i think this is a non-issue..
it does not matter if god is male or female..
and i think the term external is a misnomer,god is everywhere..not just external..
if you believe in God, sound off here!
- Thread starter NMSquirrel
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i think this is a non-issue..
it does not matter if god is male or female..
and i think the term external is a misnomer,god is everywhere..not just external..
Not so much when you consider the differences between a matriarchal and a patriarchal society. Their Gods tend to reflect this difference. Male=warlike-dominating-unequal. Female=cooperative-egalitarian. Read "The Chalice and the Blade".
http://www.rianeeisler.com/chalice.htm
Oh, I get it from a cultural, anthropological perspective. But this is a a thread for people who actually believe. So they SHOULD have a better reason than the type of society in which their religion developed. PARTICULARLY if you are going to make the point of saying "HER" in all caps - you are saying that you specifically believe God is a she, so to that... I ask why.
Not everyone believes god is external to the universe. To me, the universe is all there is. External to the universe is a meaningless phrase. If there is anything else and it interacts with us, then it is part of our universe... Or we are a part of it, and we have just made the universe a larger place.
As for gender, I always thought it was Mother Nature & Father Time.
Even so, assigning gender to a deity inserts it into a biological tree that seems to be only relevant in a polytheistic belief structure, so the idea of specifically saying one believes in "God" and then calling it a "Her" seems nonsensical to me.
I agree, but people assign gender to inanimate objects all the time. (Most guys I know refer to their guitar as "she".)
I guess people who believe in a personal god feel a need to call it something other than "it".
While this is acceptable, I wonder if it leads to various other interesting questions. For instance, what type of 'voice' would such entity have? People typically perceive a god as having masculine voice, (an aspect of sexist history), but - given that it has no gender, we can't really expect it to have either a masculine voice or feminine voice. What then? Perhaps, like those aliens from Independence Day, it only 'speaks' telepathically or something.
I've never heard this before. Where are you getting that from? For me, God has always been an internal 'voice' in the sense of say, your conscience. It was once explained to me that whenever you have a thought that seems out of the ordinary, think about it. If it seems like something God would say, then it's God talking to you.
How would anyone know what "God" would say?
He/she/it has never spoken to me, or to anyone that I know.
Where am I getting what from?
I am very happy for you. I'm unsure how "you" means anyone else. I was enquiring what a god might sound like should it speak.
You're saying that it doesn't but that it is "an internal voice", (the rest of us call them 'thoughts'). I'm good with whatever answer you want to provide.
Cool, even you call them 'thoughts'. I am unsure what "out of the ordinary" means but it's fine.
How exactly would I tell if it's me "thinking" or a god speaking?
How would I know if it's something a "god would say"? Is there a "gods quotes" website or something?
That answer is dependent on which 'god' you are referring to. If you are referring to the biblical God, then the Bible provides a description of God's character. Based on that character, one can determine what God would say.
Ok, you say the bible provides a description of God's character.. Do you feel that every person that reads the bible, will come away agreeing on the same description?
Or, are you just saying that it's up to the individual to determine what their God would say?
Welcom to the groop Ultra... which God do you beleive in.???
God is given a masculine pronoun. Nowhere does it actually say "God is male". You don't automatically associate every object in French that has a masculine pronoun as actually being biologically male, do you?
No, I don't feel that every person reading the Bible will come away agreeing on the same description. Ultimately, I believe that such agreement and disagreement either reflects God saying different things to different people, based on what they need at the time, or a lack of spiritual alignment with God resulting in misdirection.
What I get from this is...If you "hear" something that's helpful or beneficial to you, then it's probably God...But, if it's the opposite, it's due to your being spiritually mis-aligned?
That "People typically perceive a god as having masculine voice".
That is correct. I can only answer your question for myself.
It means a thought that seems foreign to your typical thought processes.
Spiritual Discernment. It requires knowing both yourself and God well.
Your sarcasm notwithstanding, I answered this in another post. Basically, if it is inline with the character of God.