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Patrick Harris

Re: In anthropomorphic terms God

Acts Enthusiast Posts: 1323 **4/11/16 11:50 am**

c6thplayer1

Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology Posts: 6385 **4/11/16 3:26 pm**

King James Bible Gen 1:27

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

bonnie knox

[Insert Acts Pun Here] Posts: 14803 **4/11/16 4:00 pm**

bonnie knox

[Insert Acts Pun Here] Posts: 14803 **4/11/16 4:03 pm**

maqqebet

Digging Deeper...

Acts Enthusiast Posts: 1771 **4/11/16 5:35 pm**

According to the Hebrew Morphology used with the Biblia Hebraica"the Spirit of God," veruach elohim in Genesis 1:2 is feminine and masculine, perhaps an oddity but certainly fitting for a being who is "spirit," but according to The Theological Wordbook of the OT, ruach is usually feminine.

A name the Rabbis developed referring to different attributes included "Divine Presence, or Shekhinah, and often depicted as the feminine aspect of God. (this from the JPS Guide to Jewish Traditions)

Use of masculine to describe God's ways should be expected in a patriarchal society but it does not endorse God being either male nor female.

The use of masculine is very appropriate when Israel is depicted in the feminine as God's wife. Many city names possess feminine character grammatically.
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The Hammer
Mi kamocah ba'elim Adonai
"Who is like you, Adonai, among the mighty?" (Exodus 15:11, CJB)

diakoneo

Golf Cart Mafia Consigliere Posts: 3382 **4/11/16 7:52 pm**

The Mormons believe this kind of nonsense as it relates to God having gender.

God created male and female for procreation. Why would the creator of all things need gender?

Silly question and "silly" would be my description of the Mormon belief system.

Poimen

Poimen · Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology Posts: 5657 **4/12/16 3:52 am**

Double entry.
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Poimen
Bro. Christopher

Singing: "Let us then be true and faithful -- trusting, serving, everyday. Just one glimpse of Him in glory will the toils of life repay."

Poimen

This is no way meant to support any sort of misogynistic views.

Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology Posts: 5657 **4/12/16 3:59 am**

In giving the question prima facia consideration I would reply that God is spirit. Yet God, who is spirit, is overwhelmingly expressed as masculine. This does not mean God is essentially a male being. However the incarnation does. God became man, a male being, in the incarnation. So then God is now spirit, human, masculine, even male.
_________________
Poimen
Bro. Christopher

Singing: "Let us then be true and faithful -- trusting, serving, everyday. Just one glimpse of Him in glory will the toils of life repay."

bonnie knox

An excerpt from the writings of Aida Besancon Spencer

[Insert Acts Pun Here] Posts: 14803 **4/12/16 8:24 am**

Jesus’ birth form as a male does not reflect God’s essence.

That is why, even when God became incarnate as God among us (“Emmanuel,” Matt. 1:23) as a physical male, Jesus’ physical form did not describe God’s essence. According to Philippians 2:6–7, Jesus was in the form (morphē) of God before the incarnation. At the incarnation, Jesus, who always exists equal to God, chose not to retain the appearance on the outside of what he was on the inside (morphē), emptying himself of the Shekinah glory. Jesus took on the form (morphē) of a slave. The metaphor “slave” fully describes God’s loving, others-oriented character, dying even on a criminal’s cross so that humans could approach God. Jesus also was born in human likeness (homoiōma, schēma; Phil. 2:7–8 ), literally, “Christ Jesus, who being in form (morphē) of God did not consider the being equal to God a treasure to retain, but emptied himself, taking on a form of a slave, having been born in human likeness and having been found in appearance as a human, he humbled himself, having become obedient to the extent of death, even of a cross-death” (Phil. 2:5–8, author’s trans.). The outward form was fully human. But, unlike other humans, Jesus never sinned (Rom. 8:3, 2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus was fully God and fully human. But, being human is not a full reflection of God. Jesus is “the image of the invisible (or unseen) God” (aoratos, Col. 1:15, 1 Tim. 1:17, Heb. 11:27). The God who is Spirit, who has no form, chose to become incarnate in human form.

Old Time Country Preacher

Acts-pert Poster Posts: 15564 **4/12/16 10:16 am**

bonnie knox

[Insert Acts Pun Here] Posts: 14803 **4/12/16 10:24 am**

It might mean he showed up in Israel and also in Tennessee.

Old Time Country Preacher

Acts-pert Poster Posts: 15564 **4/12/16 10:30 am**

bonnie knox

[Insert Acts Pun Here] Posts: 14803 **4/12/16 10:46 am**

No, I was just thinking about the Mormon belief that Jesus showed up in North America. (Of course I had to look that up on the internet on account of I was getting it conflated with the COGOP belief that He's coming back to Fields of the Wood. Mr. Green

)
And I didn't even remember Fields of the Wood is in NC, lol.

bonnie knox

[Insert Acts Pun Here] Posts: 14803 **4/12/16 9:59 pm**

I thought this was a good article on the question of whether or not God is "masculine," which is just a slightly different question than if God is male.
(Ole Timer, I think the author of this piece has a legitimate doctorate, by the way.)

http://www.cbeinternational.org/resources/article/priscilla-papers/god-masculine?page=show

mytimewillcome

Golf Cart Mafia Underboss Posts: 3661 **4/12/16 11:14 pm**

If the language implied a God "mother", imagine the protest from men if they were subjugated as a result.

What if an apostle "Paula" (not White) forbid men to speak in their gatherings?

Old Time Country Preacher

Re: (L)

Acts-pert Poster Posts: 15564 **4/13/16 12:07 am**

bonnie knox

[Insert Acts Pun Here] Posts: 14803 **4/14/16 8:15 am**

How is this going over on the Facebook page? Has any conclusion been reached by our estimable pastors?

maqqebet

Of course, Tom, if you change the subject.

Acts Enthusiast Posts: 1771 **4/14/16 5:34 pm**

bonnie knox

[Insert Acts Pun Here] Posts: 14803 **4/17/16 1:48 pm**

But animals (and plants--all this pine pollen is from male blooms) also have sexuality, so that is not the part of humankind that is reflecting the image of God.

bonnie knox

[Insert Acts Pun Here] Posts: 14803 **4/24/16 2:18 pm**

Far be it from Miss Bonnie to question the estimable Ole Timer's scholarship an all, but ain't pneuma neuter?