Quote:
Originally Posted by 100_Percent_Juice
No. The bible says that God is a spirit. Just as assigning human features to God is not to be understood literally, the use of male gender to describe God should not be taken literally. Gender distinction is unique to physical creatures and is a linguistic device that reflects the limitations of human language to capture fully the essence of God.
The Bible’s use of the designation “Father” helps us to understand that our Creator can be compared to a loving, protective, and caring human father. (Matthew 6:9) This does not mean that we are to view God, or even other spirit creatures in heaven, as being male or female. Gender, in the sense of sex, is not a characteristic of their nature.
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That is a very reasonable response. The male gender thing often bugged me. I dunno though, the whole man-create-in-His-image thing combined with most artistic depictions gives people the impression he is some old dude with grey hair and beard and a loin cloth or robe which must be there to cover something. A god having actual gender and grey hair and wearing clothes is quite ridiculous.