feminine aspect of God ?

Dream said:
It is a strategy being introduced into varous communities to wake people up and get them to look outside the box. It is less than successful, but it works like this: You take literalism to the limit! Take all of the figurative things that are said about God and make them imply literal things! People who take things literally will start discussing them with great seriousness. For example: If the Bible says that G-d dwells in inapproachable light in heaven, you start saying this means He 'dwells' bodily in the center of the universe (Star Trek 5). Then people get caught up talking about it, discussing it and saying 'Could this be?' and something hopefully clicks for some. If not, then you wind up giving G-d testicles.
Click to expand...

Try a different tack. Even the fundies I know who've actually read the Bible have a somewhat nuanced point of view. So take everything the Bible says about God and ask, instead, what God isn't. For example, if God is the most intelligent "thing" in the universe, "he" can't have attributes which are unintelligent.

Chris
 
soleil10 said:
No. Circumcision is a Jewish tradition whichconfirm that the human fall was caused by the misuse of love
Click to expand...


LOL you are just making it up as you go along and passing if off as the truth when in fact its only your flawed opinion :eek:
 
soleil10 said:
It is in the scripture

God created us as His image, both male and female. When we become one, we reflect His image.

That is pretty much common sense to me.

If God is both masculine and feminine. I just follow the logic.

A man is 1/2 and a woman is the other half. The two become one.

God is one already
Click to expand...


Actually, read the scripture carefully and you'll see that you've just proven yourself wrong, Soleil. God created Adam in his own image, yeah? And then God created Eve. And Adam and Eve have a few different bits and pieces as far as their bodies go, and yet the Bible says that they were created in God's image, both male and female.

The verdict: the image of God has nothing to do with the physical (body), and everything to do with the metaphysical (soul). We are created in God's image not because we have a body that grows corrupt and dies (God does not die, after all), but because we have an immortal soul that experiences love, pain, remorse, etc-- just like our Heavenly Father.

I'm curious: how is it that someone who puts so much thought into their figurative interpretations of scripture, would then take this one so literally that it becomes absurd? If God has both sets of organs, than only the hermaphrodites among us are made in his image, unless image refers to something other than the body.

Sheeeeesh!
 
Marsh said:
Agreed. Although God relates to human beings as Father, I don't believe he has a gender per se, because I don't believe that spirit can have a gender. The reason why he chose to impregnate Mary is perfectly logistical, rather than a function of his.... equipment.

By the way, I've always thought it's interesting that the male reproductive organs are mainly outside the body, as if they were added on later, while the female organs are inside, as if the female body was designed that way specifically. Perhaps ours were added on after God found it necessary to create Eve...
Click to expand...
That is how I have been thinking of it, too. I remember Jesus saying that "at the resurrection they will neither marry nor be given in marriage but are like the angels." There seems an implication that angels don't get married so that maybe original Adam didn't either. There are different theories about it. You could also factor in Ecclesiastes 3:18 "I said in my heart concerning the matter of the sons of man that God might cleanse them, so as to see that they themselves {are} beasts."(Young's Literal) I know its just Ecclesiastes! But there seems to be this feeling that perfection could be nonsexual, and Ecclesiastes is commenting directly upon the purpose for man and his condition. Keep in mind I don't read Hebrew, so I cannot really grasp the implications of feminine shechinah or masculine something else. I don't know turnips from broccoli. -- Also Isaiah 56:3-5 "...Nor say let the eunuch, 'Lo, I am a tree dried up,' For thus saith the L-RD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off."
 
Last edited:
Faithfulservant said:
I have a belief on this. When God created woman He created her as a companion for Man or as a compliment to Man. When Man and Woman wed they become One flesh and both were made in the Image of God. I believe that God has all the aspects of Woman AND Man woman being emotional and relationship oriented while man is a logical and a critical thinker.

I believe that one day in eternity.. we will be whole as we are meant to be. Like Christ. With Masculine and Feminine aspects. That is why there will be no marriage.. because the need to combine the two wont be there.

my 2c
Click to expand...
So, as part of the "church" or "bride of Christ", will my "masculinity" be complimented by the "femininity" of Christ?

I have a hard time with the whole "marriage" thing between the church and Christ. Maybe it's a guy thing...but no one seems to be able to answer that cunundrum....

I'm going to be as I am only whole and perfected, yet I'm married to Christ? Nope, just doesn't compute.

We have to be missing something here, or else all males are going to be really embarrassed...

yet the bible does state we retain our identity (including gender concepts)...???
 
Quahom1 said:
So, as part of the "church" or "bride of Christ", will my "masculinity" be complimented by the "femininity" of Christ?

I have a hard time with the whole "marriage" thing between the church and Christ. Maybe it's a guy thing...but no one seems to be able to answer that cunundrum....

I'm going to be as I am only whole and perfected, yet I'm married to Christ? Nope, just doesn't compute.

We have to be missing something here, or else all males are going to be really embarrassed...

yet the bible does state we retain our identity (including gender concepts)...???
Click to expand...

I think that it is very interesting that this metaphor of "marriage" between Christ and the Church has been reduced to genitals. For me, when I was studying the Christian Scriptures, I saw this "wedding" as being entirely symbolic as defined by this verse:

"Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb [Jesus] has come and His bride has made herself ready." It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. (Revelation 19:8)

The analogy of a wedding is given because it represents the most intimate relationship that we can experience on earth. However, like all earthly examples, it pales in comparison to the union of the soul with the Divine.
I was told that there will be no marriage or sexual differences among those in heaven, since reproduction is unnecessary. When the Sadducees asked Jesus about the woman who married 7 men (sequentially, since they all died prematurely) in her lifetime: whose wife she would be in heaven, he answered:
"You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures, or the power of God. "For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. (Matthew 22:29-30)

​
Many Christians who believe in the physical resurrection also believe that they will have a new name as well. Jesus also implied that believers will be like angels. As one preacher stated in one of his sermons:

We will be with our loved ones in heaven. However, we will not be married to our spouses, since that relationship will be superseded by our relationship with Jesus, since we will be "married" to Jesus. This is not the description of a sexual relationship, but a description of an intimacy that is only approximated by what exists between a husband and a wife. Marriage on earth is merely a glimpse of the relationship God intends to have with us in heaven. It is the purpose for which we were created. Religion that substitutes marriage and family as an idol in place of God is a false religion.
Click to expand...
For me personally, I believe that union with the Divine on a spiritual level through prayer, meditation, chanting, dancing, singing, listening to music, drumming is just a small glimpse of what awaits all of us when we cross over. As we live upon this earth, the Kingdom of God lives within each of us. I really appreciate what St. John of the Cross wrote in The Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ from the 16th century.

O you soul, then, most beautiful of creatures, who so long to know the place where your Beloved is, that you may seek Him, and be united to Him, you know now that you are yourself that very tabernacle where He dwells, the secret chamber of His retreat where He is hidden. Rejoice, therefore, and exult, because all your good and all your hope is so near you as to be within you; or, to speak more accurately, that you can not be without it, “for lo, the kingdom of God is within you.” So says the Bridegroom Himself, and His servant, St. Paul, adds: “You are the temple of the living God.” What joy for the soul to learn that God never abandons it, even in mortal sin; how much less in a state of grace! …Courage, then, O soul most beautiful, you know now that your Beloved, Whom you desire, dwells hidden within your breast; strive, therefore, to be truly hidden with Him, and then you shall embrace Him, and be conscious of His presence with loving affection.
Click to expand...
My 2 cents for the day.
 
Marsh said:
Actually, read the scripture carefully and you'll see that you've just proven yourself wrong, Soleil. God created Adam in his own image, yeah? And then God created Eve. And Adam and Eve have a few different bits and pieces as far as their bodies go, and yet the Bible says that they were created in God's image, both male and female.
The verdict: the image of God has nothing to do with the physical (body), and everything to do with the metaphysical (soul). We are created in God's image not because we have a body that grows corrupt and dies (God does not die, after all), but because we have an immortal soul that experiences love, pain, remorse, etc-- just like our Heavenly Father.
I'm curious: how is it that someone who puts so much thought into their figurative interpretations of scripture, would then take this one so literally that it becomes absurd? If God has both sets of organs, than only the hermaphrodites among us are made in his image, unless image refers to something other than the body.Sheeeeesh!
Click to expand...

As we have a physical body, we have also a spiritual body.
Our physical body has a physical mind. Our spirit body has also a spirit mind that we call soul.
 
Quahom1 said:
So, as part of the "church" or "bride of Christ", will my "masculinity" be complimented by the "femininity" of Christ?
I have a hard time with the whole "marriage" thing between the church and Christ. Maybe it's a guy thing...but no one seems to be able to answer that cunundrum....
I'm going to be as I am only whole and perfected, yet I'm married to Christ? Nope, just doesn't compute.
We have to be missing something here, or else all males are going to be really embarrassed...
yet the bible does state we retain our identity (including gender concepts)...???
Click to expand...
Quahom1, I agree totally with you. This is a big conundrum. It does not make any sense

Is this why men do not like to go to church ? (just jocking)

The bible says that we should prepare and wait for the Messiah like a bride wait for her bridegroom. This I understand.

As I have been repeating many times. The first wedding ( A&E) was not blessed by God. They rejected His commandment and believed Lucifer commandment instead. Jesus came as the second Adam, the bridegroom to restore the failure of Adam and bring the new sinless seed but was killed before he could marry.

Since Jesus lost his physical body, the salvation through his victorious resurrection at the cross is spiritual. We need parents to be reborn, this is why we are reborn through Jesus and the Holy spirit (spiritual Eve). During the catholic mass we receive his blood (wine) and body (bread). Here again, it is the image of joining God's lineage. This has to happen physically so our original sin is eliminated for good.

The Messiah is coming back one more time for the marriage of the lamb.

God lost his lineage since the human fall. He wants his lineage physically on earth to which humanity can graft itself.

The kingdom of heaven on earth is real. it is not in the clouds.
 
soleil10 said:
As we have a physical body, we have also a spiritual body.
Our physical body has a physical mind. Our spirit body has also a spirit mind that we call soul.
Click to expand...


Do you have physical thoughts? Like, you can touch them? Weigh them? And I don't mean in the Platonic, idealist manner. I can touch my physical body, but I cannot touch my soul. Since flesh comes from flesh, and spirit from spirit, isn't it clear that your thoughts are not part of your physical being?
 
Quahom1 said:
So, as part of the "church" or "bride of Christ", will my "masculinity" be complimented by the "femininity" of Christ?

I have a hard time with the whole "marriage" thing between the church and Christ. Maybe it's a guy thing...but no one seems to be able to answer that cunundrum....

I'm going to be as I am only whole and perfected, yet I'm married to Christ? Nope, just doesn't compute.

We have to be missing something here, or else all males are going to be really embarrassed...

yet the bible does state we retain our identity (including gender concepts)...???
Click to expand...


The marriage between Christ and the church is a parable, just like the rest of Jesus' teachings, and it was created for the same purpose as the other parables were: to confuse those who aren't really listening. You're right when you say that a literal marriage between Christ and Christian doesn't make sense; Jesus himself said that in Heaven, nobody is married or given in marriage.

Marriage is a sacred union. The marriage of Christ and his church represents the sacred union that will exist when we are once more reconciled to God, and are joined together with him in spirit-- one, as Jesus and God are one.

By the way, a close reading of Revelation indicates that gender is actually not maintained in Heaven. The elders, for example, are not identified as men; it's just assumed that they are men, when in actual fact they may just as easily be women. The souls of the martyrs are not identified as being of any particular gender, EVEN THOUGH they are classified by every other usual means (race, language, etc).

I believe that without a physical body, gender does not exist. Jesus had a gender, because he had a physical body. God is spirit; he :))) has no gender. Without the environment of a physical body (including its size, its shape, its parts, the hormones that cause it to develop in certain ways) in which we our existence is defined and conditioned, neither would any of us have a gender.
 
Marsh said:
Do you have physical thoughts? Like, you can touch them? Weigh them? And I don't mean in the Platonic, idealist manner. I can touch my physical body, but I cannot touch my soul. Since flesh comes from flesh, and spirit from spirit, isn't it clear that your thoughts are not part of your physical being?
Click to expand...

They are part of our physical mind. Our mind is invisible. We also have a spiritual mind and a spiritual body.

For example we have 5 physical senses and 5 spiritual senses. Our spiritual senses were greatly weaken because of the human fall. Adam and Eve could communicate directly with God.
Some people like some mediums or saints have one of their spiritual sens opened. They have access to the spiritual dimension to some level while on earth. Jesus did.

In the spiritual world, we will have a spiritual body and our soul (spiritual mind) within.
Humans are spiritual beings first. Our physical body life span is around 100 years. Our spiritual body is eternal.
 
soleil10 said:
No. Circumcision is a Jewish tradition whichconfirm that the human fall was caused by the misuse of love
Click to expand...
You believe the Bible was all wrong when it describes it as a divine commandment? What else was the Bible all wrong about?
 
bob x said:
You believe the Bible was all wrong when it describes it as a divine commandment? What else was the Bible all wrong about?
Click to expand...

Originally Posted by soleil10
No. Circumcision is a divine commandment which confirm that the human fall was caused by the misuse of love.

Bob, that was not the point of my post but I am happy to change the wording.
 
Marsh said:
The marriage between Christ and the church is a parable, just like the rest of Jesus' teachings, and it was created for the same purpose as the other parables were: to confuse those who aren't really listening. You're right when you say that a literal marriage between Christ and Christian doesn't make sense; Jesus himself said that in Heaven, nobody is married or given in marriage.

Marriage is a sacred union. The marriage of Christ and his church represents the sacred union that will exist when we are once more reconciled to God, and are joined together with him in spirit-- one, as Jesus and God are one.

By the way, a close reading of Revelation indicates that gender is actually not maintained in Heaven. The elders, for example, are not identified as men; it's just assumed that they are men, when in actual fact they may just as easily be women. The souls of the martyrs are not identified as being of any particular gender, EVEN THOUGH they are classified by every other usual means (race, language, etc).

I believe that without a physical body, gender does not exist. Jesus had a gender, because he had a physical body. God is spirit; he :))) has no gender. Without the environment of a physical body (including its size, its shape, its parts, the hormones that cause it to develop in certain ways) in which we our existence is defined and conditioned, neither would any of us have a gender.
Click to expand...
Well considering that I have females as commanding officers, I really don't have a concern as to whether "elders" are male or female (in a previous life). However the Bible does state that we maintain an intimacy with those we were intimate with in life...though there is no giving of marriage. And you make a good point when you say there is no marriage in heaven, therefore there must be no "marriage" between Christ and billions of people.

And I'm not talking about sex or genitalia, as someone alluded to in a previous post. But there is a difference in intimate feelings between a male influenced spirit and a female influenced spirit. But then, there is also the kid in us wanting to crawl up into the lap of a parent for comfort and warmth, and security...

Since God invented both the masculine and the feminine forms of humans, I suppose God is both, and neither. My mother's perception of Christ for example, is different than mine, yet we both agree "He" does the same things for both of us...it's the relationship that is different. She perceives him as savior and "knight". I percieve him as Savior and "brother"...like the older brother I never had.

I don't know, alot to think about.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top