Is God Father and Mother? Is God beyond gender?

[Raphael Jauregui]

In 2016, the first diocesan woman bishop of the Church of England said that God is neither male or female and that she avoids gendered pronouns for God. "According to [Bishop Rachel] Treweek, God should not be given a gender. During her October 26 inauguration into the House of Lords, she said, 'God is not to be seen as male. God is God.'" God is not Male or Female - 'God is God' - Christian Blog

Interestingly enough, on January 15 2017, Bishop Treweek presided at a Eucharist with Inclusive Church. Senior Anglican Bishop To Preside At LGBT Eucharist | Christian News on Christian Today

 

[Dkh587]

My personal opinion, is that it's correct to use gender pronouns for the Father, Son & Holy Spirit.

The only person that could be a "she" out of the 3 is the Holy Spirit. I don't call the Father or Son a she. I call the Holy Spirit a she if I'm going to refer to Her with pronouns. We are born of the Holy Spirit. Don't the women/females in nature give birth?


Obviously some part of God is feminine/female because God created mankind as man and woman. I often ponder where exactly the concept of Father(male) & Mother(female) joining together to bring forth a child comes from.

if earthly concepts in creation stem from heavenly concepts, then it should make us wonder: who/what/where does the model of the human family come from? Was there already a heavenly family consisting of a Father, Mother & a child/multiple children before the human family was created? I believe so

If the Most High is our Father, which He is, and Jesus is our Brother, which He is, who is our Mother? Again, looking at nature, you can't have children without a mother.


Even the animal kingdom and vegetation consist of male & female reproducing offspring.

Food for thought.

 

[Stabat Mater dolorosa]

God possesses all the qualities both male and female, but he clearly is male.
Christ is/ was a man and he's God and referred to that Godhead as Father and taught us about the HS as a distinct male person.

If you believe Christ you know that the trinity is male.

Mary is put in as our mother, the new Eve.
If ones looking for a motherly character then she is the way to go.

Christ gave Mary to us for that exact reason.

 

[Jakil]

God possesses all the qualities both male and female, but he clearly is male.
Christ is/ was a man and he's God and referred to that Godhead as Father and taught us about the HS as a distinct male person.

If you believe Christ you know that the trinity is male.

Mary is put in as our mother, the new Eve.
If ones looking for a motherly character then she is the way to go.

Christ gave Mary to us for that exact reason.

She is much more than Mother of Christ.
She is protection for all christians and a shield for them.
We put our trust in her.

 

[eldios]

In 2016, the first diocesan woman bishop of the Church of England said that God is neither male or female and that she avoids gendered pronouns for God. "According to [Bishop Rachel] Treweek, God should not be given a gender. During her October 26 inauguration into the House of Lords, she said, 'God is not to be seen as male. God is God.'" God is not Male or Female - 'God is God' - Christian Blog

Interestingly enough, on January 15 2017, Bishop Treweek presided at a Eucharist with Inclusive Church. Senior Anglican Bishop To Preside At LGBT Eucharist | Christian News on Christian Today

A commandments is written in the OT, "Thou shall honor thy Father and they Mother".

This commandment has nothing to do with our earthly parents who we call our father and mother. The "Father" in this commandment is our Creator who is totally invisible to us. The "Mother" is the invisible creation by our Creator. The Mother is were all men were created in the beginning, the Spirit of God.

So the word "virgin" in the prophecy of Isaiah 7 means the INVISIBLE "Mother" called the Holy Spirit of God who never had sex with the Father to give birth to all created men.

 

[FenderTL5]

God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Two thoughts, we are created in the image of God. I'm not so certain that we should put God in the image of man. Secondly, both male and female were created in the image of God. So whatever there is in mankind that is like God, it would seem to be present in both genders.

 

[Stabat Mater dolorosa]

She is much more than Mother of Christ.
She is protection for all christians and a shield for them.
We put our trust in her.

Indeed, indeed so brother.
She is indeed "refugium peccatorum".

 

[Kerensa]

This is a very interesting question and one deserving of a lot of thought — may I just share some ideas from my own Bible studies over the years?

Jesus tells us that God is Spirit (John 4:24) — ultimately above and beyond our earthly concepts of gender. That said, I wouldn't agree with the idea of always dropping all gendered pronouns when we speak of God. That can be helpful at times when it works, but when it means going into bizarre linguistic gymnastics — "God has revealed God's self to God's people" (etc.) — just to avoid ever saying "he", "him" or "his", I think it starts to look a bit silly and tedious. Human language is always inadequate, anyway, when it comes to describing the divine!

(It's also worth remembering that not only were the Biblical texts written in a very male-dominated culture, but Hebrew is a language that (like French or Spanish) has no neuter gender, linguistically speaking. So everything in Hebrew is denoted as either "he" or "she" when pronouns are used, whether or not the entity in question is literally male or female. That's quite difficult for us English speakers to comprehend, with our language where we normally only use "he" and "she" to refer to beings that are biologically male or female.)

I do consider there's a Biblical basis for understanding God as both Father and Mother. As a few others here have pointed out, the simplest and clearest indication of this is in the very first chapter of the Bible. Both "male and female" — all men and women collectively — are created explicitly "in the image of God" (Genesis 1:27). Since God's image or likeness includes both male and female, it follows that God must include equally the qualities we call masculine and the qualities we call feminine — not in any material sense, of course, but in a wholly spiritual sense. These spiritual qualities of both genders complement, balance, support, and strengthen each other, both being equally part of the nature of God.

Granted, Jesus Christ came to earth as a human male. (Well, he had to come in a form that people of that time would relate to... just think how far he would have got — or not, rather — in first-century Middle Eastern culture if he'd come as a woman and described God as our Mother! ) But we could say that Jesus himself expressed the qualities of both fatherhood and motherhood in his ministry on earth. Along with fatherly authority, boldness, wisdom, strength, decisiveness, fearlessness (and many more), he equally embodied grace, love, compassion, tenderness, gentleness, patience, kindness, thoughtfulness, care, consideration (and many more) — all attributes of motherhood, of mothering love. As the Apostle John tells us, "God is love" (1 John 4:7-8) — again, a presence and power that includes and yet transcends both genders.

More below...

 

[Kerensa]

Is there any evidence in the Old Testament that God can be considered feminine as well as masculine? I would say there is, although we have to look a little below the surface for it.

The Old Testament has if anything an even more patriarchal atmosphere than the New, but even in these earlier Scriptures, there are hints of the nurturing, mothering nature of God. In Deuteronomy, Moses compares God to a mother eagle watching over her young. While most modern English translations use the neuter ("its nest", etc.) in this passage, the original Hebrew is feminine. Here it is from the KJV:

As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young,
spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:
So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him. (Deuteronomy 32:10-12)

Much later in Jewish history, the final chapter of Isaiah uses explicitly feminine and mothering imagery to describe the return of the exiled Hebrews to Jerusalem, culminating in this declaration from God:

As one whom his mother comforts,
so will I comfort you;
you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. (Isaiah 66:13)

A particular word used many times throughout the Hebrew Scriptures to refer to God’s nature is racham, meaning compassion or mercy. It is even used specifically as a name for God in Deuteronomy 4:31 — El Rachum, "God of Compassion". This term derives directly from the Hebrew root word meaning "womb" — a very clear reference to God’s love as the love of a mother for her child.

One of the earliest names for God given in the Bible is El Shaddai, dating from the time of the patriarchs onwards. There's no absolute agreement among scholars on what this name originally meant; most English translators render it as "God Almighty", on the basis that Shaddai may come from the verb shadad, "to overpower or destroy". However, other Hebrew scholars have suggested that it could be derived from shad, the Hebrew word for "breast", and may also be connected with dai, meaning "sufficient" or "enough" — implying the nourishing, sustaining, all-sufficient nature of God’s goodness, nurturing as a mother nurtures her child.

(More information on this topic here: The Hebrew Names for God - El — scroll down to "The All-Sufficient God".)

One hint of this feminine, mothering aspect of El Shaddai, even very early in OT times, is seen in Jacob’s blessing on Joseph in Genesis 49:25:

by the God of your father, who will help you,
by the Almighty [Shaddai] who will bless you
with blessings of heaven above,
blessings of the deep that lies beneath,
blessings of the breasts [shadaim] and of the womb [racham].

So as I see it, there is definitely a legitimate basis for concluding that God is equally our Father and Mother — regardless of which pronouns we choose to use for God, if any.

 

[1213]

In 2016, the first diocesan woman bishop of the Church of England said that God is neither male or female and that she avoids gendered pronouns for God. "According to [Bishop Rachel] Treweek, God should not be given a gender....

Bible says God is a Spirit:

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
John 4:24

And Jesus calls that Spirit his Father.

You heard how I told you, 'I go away, and I come to you.' If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I said 'I am going to my Father;' for the Father is greater than I.
John 14:28

Does this mean that the title father is not tied to biological gender?

 

[RaymondG]

God is not a MAN that he should lie?

I happen to believe that my Father is both Male and Female, and Neither Male nor Female. My God is Awesome....and That's enough for me.

 

[DrBubbaLove]

In 2016, the first diocesan woman bishop of the Church of England said that God is neither male or female and that she avoids gendered pronouns for God. "According to [Bishop Rachel] Treweek, God should not be given a gender. During her October 26 inauguration into the House of Lords, she said, 'God is not to be seen as male. God is God.'" God is not Male or Female - 'God is God' - Christian Blog

Interestingly enough, on January 15 2017, Bishop Treweek presided at a Eucharist with Inclusive Church. Senior Anglican Bishop To Preside At LGBT Eucharist | Christian News on Christian Today

Jesus called His Father "Daddy". While I understand popular culture today has many bending gender notions about our nature, it does not appear His Son was ever confused about Who He is or Who His Daddy is.
If there is a Mother in all this, we should think of the Body of Believers, His Holy Church, as our Mother as it is Her roll role to make more of us while helping raise us (not to mention for Her to be His Bride). And no, I mean universal so don't take offense so quickly.

 

[RaymondG]

If we want to get strict on gender reading in the bible we have to go all the way and say : Women cant be Sons of God, and Men cannot be considered Brides of Christ.

 

[eldios]

God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Two thoughts, we are created in the image of God. I'm not so certain that we should put God in the image of man. Secondly, both male and female were created in the image of God. So whatever there is in mankind that is like God, it would seem to be present in both genders.

Most people miss the fact that one MAN was created MALE and FEMALE. The first body that woke up in the world named Adam was the MALE body. Then Eve was formed in another body that was FEMALE. Adam and Eve were ONE created MAN. However, all their offspring starting with Cain only got one body. Cain committed adultery when he had sexual relations with another body on earth. That's because the body of Cain was formed from the information of both male and female, genetically speaking.

This will all be straightened out in the next generation after Satan and the beast have been destroyed on the day of the Lord. Then one created man will wake up in two bodies who will be partners forever. One body will be a male and the other body will be a female. It is written in the Bible, " What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder."

 

[Aseyesee]

Male and female is a relational issue.

 

[FenderTL5]

Most people miss the fact that one MAN was created MALE and FEMALE. The first body that woke up in the world named Adam was the MALE body. Then Eve was formed in another body that was FEMALE. Adam and Eve were ONE created MAN..

Another thing that I see that I have no idea of its significance - if any at all - is that God named both of them 'Adam'.
(Gen 5) Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.
It was after the fall that the man named his wife 'Eve' in Gen 3.
"..Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.."

 

[eldios]

Another thing that I see that I have no idea of its significance - if any at all - is that God named both of them 'Adam'.
(Gen 5) Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.
It was after the fall that the man named his wife 'Eve' in Gen 3.
"..Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.."

If you don't believe that one man was created both male and female as information called the Word of God, then you won't understand anything else in the Bible.

 

[DrBubbaLove]

If you don't believe that one man was created both male and female as information called the Word of God, then you won't understand anything else in the Bible.

Leaving nearly 2 millennium of Christians in the dark.

 

[eldios]

Leaving nearly 2 millennium of Christians in the dark.

Yes. Not one Christian knew that the millennium reign of Christ started when Jesus was the first servant to testify to the knowledge of God called Christ. The first witness lasted about 300 years until the Roman government killed the last of the saints who were preaching the gospel of God. The Jewish religion of Judaism became the new Christianity once the Romans destroyed their Jewish temple in Jerusalem. Many of the Jews were already practicing this new religion based from some stolen words from God's servants who then formed new false gospels with those words from Christ.

Then there was a 1700 year gap in which the beast operated in the minds of men to build false gods all over the world until the computer age started. This is when the second witness began to form when God began connecting to His chosen believers to prepare them to hear the true gospel of God spoken to them until this knowledge revealed exactly how we were created from nothing but the thoughts of our Creator.

I am the last servant to testify to this knowledge of Christ and witnessed the revealing of the whole Truth, which is a simulation program with an AI and Voice system all contained in stored information. As the program is played out, we characters come to life within our individual minds which are all connected to this AI and Voice system.

 

[DrBubbaLove]

Yes. Not one Christian knew that the millennium reign of Christ started when Jesus was the first servant to testify to the knowledge of God called Christ. The first witness lasted about 300 years until the Roman government killed the last of the saints who were preaching the gospel of God. The Jewish religion of Judaism became the new Christianity once the Romans destroyed their Jewish temple in Jerusalem. Many of the Jews were already practicing this new religion based from some stolen words from God's servants who then formed new false gospels with those words from Christ.

Then there was a 1700 year gap in which the beast operated in the minds of men to build false gods all over the world until the computer age started. This is when the second witness began to form when God began connecting to His chosen believers to prepare them to hear the true gospel of God spoken to them until this knowledge revealed exactly how we were created from nothing but the thoughts of our Creator.

I am the last servant to testify to this knowledge of Christ and witnessed the revealing of the whole Truth, which is a simulation program with an AI and Voice system all contained in stored information. As the program is played out, we characters come to life within our individual minds which are all connected to this AI and Voice system.

How nice for you.