Anita

I am new to this discussion about the gender of God. To be honest, there was a bit of cognitive dissonance when I first came across the argument. I spent a long time in a religious cult which was very authoritarian I don’t think there was any question that God was male, and I certainly never thought about it. I hope the men in that group never get a hold of John Piper’s teachings, there would be hell to pay for all the poor women who are still in the group.

I have read some other blog posts discussing this issue, and I can see the argument that God is not human therefore he has no sex as such, however he does seem to talk in male terms about himself alot. He is a Father, Jesus is the Son, interestingly the Holy Spirit is also talked about in male terms, and this is something my husband and I have discussed with Jehovah’s Witnesses who believe the Spirit to be an impersonal force and not a person at all. We are so used to thinking of God, as a person, being a male person.

I would also like to bring up the issue of the book ‘The Shack’ which among other controversial issues in it’s pages has referred to God as both male and female, and with various ethnic origins. Frankly, I think this goes back to the idea that we are portraying God as a human again, since God has no ethnicity, that is purely a human trait, as much as sexuality is. I appreciate the reminder that the pagan religions had their supreme God sitting in heaven as an old man with a beard down to his feet. God is spirit and not flesh, and if anything, he dwells in unapproachable light, so we can’t see his form if he has one at all even if we can see Him.

I must look into this further. The longer I have been out of the controlling church, the more my mind is being opened up. It’s a bit scary, but I enjoy testing the waters and questioning things and allowing God to show me His truth.

Thankyou for the obvious work that has gone into this blog.