god/higher being sort of thing I doubt it has any gender at all.

In context, man=The human race; mankind, which includes females, if I am not mistaken. Therefore, the "image" thing has nothing to do with any physical characteristics. As well, the Bible explicitly says that God is spirit, and specifically says that He "is not a man".

(now who would make up a God like the God of the Bible? Invisible, Unreachable, Non-negotiable, Omni-present, Righteous, cannot abide sin[context=we are all sinful creatures by definition], Judge who cannot be bribed, and you cannot work your way into his good graces, no matter how many good deeds you do! The ones we make up are more like us, but with more powers---like Mercury/Hermes/the Flash, or Apollo/Superman, or...)

well, el dia del padre, i don't judge what i believe to be correct by whether i liek it or not. see, if the girl i'm in love with right now were gay, i'd stand a chance for he to reciprocate these feelings. unfortunately, she isn't, so my future in this respect is rather nothing to look forward if i stick to the facts (as i know them). are you saying that this is prrof that she is gay? 'cause that's the thing that would make my future better?

'cause that's basically your argument. you say: i fear that there's nothingness after death, that woudl definitely not be an option i wanted, but then i could also think there's sweet haven, oh, i'd like that, that's evidence for me that there si heaven .

oh, and, then, i think of people like me who'll probably burn in hell after death, according to your beliefs a si understand them. i guess i'll prefer nothingness then..

God cannot be a woman. You would know that if you have ever even looked at a Bible. The Bible constantly rerfers to God as Him or His or any other masculine pronoun. Also, throughout the Bible, men are in the leadership role. Women are even told in Timothy to not take a leadership role in the church, because it is the man's job. If God were a women, why would God make men in charge. And it can't be because thats how society and culture were at that point. God does not come down to the level of people just to satisfy them. God does what ever satisfies his own will and isnt going to pretend to be something else just to make some people happy. Now with God being God, I dont know if he is something other than man. Thats because I have never seen God. The only people who have seen God are Adam, Eve, Moses saw God's back in a shroud of mist, and I think thats it. When Jesus walked the earth, he was a man so in Gods human form, he is a man. I think the most logical answer it to say that God is a man, but if you are skeptical, then you might say other. But there is nothing in the Bible that would give even the slightest hint that God was female. And the whole God being a lesbian with Mary is the biggest crap Ive ever heard. Obviously you need to spend a little more time in your Bible than watching TV.

Trying to spread God's legs and see what sex God is is silly. Any attempt to humanise or personify God diminishes God. God Is. That's all you can say folks. As God told Moses "I am". To give God a voice, a face, a sex, or any other feature to make God more "familiar" for us is an insult. God Is. That's all you know, and all you need to know. Now raise up your voices and worship God in glory.

Answer me this question......if you don't believe in God, what happens after death? Nothing...? hm...that's something to look forward to alright.

Surely a interesting form of re-incarnation wherby the molecules that formerly made up your body now make up parts of a lot of others.

On that note though, that would mean that:

Dust is mainly dead skin -- it decomposes and is spread around by the wonders of microbiology => the bits of me I didn't want are passed to others and vice versa => I've got lots and lots and lots of part-siblings out there! ;)

[QUOTE=Elitovia]snip[QUOTE]

curious, do you think that considering the all the authors of the bible were male could have played a role HIM always being a him?

Where's the BOTH option after male and female? Other just infers non sexual...

God cannot be a woman. You would know that if you have ever even looked at a Bible. The Bible constantly rerfers to God as Him or His or any other masculine pronoun.


Why can't people see past the material or the substantial?
As John 4:24 states, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” Since God is a spiritual being, God does not possess physical, human characteristics; however, sometimes figurative language used in Scripture assigns human characteristics to God in order to make it possible for man to understand God. This assignment of human characteristics to describe God is called “anthropomorphism.”

Anthropomorphism is simply a means for God (a spiritual being) to communicate truth about His/Her nature to mankind, a physical being. Since man is a physical being, man is limited in his understanding of those things beyond the physical realm, and anthropomorphism in Scripture helps man to understand who God is.

God is wholesome and complete. He has no extremities to define any form what-so-ever. God is constantly in a state of meeting full potential.

If God were a woman, why would God make men in charge.

Maybe She was a submissive? ;)

... If God were a women, why would God make men in charge. And it can't be because thats how society and culture were at that point. ...
.


You answer your own question... it is absolutely because that is how society and culture were at the time. In matriarchal societies, God is a woman. In societies where women are considered second class citizens and property, God is a man. Today, we are heading towards a society where men and women have equal rights, so to preserve the illusion of one God, we necessarily reform God into a being with no gender, and no need of one. In our society it is considered more correct to say human than man when refering to all of us, so as not to exclude women. So the truism that "God is created in man's image" becomes "God is created in human's image", which is why this debate is happening at all.

I constanly hear people refer to god as "him". Does god even have a gender?

Personally I don't believe in god or any other kind of higher being/existance.


Was Jesus male or female? Is fire hot or cold? Now hopefully you can figure this out on your own. If not, try the Holy Bible as your reference, it will provide you with all the answers needed in your lifetime.

Was Jesus male or female? Is fire hot or cold? Now hopefully you can figure this out on your own. If not, try the Holy Bible as your reference, it will provide you with all the answers needed in your lifetime.

Scientifically speaking, Jesus existance, if in fact the product of a virgin birth, would have been caused by parthenogenesis, which is the development of an egg into a fetus without sperm, currently only a hypothetical possibility in humans, but a fact in other species. Parthenogenesis produces only female offspring, in fact clones of the mother. So Jesus, if the virgin birth is a fact, was female.

The temperature of fire depends entirely on the material being burned. Some things burn at very high temperatures (the sun, for instance) and some at very low. There is a gel used by stuntmen doing fire stunts that burns at such a low temperature, it can be applied directly to the skin and lit and does not burn the skin, while still producing a flame.

Nowhere in the bible are either of these things mentioned, so I guess I will have to continue to figure things out for myself, as I have been doing rather successfully for the better part of my life.

http://www.sinfest.net/ Today's comic (27/09/05) Says it all.

Answer me this question......if you don't believe in God, what happens after death? Nothing...? hm...that's something to look forward to alright.

So you are trying to say that the reason to believe in God is that you might get a better deal in the hypothetical after life if you do?

There is so much wrong with that idea, in both directions, that it boggles the mind, and so very little right with it that it almost begs to be dismissed as a point of argument by both believers and non-believers.

My answer is I don't know what happens after death, nobody does. People who tell you they do know are not entirely correct. They are telling you what they believe with such a strength that they have convinced themselves it is actual knowledge. In fact, whatever happens, afterlife or nothing, may have nothing whatsoever to do with God at all, but no one can know. That being the case, I prefer to take my chances after death, follow my ethical and moral beliefs while alive, and let God and God's followers lead their own lives. So far, too much of what God's followers insist must be done if one believes in God violates MY standards, so no... I am better off without those beliefs.

I'm going to say God is female just because of her extreme cruelty.

Answer me this question......if you don't believe in God, what happens after death? Nothing...? hm...that's something to look forward to alright.

no

God judges us at death... and then dispatches us where He pleases (based on our beliefs and actions). Failure to believe in God doesn't get you a free pass to the "nowhere" room.

hehe

It's definitely a tree made of bricks

God is neither and both when you think about. How do you define gender, if you define it anatomically as you generally do in humans, you have to consider that God is not a physical being, but like us he is a spirit. Now spiritually he is both, because he contains both masuline and feminine aspects. He is loving and kind God, the giver of life, and nurturer of us his children. At the same time he is mighty in battle, and all-powerful in more than explosive proportions. The only reason I refer to God as a he, is out of a lack of a better way to describe him/her without reducing him to an it but constantly having to write "him/her" and yes partly because I've been raised and brought up to view him solely as male, and my beliefs about that have changed drastically, but only quite recently.

So in short I say "he" is neither as well as both.

Also, throughout the Bible, men are in the leadership role. Women are even told in Timothy to not take a leadership role in the church, because it is the man's job.
Because standing around in dresses during service and reading books is so very masculine.


]When Jesus walked the earth, he was a man so in Gods human form, he is a man. I think the most logical answer it to say that God is a man, but if you are skeptical, then you might say other. But there is nothing in the Bible that would give even the slightest hint that God was female. And the whole God being a lesbian with Mary is the biggest crap Ive ever heard. Obviously you need to spend a little more time in your Bible than watching TV.
Jesus was the son of God. The belief that Jesus was "God Made Flesh" is a belief not shared by my local Christian Church(es) and possibly even Jesus himself.

Jesus was indeed male.

Therefore, Jesus must have had a Y chromosome.

However, Mary still being a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus is another Biblical fact. Mary, being a woman, had no Y chromosome and, not ever having had sex, could not possibly spontaneously get a Y chromosome to pass down to Jesus.

Therefore, God must have bestowed said Y chromosome unto Mary.

There are roughly two ways God could have gone about doing this:
First, God could have visited Mary one night while Josef had a lot of work to do and handed over the Y chromosome rather directly. This kind of action would indeed make God male, but it would also make the Virgin Mary not a virgin any more, so He probably didn't do it like that.
Second, God sort of magically reached into Mary's womb and kind of created Jesus out of pure energy or something. Whatever you want to call it. This proves absolutely nothing concerning God's gender.
Thirdly, the God Is A Lesbian theory has already been explained. Yes, it was a rather obvious joke, but still.

So on the question of God's gender: Hell if I know.

Now then, Jesus is God Made Flesh or God In Human Form or whatever. The idea is ludicrous to me, but let's explore it, shall we?
When visited by demons (Lucas, Chapter 8, verses 26 to 39), Legion totally fails to spot the true nature of Jesus, constantly referring to him as the Son of God. If even this host of demons totally failed to spot God for He was, then it's obvious God went to some length to walk around the Earth incognito. The best way of being incognito is, basically, not looking at all like you really do. Since the Jesus/God disguise was male, the true God/God form would probably be other (either female, nothing, or inbetween).
Plus, Jesus liked to surround himself with guys.
So even then, God clearly isn't male. Or, perhaps, God is a homosexual, but let's not go there right now. Whether God is female, inbetween, a-sexual or totally and utterly non-existent is still up for debate.

well i think that he or she or it made everything so he she or it must have a lil bit of everything



:sniper: TOXICKILLACAM :sniper:

I believe God is male, because I am God, and the last time I checked I was male... *checks again* Yep, I'm still a guy.



Seriously speaking, I don't even believe in God, and if lui did exist, lui would probably transcend the concept of gender, thus why I call God "lui" instead of "him" or "her".

~The Concordance~

If God exists, I would think he/she would be beyond conventional standards of gender.