The church wants to make God gender neutral. Is this a good idea?

Question

To my keep up with modern times the church of England is thinking about making God non-gendered. Now I openly admit I'm an atheist but even I visualise God as a man in a robe with a big white beard. As for the immaculate conception, Mary getting poked with a turkey baster just doesn't sound right.

www.dailymail.co.uk/.../...h-England-services.html

So, what do you think is time to make God more WOKE?

BCRanger10 · Accepted Answer

This is just the Anglicans up to their usual antics.

At any rate, it's a bad idea because it's wrong. If what Scripture tells us is true, then God is revealed as male and is to be referred to as such. This cannot be changed on account of the speculations of a bunch of woke crackpots trying to be "with it". On that note, no, it is not time to make God more "woke". I don't know what their intent is with this, but it's not going to work. If it's to attract more and younger members by becoming more "modern", it won't work because modernization in Christianity has clearly proven to be nothing short of a total disaster, and that's putting it nicely.

The only other option then is that their confirming their own biases and passions. My response to them would be "Okay... great. So what? What credibility does that give to your witness and mission?"

And point of clarification (this is a common mistake), the Immaculate Conception refers to the conception of Mary in her own mother's womb and not that of Jesus Christ. That would be the Annunciation.

CheeseMonster · Accepted Answer

God clearly calls himself HE, but he also uses a lot of maternal language to describe himself. Both man AND woman are created "in his image." Personally I totally think God is sexless. But, there is the son, who was incarnated in a sexual, male body. This may be a part of the limitations he accepted, such as being in one physical space at a time. Being one sex. It could be part of fulfilling prophecy, like his being born in Bethlehem was. Etc.

But regardless of the technicalities, God consistently chooses to represent himself as masculine. He refers to himself as father/son/husband, when Elijah has that vision God is personified as an old man with white hair, and Christ was given a male body on Earth. So if the church wants to be respectful to God, I think they should stick to he/him pronouns—even when speaking of the father or spirit.

And if you think about it, saying repsect preferred pronouns is actually more woke than saying we're gonna call God by his (lack of) physical traits, rather than what he identifies himself as. 🖖

Jaylenn · Accepted Answer

He is already neutral... He is all things to all people.. Jesus was a man in human form, when he ascended to heaven he sit's at God's right hand... If you have to think of God as a man or a woman, you've already lost the concept.. must we fight about everything?

Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 32) Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God; [in other words, adapt as much as you can in non-sinful ways] 33) just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved. [That's the same as 9:22, "I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some." Then comes the answer to our question, in 11:1.] Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Chris

jennifer_bloom · Accepted Answer

I believe the creator is both male and also gender neutral. It's just in older societies, woman were not allowed to be leaders, so they made God a male, so he would be honoured by both men and women.

ObscuredBeyond · Answer

In other words, they refuse God the Father, because fathers are for learning discernment and wisdom, and are also chief givers of discipline. In their hubris, they want none of that. Changing the character of God to suit that rebellion against those needs is the same folly of every decaying empire.

First, they sought God. Then, they sought money, while paying lip service to God. When worshiping money led them to commit atrocities and get called out for it, they blamed the God they no longer sought for their own misdeeds.

Then, they sought sex and validation, popularity, pretentiousness, etc. And were willing to even sacrifice money and profitability on that altar, while doubling down pigheadedly on not only refusing to return to God, but engaging in open hostility toward any who would.

But if the Anglican heretics think making unto themselves a graven image of a Mother Tree, and emulating the most drooling stupid of the pagan world, is going to solve anything, then the Anglican church is more lost in delusion than the ELCA. And I didn't want to believe that was even possible!

21Cowboy21 · Answer

I think of you interpret god as a devine spirit it is irrelevant what gender he is.

But if you interpret him as a "father" most times someone is refering to "father" they are refering to their old man.

I think if god wanted himself presented as gender neutral - he will reveal himself in that way to those people

And if god wants someone to see him as more of a father figure (as 1/3rd of the trinity) than that will be the way he will happen to reveal himself to that person.

I am agnostic but I feel god is powerful enough that he is able to create a unique relationship with each person he bestows his blessing upon - and will reveal himself to that person the way he sees fit.

bean2k21 · Answer

The idea that God has a gender is completely absurd to me and I cannot even believe the church would waste their time.

As someone who has died from a bee sting, and then was resurrected in an emergency room, I can tell you that God exceeds any definition you could possibly try to ascribe. If you can possibly imagine the moment of your death, the shear primal fear and terror that erupts from within you to stay alive, then know nothing but that fear and darkness, then imagine the exact opposite of it, then you have found God.

Some may argue it was just my pineal gland releasing DMT, and open the doorway to some trippy psychedelic world, and perhaps you're right.

But what I experienced cannot be described as an entity, a place, a space, or a time. It transcends all of these, and one cannot even imagine it, but once you are there, you understand what God is.

KostasKouvalis · Answer

Yeahhhhhhhhhh...

If I'm quite honest, I would've much more quickly expected this from Pope Francis, than the Church of England. At the same time though, knowing the Protestant Church, I'm kind of not surprised.

I don't see why it bothers people so much. Why does everything have to be so woke these days? What's next? Are they gonna make Hercules gender neutral? No wonder so many people are abandoning their faith. It doesn't make any sense to make God gender neutral. You would have to rewrite the entire Christian religion. All the prayers.

"In the name of the son, the holy ghost and the gender non-binary freak."

Good God, these people are stupid! Please leave our religion alone!

strateguy632 · Answer

i loved the clarified addition. we who believe mary was literal virgin, this not cause us defined god male, because it was miracle not fathering. also son means similar not grown from seed.

about god gender, in general the bible said god is "spirit" so not literally male, just male verbs and pronouns because hebrew grammar male included "window m. and door f. open" needs male verb.

if so gender nutral is not a compromise or "concession" for marketing. it emphasized an existing idea that people can relate to, despite prophets saw with beard.

also in book numbers god had female pronoun in hebrew so no need to define as male.

Red-Blaze · Answer

Yes no qruestion on that
I dont belive my self but talk around and heard

God will not have a gender as if thfy are one and only as christans belive why will they need genders? his not human, bisnot even alive, there not here now, they have not been here before, and not be later
As they exsist on a completely diffrent exsistince where time, space, and pysics have no meaning
and neiter will gender

TheVigilantFox · Answer

Isn’t mocking god a sin?

God is a man if he was a woman he’d be a Goddess.

To mock god is not a good idea at all.

He’s most likely up there thinking of a real plague to throw at us or thinking up something even more horrible.

Maybe this is why awful things happen like the earthquake in Turkey or wherever it was, it’s punishment for being wicked.

God works in mysterious ways.

sage2021 · Answer

Who would dare to be the person to change God's gender?
This question is way out there and very disrespectful.
All of these people that want to change everything in our world need to just stop it! They have gone too far for even thinking something outrageous as this.
Go home and stay home. Would ja?

SaoirseS · Answer

I parted ways with the church a few years ago for a host of reasons, one of which was I thought the church’s intransigence on several matters made it unable to keep pace with modern times. This was not what I had in mind though.

Dutch1987 · Answer

I have always perceived God as genderless, even if He presents as masculine. I believe in a personal God but the only physical (and clearly masculine) manifestation that comes to my mind is Jesus. The Father and the Holy Spirit are formless to me. I also believe the Godhead has both masculine and feminine qualities, which is why both men and women are made in His image.

lightbulb27 · Answer

Jesus said he would write it on their hearts, wasn't about imagery.

So just have image of Jesus, who was a male, can't be doubt in that. If people want image of him, then do so.

There is no image of God figurehead I know of.

They could go back to a golden calf, I don't care.

If Mary goes woke, then I'm scared.

Wraith_Cemetery · Answer

This idea isn't new. God has been percieved by many religions and churches as gender neutral (containing feminine and masculine energies) for hundreds of years. God is beyond physical human gender. "He" and "Father" are strictly linguistic terms.

Nobody is makingaGod more "woke".

DaisyM23 · Answer

i just saw that on twitter, i mean it's interesting because i saw a comment saying that because humans were created in god's image then god could be male or female, but at the same time i'm pretty sure the bible and most people in history have said god is a 'he' and called him 'father'
i'm not a christian though so it doesn't affect me

mstbooblover · Answer

Well, if God has to be attributed a gender, there are different ways to look at this matter leading to as well female as male. Maybe God is just a genuine androgyne ;0)

The Big Bang seems to have created matter and anti-matter, positive and negative charge, male and female, etc. You get the idea...

Exterminatore · Answer

If you have a god you can merely change with the culture, then it’s not much of a god at all. Certainly not a living god as humans ought not to be able to customize a god to the culture.

God is immutable. God is a male.

The attempt to do this is blasphemous and sinful.

Makeushiver · Answer

Well I can't see believing a god who was limited to a single gender. I think any god I could believe in would be above human conceptual understanding toward any concepts much less a gender. Of course, then you need to determine whether you're going to be incorrect insofar as grammar is concerned or assign a gender for use in terms of conversing about it

genericname85 · Answer

either god has no gender or he is male. there's no option for him being female, cause the bible states that he made adam after his own likeness.

but i don't care about that. i'm an atheist and i think this entire debate is as nonsensical as debating wether superman or batman would win in a fight. and this entire gender bullshit happening currently is also entirely nonsensical idiocy.

DARKCLOUD1945X · Answer

This is the usual WOKE BULLSHIT. God or The Trinity is describe as The Father The Son and The Holy Sprit the first two are male The third is described The Holy Spirit there is no gender assigned because it is just a spirit and cannot be assigned a gender

villainfantasy · Answer

No. He must be LGBT. Everyone must fight for is. God is the bravest. And the bravest thing on earth is to come out as an LGBT. We must make it illegal to not to call god as LGBT and we should hang anyone who disagree for a better peaceful world.

lucasnabizada · Answer

The concept of gender or gender neutrality is irrelevant to any god... He's not an individual...

The church wants to make God gender neutral. Is this a good idea?

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