Why is god called a "he"?

Please review the following rule in the Statement of Purpose for this forum:
Only Christian members may answer questions about Christianity. If you are a non-Christian you may ask questions about Christianity and present arguments against Christianity, but you may not give answers to questions asked about the Christian faith. Any further violations of this rule in this thread will be actioned by staff.

Motherofkittens said:

This is a sincere question. Why is god called a "he"? Does he have male private parts? Does he have testosterone? What about females? Is he half male half female?

If you say we are not made physically in gods image, just our consciences is than why is he called a "he"?

Click to expand...

Hello Motherofkittens,

I know Him as my father in heaven. He is a male person. Majority of adult males are somewhat incomplete men though, because their pride and macho-ism prevents them from expressing the fullness of grace in their character. Children (boys) don't really have this problem, because they aren't so self-concious (although they do mimic macho behaviours from their male role models - but they aren't really reserved about their tender side).

God the Father is the complete person, so it's not as though He is lacking that certain gracefulness that would make a female think He is incomplete. It's hard to straightaway know God's character if you haven't known Him before (John 14:8-9).

Here's an interesting thought: Dr. Henry W. Wright asks this question in his conferences: "I want you to raise your hand if this is you, and look around you to see that you're not alone in this. How many of you when you think back on your childhood, cannot recall hearing your father ever tell you that he loves you?". He finds that 95% of people raise their hand to that.

Why is it so hard for a man to open his heart and say "I love you"? It is because they are slaves to sin. Their pride, resentment, anxiety, fear or whatever it is, just prevents them from being completely free to express who they truly are. God does not have that incompleteness.

Anyhow, that's just the way He is: complete. But God is spirit, He doesn't have a gender identity as such. The way we think of male and female are somewhat distinct (because of the roles for each in culture, the way they dress/interact/behave/coexist). When God is described in scripture, it is a male identity rather than female that is chosen, because the stereotype of Adonai is best described as masculine: He is King of kings and Lord of lords. Culture has always been that these are male, because they swing a sword and reign with might. In the days when scripture was written, they didn't have gadgets and vehicles, all power was muscle power.

Motherofkittens said:

This is a sincere question. Why is god called a "he"? Does he have male private parts? Does he have testosterone? What about females? Is he half male half female?

If you say we are not made physically in gods image, just our consciences is than why is he called a "he"?

Click to expand...

Hebrew custom. God is personal but not embodied, at least not the Father and the HS. "He" as opposed to "it". This is not a slam on women, but an artistic expression common to Mesopotamian authors. What is unique to Judaism is a deity that is neither male or female. The surrounding cultures had both male and female deities. And offspring. Not YWYH.

Uber Genius said:

Hebrew custom. God is personal but not embodied, at least not the Father and the HS. "He" as opposed to "it". This is not a slam on women, but an artistic expression common to Mesopotamian authors. What is unique to Judaism is a deity that is neither male or female. The surrounding cultures had both male and female deities. And offspring. Not YWYH.

Click to expand...

And why does it matter to a Christian what Hebrew custom is?

@ToBeLoved

I spent quite some time writing a response to your request for sources. It was taken down presumably because a different post of mine was offensive. I'm trying to get it back but obviously you shouldn't hold your breath.

I really can't be bothered to write everything out again. So if you're curious, read for yourself Exodus 21, Numbers 31, Leviticus 25:44-46, look up "Nexum" on Wikipedia, and I'll be here for any questions you have.

-57 said:

Are you saying that the Bible really isn't inspired but is based upon the thoughts a patriarchal society?

Click to expand...

The latter is pretty obvious, can´t say anything about the first.

Motherofkittens said:

But why male? And what are females made after?

Click to expand...

Femals are made from Male. It is pretty obvious from human genetics, male has XY chromsomes, and females are made by get the X and duplicate it

Nihilist Virus said:

@ToBeLoved

I spent quite some time writing a response to your request for sources. It was taken down presumably because a different post of mine was offensive. I'm trying to get it back but obviously you shouldn't hold your breath.

I really can't be bothered to write everything out again. So if you're curious, read for yourself Exodus 21, Numbers 31, Leviticus 25:44-46, look up "Nexum" on Wikipedia, and I'll be here for any questions you have.

Click to expand...

I'll check it out and get back to you it's my thoughts.

Motherofkittens said:

What? If any gender made the other it would be females "making males".

Why? Because all males were once female, strictly speaking. Just google "males once females" and it will tell you all about it.

Click to expand...

Carefull. You might confuse him with all these real things and facts and stuff.

Motherofkittens said:

What? If any gender made the other it would be females "making males".

Why? Because all males were once female, strictly speaking. Just google "males once females" and it will tell you all about it.

Click to expand...

In embryo stage only, and that does not mean much

Scientifically no one knows how XY pairs starts, but from a creationist point of view (just my view), it makes sense that God created man first (with XY), and use the X and make the XX. It is almost like what we do in programming, reuse the libraries.

Motherofkittens said:

That's all good to believe if you want. Just curious, what does the creationist belief think about other genders? My family (hard core creationists) just deny it.

Click to expand...

I think the believe various as there is no way to know exactly what God has in mind. My personal believe is initially when our DNA are perfect, there are only male and female. Later as our DNA start to degrade, lines starts to blur (as the Y chromosome is getting shorter). But I think as Jesus mentioned, in heaven there is no marriage and we are all like angels, so it is likely normal since there were no sexes to begin with (nor end with after we die)

Motherofkittens said:

That's all good to believe if you want. Just curious, what does the creationist belief think about other genders? My family (hard core creationists) just deny it.

Click to expand...

Can you go into more detail about what you are trying to say? Are you saying that there are more genders than male and female or something?

Motherofkittens said:

Yes. A lot more. I actually meant to write "sex" though. There are more than just two sexes and genders.The 6 Most Common Biological Sexes in Humans that link is to six of the most common sexes.

When I believed in Adam and eve that came as quite a shock to me.

Click to expand...

And this is how people justify their own disobedience to what God has laid forth.

God didn't lay forth more than two genders. You are taking science as your authority, rather than God.

I feel very much for these people who have these difficulties. Most of us have a very heavy cross to bear in some area and this is a hard cross to bear. They have my compassion in their plight, believe me.

However, that does not change what God brought forth, two genders, male and female. And God said that it was good.