Just for clarification, I was making conversation, imputing my opinion and furthering this thread. So get over it.

The force...heh...God is the light side and Satan is the dark side

That's hysterically funny to me for some reason...

Just for clarification...the topic isn't limited to just male or female; I just brought that up because many religions have a gendered god, and that is something that we can comprehend... but at the end I said, what are your thoughts? So really, anything's game...

Indeed, I think that God is sexless and really nothing like humans, kind of like a force of some sort...

****. Or something entirely else? Why must something be one or the other? Why can't there be a whole rainbow of possibilities? Why must a tree be either oak or willow? Why can we not have ash or aspen or cedar or maple or pine?

I agree with baber. God is supposed to be in everything, everywhere, all-encompassing. But to say "he" is both genders would suggest that in a sense he's neither.

The Creator is neither. Male and female are human attributes. Besides, what use does a being of energy have for gender?

From what I know God made mankind not just man in his image. So characteristics that women possess and that men possess as genders must be both present in him for them to be made in his image. I mean I always refer to him as my Father but I do think that he is above gender in that sense. And this is from what I know which in all reality is very little so take it with a grain of salt.

quote:

Originally posted by QueenOfHell:
Weren't they "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

I personally think god is a woman. There are more goddesses than gods in my religion.

That depends on which committee of preists you decide to follow. But don't worry, somehow in Christian logic BOTH are true.

quote:

Christ's last words on the cross "Father, forgive them. For they know not what they do.)

Weren't they "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

I personally think god is a woman. There are more goddesses than gods in my religion.

in hinduism..we have to many male and female gods...
but for me somehow god is always male for no particular reason.......

Neither---God is everything. He is a heavenly deity. We call him "He" to add earthly constrictions so that our minds can comprehend. But he is neither male nor female.

I believe that God, the Christian one is male. I believe this because

1) We call Him "Heavenly Father"
2) Christ called Him "Father" (example: Christ's last words on the cross "Father, forgive them. For they know not what they do.)
3) My religion puts a great emphasis on marriage and we have a figure called "Heavenly Mother," God's wife. Heavenly Father doesn't tell the world her name because he knew that people would use both His name and His son's in an irreverant manner or "in vain." Heavenly Father loves her much too much to bear her name being used so.

I also believe that God has a defined shape, and is a Child of a Different God and has been exalted. Exaltation is the idea that if we are righteous on earth, we can become Gods and Goddesses, and have our own worlds and spiritual children. Before you ask, I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, more commonly called "Mormon," but we are trying to stamp out that term.

That is what I believe.

Discussing it other places, I've often heard this:

quote:

It's also pretty clear that the Bible was written by male members of a patriarchal society. Perhaps a bit of bias?

Well, there have been mistakes like that, such as the fact that in Matthew the heritage given of Christ is traced through Mary, as is the Jewish tradition to trace it through the mother, but in the Bible it says that it is traced through Joseph, as it is in Luke. However, if you read the Hebrew version, he is still referred to as "father." Yes, Hebrew is a very vague language and sometimes doesn't have very large distinctions, but there is a distinction between "father" and "mother," or in Hebrew:




Or, since the new testament is written in Greek and a tiny bit of Arabic:

Arabic-
Mother = Om

Father = Ab

Greek-

πατέρας= father
Mother=
*******>********>

μάνα
*******>********>

He's called He in the Bible, so I'm going with He.

For some reason I think an etheral, omnipotent force wouldn't have the need for sexual reproduction, and therefore would be genderless. Even given that it has a sex, one would assume the experiance, power, and wisdom compiled in such a being would have rendered gender irrelevent long ago.