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god having gender traits?


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Posted

[quote name='Aloysius' date='Sep 16 2005, 12:58 PM']WORDS have gender, PEOPLE have sex.
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Was that about my post? I think it was. If it wasn't oh well...

Words do have genders, though not really in English so much. Yet, what is God? He isn't really a person so to say (yes He is in Jesus, but I'm talking about all 3 persons). Okay, we call God 3 persons in 1, right, but "persons" is somewhat of a misnomer in my mind. He is not a person like you and I are people. He is everything. So we're back to God just being a noun. Jesus was a he; He was a person; He did the 'human thing'. But God didn't He is an entity, a being, an indescribable noun.

And yes people have sex. That's how we all got here.... :saint:

Posted

I think what's important is that God is the Model, and we are the (imperfect and finite) image. As a result, our masculinity and feminity reflects something of God and not vice versa. Thus, to ascribe masculinity or feminity to God would be somehow limiting Him.

Yeah, what those A guys said...

Just saying the same thing over and over in different ways. (You spin me round and round...)

Posted

[quote name='scardella' date='Sep 16 2005, 11:26 PM']I think what's important is that God is the Model, and we are the (imperfect and finite) image.  As a result, our masculinity and feminity reflects something of God and not vice versa.  Thus, to ascribe masculinity or feminity to God would be somehow limiting Him. 

Yeah, what those A guys said...

Just saying the same thing over and over in different ways. (You spin me round and round...)
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yes i totally agree

Posted

[quote name='toledo_jesus' date='Sep 16 2005, 09:33 AM']God is Authority, and therefore addressed as a male.  however, He certainly is not a human, though we are in His image.  So, it is easier for me to say, "God is omnipotent and can do whatever He wills" than to assign human characteristics to Him.
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Actually, God's authority is not the reason He is addressed as male.

God penetrates us, He is the first actor.
We are the ones penetrated by His presence, we are always the recipient.
He is always life-giving (fertile), we are often infertile due to our concupiscence.

THAT'S why every divine Person is addressed as He.

JP II even talks about how the Word of Scripture needs to "penetrate us" in order to bring forth Christ in our hearts - it's in Catechesi Tradendae somewhere.

You'll also note that Mary almost always has a book of Scripture on her knee in medieval and Renaissance paintings of the Annunciation - the same idea is at work.

I've got a books on both of these subjects: Sex and the Sacred City for the theology of the body part, and Artfully Teaching the Faith for a study of art masterpieces.

Posted

[quote name='track2004' date='Sep 16 2005, 11:55 PM']Was that about my post?  I think it was.  If it wasn't oh well...

Words do have genders, though not really in English so much.  Yet, what is God?  He isn't really a person so to say (yes He is in Jesus, but I'm talking about all 3 persons).  Okay, we call God 3 persons in 1, right, but "persons" is somewhat of a misnomer in my mind.  He is not a person like you and I are people.  He is everything.  So we're back to God just being a noun.  Jesus was a he; He was a person; He did the 'human thing'.  But God didn't He is an entity, a being, an indescribable noun.

And yes people have sex.  That's how we all got here....  :saint:
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There are lots of paradoxes when talking about God.

There are several ways to define "person."

One way is to say "a person is that which possesses an intellect and a will."

Now, there is one divine intellect and one divine will = divine nature = God.
Each Divine Person possesses the one divine intellect and the one divine will to Himself - there is no sharing of the will and the intellect.

Strictly speaking, God is not a noun - He calls Himself the "I Am."
God is a verb. He is also the unmoved Mover.

The CCC says that in God there is neither male nor female, but our understanding of both mother and father, man and woman, etc., all reflect qualities of the Godhead.

Again, I discuss this at much greater length in Sex and the Sacred City. Nearly everyone who has read it has told me it helped them understand who God is in Himself. I wrote it after teaching RCIA for several years. The first chapter is the toughest, just wade through it and the rest is commentary on the first chapter.

Posted

[quote name='skellmeyer' date='Sep 17 2005, 12:03 AM']There are lots of paradoxes when talking about God.

There are several ways to define "person."

One way is to say "a person is that which possesses an intellect and a will."

Now, there is one divine intellect and one divine will = divine nature = God.
Each Divine Person possesses the one divine intellect and the one divine will to Himself - there is no sharing of the will and the intellect.

Strictly speaking, God is not a noun - He calls Himself the "I Am."
God is a verb. He is also the unmoved Mover.

The CCC says that in God there is neither male nor female, but our understanding of both mother and father, man and woman, etc., all reflect qualities of the Godhead.

Again, I discuss this at much greater length in Sex and the Sacred City. Nearly everyone who has read it has told me it helped them understand who God is in Himself. I wrote it after teaching RCIA for several years. The first chapter is the toughest, just wade through it and the rest is commentary on the first chapter.
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or should we say that god reflected his qualities of mother amongst females and father amongst males? Is that what you are saying?

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