Is God male or gender neutral - Episcopal church begins debate on book of common prayers

Quote:

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One resolution asks for a modernization of the Book of Common Prayer which was last revised 39 years ago. According to the church, a complete revision would take several years and a new prayer book would probably not be ready for use in congregations until 2030.

Besides adding gender-neutral language concerning God, some advocates also want other revisions including, a Christian's duty to the Earth's conservation, adding same-sex marriage ceremonies to the liturgy, (since the church has been performing homosexual weddings for years) and even adding a ceremony to celebrate a transgender person's adoption of a new name.

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Moralistic Therapeutic Deism
smh

Just perusing the first chapter of the Bible,

and the darkness he called Night.

and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas.

And God saw everything that he had made

It's going to take them 12 years?

He created man in his image; Male and Female, He created them.

Tells me that God is both/neither.

Pronoun usage is limited by the language.

Dad-O-Lot said:

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He created man in his image; Male and Female, He created them.

Tells me that God is both/neither.

Pronoun usage is limited by the language.

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True. I really liked something I heard before on this issue. "God isn't male. God isn't female. God is."

God is father, not mother. Jesus is the bridegroom, not the bride.

What does it even mean to assign sex or gender to an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, ineffable Creator?

God is not human, he is not male or female.

We have a very difficult time understand God- who knows all, has always existed (Something I can not wrap my mind around). Our simple minds cannot comprehend the power and glory which is God. God trys to relate to us in what we know. Example- Jesus says in many instances ''the kingdom of God is like''...a man who sowed good seed in his field,... like a mustard seed,.... is like leaven.

In a similar way- Jesus tells us to call God our Father, Abba, Daddy (God is intimate, active in our lives, like a loving father is in his children's life). Jesus (who is also God) was also male. Thus we identify God as a male, father- our protector.

He's spirit, so neither. That said, Jesus was male, and God uses male pronouns to reference himself.

God uses the relationships we have with each other as a metaphor for the best relationships we could have with God.

I doubt that this is unplanned. The length of time a human baby is dependent on his / her parents provides an understanding of what it is like to submit, to depend on, to trust.

God is called our father because a healthy relationship with God looks a lot like a healthy relationship with a loving father. Guidance, instruction, protection, discipline, sacrifice.

I doubt that it is so much that our understanding of God's nature has been clouded by our gender relationships, I surmise that these gender relationships were planned by God as a way to instruct us more about him.

That said, male / female is, at its base, a genetic role, and I don't think God is bound to that. I doubt he has DNA.

So, I think God is a Father to humans, but not a genetic male, if that makes sense.

Neither, but God is ascribed both male and female traits when describing His relationship to humankind, in order to relay the aspects of that relationship. God's most common ascribed trait in Islam - ar-Rehmaan, the Compassionate, derives from the Arabic root word for mother's womb r-h-m. Therefore, God's compassion is like a mother's compassion for her children.

Gender and sex are created things. They do not have to apply to the Creator, but they are ascribed in scripture in order to relate to people, for God speaks in parables to relate.

The Bible was written by men so he's clearly a man. Duh!

Macarthur said:

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The Bible was written by men so he's clearly a man. Duh!

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funny.

getting close- written by evil white men, who hate women, children and minorities!

Err scratch that 2000-4000 years ago the Jews were the minorities.

Macarthur said:

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The Bible was written by men so he's clearly a man. Duh!

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Woah. Awesome handle. Grace to you, my friend.

"I (we) believe in one God, the FATHER almighty, creator of heaven and earth ...
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten SON of God, eternally begotten of the FATHER; God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God; begotten, not made, consubstntial with the FATHER ...

Surprising no one mentioned the third one.

The Holy Spirit.

Is the Holy Spirit male or female?

Edit: On a serious note, in heaven, will there be a need to reproduce, to even have the distinction between male/female? Which leads me to wonder, if the Lord didn't intend for women to have pain during labor ( a punishment for sin) then how exactly did he intend for women to have babies? (With no pain or perhaps he would just create a new human from the dust. After all, I suspect the only beings in heaven are God and angels. So if the Lord wants to make a new angel, he just creates 'em Himself)

What was God's original plan for human procreation, before the first sin?

Interesting question! My guess would be painless childbirth.

Martin Q. Blank said:

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God is father, not mother. Jesus is the bridegroom, not the bride.

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I know some of this is tongue in cheek, but I'd add that all of the therapists I know say children link their understanding of God to their father. It's an interesting connection if He simply is, that those made in His image reflect on Him that way.

It's a shame we never got to see Adam and Eve have a child before the first sin.

dds08 said:

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Surprising no one mentioned the third one.

The Holy Spirit.

Is the Holy Spirit male or female?

Edit: On a serious note, in heaven, will there be a need to reproduce, to even have the distinction between male/female? Which leads me to wonder, if the Lord didn't intend for women to have pain during labor ( a punishment for sin) then how exactly did he intend for women to have babies? (With no pain or perhaps he would just create a new human from the dust. After all, I suspect the only beings in heaven are God and angels. So if the Lord wants to make a new angel, he just creates 'em Himself)

What was God's original plan for human procreation, before the first sin?

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On the other hand, after reading the space trilogy series by CS Lewis, one must wonder if there is a deeper meaning to masculinity and femininity that we have yet to know or explore. Venus was considered female and mars, male. Both planets had male beings and female beings.

Even in the Spanish language certain words and terms and verbs are masculine, some feminine. Don't ask me why.

I'd guess cisgender if we're forced to use the dumb gender pronouns.