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Time to think again?
Posted by Derrick
on
10:53
One thing that has been vexing me a little lately is the issue of gender and God. There has been a good deal of stuff from supposed Christians who argue that t is ok to call God She rather than He. Now, I don't really have a major issue with it. God certainly doesn't. He has been called a lot worse after all but it has annoyed me for two reasons.
Firstly; much of it is coming from prominent Christians and they are setting a bad example. One piece in particular found its way into my sphere of attention this week. It comes from the chaplain to the Bishop of Rochester (the last bishop to have any authority over me).
Here is a quote for you to muse on
But how we talk affects how we think. Centuries of keeping women linguistically out of the picture has helped keep them out of the picture politically, financially and legally – what the tongue doesn’t mention, the eye needn’t see. Keeping silent about the feminine aspect of God, helps keep our theology androcentric, keeps us thinking, at some level, that God is male, that male images of God are somehow more accurate ... To talk about God as ‘her’ - not all the time, but often - widens our concept of the divine. God ceases to be an old man in the sky, but becomes someone ‘bigger’ than can be described by just one pronoun. She becomes a God of wind and fire and smoke and silence. We can stop crowbarring the Holy Spirit into some sort of false-feminine aspect, but allow the whole Trinity to be ‘she’ from time to time. God becomes the Queen of Heaven, Holy Wisdom, Divine Comforter, still robustly personal, but also more, also beyond us and above us: the Unknowable Incarnate.
The whole piece can be found here -
God is a she
The thing is, these people get a lot of attention for their ideas. Not a bad thing in and of itself one might argue but what are their aims? The aim of a Christian must surely be to seek and save the poor, lonely, disadvantaged and lost. To preach the gospel of Christ's crucifixion, death and resurrection. Sadly though, all too often these people are more concerned with righting a wrong rather than sharing the gospel. Their all encompassing desire for full social equality ignores the real social inequalities on the streets and in the houses of Britain.
Moreover, there seems to be a desire to liberalize the church. Take on trendy ideas and you will make your church more appealing. Sorry, I disagree (as I will show in a little bit). These important people in the Anglican church need to stop sharing trendy ideas and start sharing the gospel a little more.
Secondly; there is a similar desire to do away with gender in scripture. More and more bibles are removing obviously male language and replacing it with gender neutral language. In some cases this is fine. It makes sense and it has no bearing on doctrine. The problem is though, that sometimes it does have a bearing. One verse in particular, Hebrews 2:6, often sees the phrase 'son of man' removed and swapped with various collective nouns for humans.
Removing the son of man? Why is that even necessary? Surely it misses a vital link with the Son of Man.
Overall, as I said earlier, it doesn't really matter to God. He has no gender. He does indeed have both feminine and masculine aspects but it is important to remember that one part of the Trinity does, actually, have a gender. Jesus was born a man, lived as a man (or as one particularly pedantic friend of mine would say - as a cis-gendered man!), died as a man and rose from the grave as a man. Would this affect me, were I a woman? Did Christ die more for me because we share the same gender? The answer to that is surely no.
It is interesting to note that those denominations who are sticking to Scripture and to the real message of the Gospel are thriving. Look at the Free Church of Scotland or the church I go to. Whereas, those like the C of E and the Church of Scotland, those who water down the gospel and change the saving message of Christ in line with societal trends, they are dying on their feet. The Anglican church is a generation away from irrelevancy. I will mourn its loss but will not follow its lead anymore.
If it helps you to understand God more, do play up his motherly tendencies. Don't however change scripture to suit your ideas. The gospel is bigger than your ideas or mine and should remain the focus. Do this and it will all be ok
Firstly; much of it is coming from prominent Christians and they are setting a bad example. One piece in particular found its way into my sphere of attention this week. It comes from the chaplain to the Bishop of Rochester (the last bishop to have any authority over me).
Here is a quote for you to muse on
But how we talk affects how we think. Centuries of keeping women linguistically out of the picture has helped keep them out of the picture politically, financially and legally – what the tongue doesn’t mention, the eye needn’t see. Keeping silent about the feminine aspect of God, helps keep our theology androcentric, keeps us thinking, at some level, that God is male, that male images of God are somehow more accurate ... To talk about God as ‘her’ - not all the time, but often - widens our concept of the divine. God ceases to be an old man in the sky, but becomes someone ‘bigger’ than can be described by just one pronoun. She becomes a God of wind and fire and smoke and silence. We can stop crowbarring the Holy Spirit into some sort of false-feminine aspect, but allow the whole Trinity to be ‘she’ from time to time. God becomes the Queen of Heaven, Holy Wisdom, Divine Comforter, still robustly personal, but also more, also beyond us and above us: the Unknowable Incarnate.
The whole piece can be found here -
God is a she
The thing is, these people get a lot of attention for their ideas. Not a bad thing in and of itself one might argue but what are their aims? The aim of a Christian must surely be to seek and save the poor, lonely, disadvantaged and lost. To preach the gospel of Christ's crucifixion, death and resurrection. Sadly though, all too often these people are more concerned with righting a wrong rather than sharing the gospel. Their all encompassing desire for full social equality ignores the real social inequalities on the streets and in the houses of Britain.
Moreover, there seems to be a desire to liberalize the church. Take on trendy ideas and you will make your church more appealing. Sorry, I disagree (as I will show in a little bit). These important people in the Anglican church need to stop sharing trendy ideas and start sharing the gospel a little more.
Secondly; there is a similar desire to do away with gender in scripture. More and more bibles are removing obviously male language and replacing it with gender neutral language. In some cases this is fine. It makes sense and it has no bearing on doctrine. The problem is though, that sometimes it does have a bearing. One verse in particular, Hebrews 2:6, often sees the phrase 'son of man' removed and swapped with various collective nouns for humans.
Removing the son of man? Why is that even necessary? Surely it misses a vital link with the Son of Man.
Overall, as I said earlier, it doesn't really matter to God. He has no gender. He does indeed have both feminine and masculine aspects but it is important to remember that one part of the Trinity does, actually, have a gender. Jesus was born a man, lived as a man (or as one particularly pedantic friend of mine would say - as a cis-gendered man!), died as a man and rose from the grave as a man. Would this affect me, were I a woman? Did Christ die more for me because we share the same gender? The answer to that is surely no.
It is interesting to note that those denominations who are sticking to Scripture and to the real message of the Gospel are thriving. Look at the Free Church of Scotland or the church I go to. Whereas, those like the C of E and the Church of Scotland, those who water down the gospel and change the saving message of Christ in line with societal trends, they are dying on their feet. The Anglican church is a generation away from irrelevancy. I will mourn its loss but will not follow its lead anymore.
If it helps you to understand God more, do play up his motherly tendencies. Don't however change scripture to suit your ideas. The gospel is bigger than your ideas or mine and should remain the focus. Do this and it will all be ok
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