Christian Message Boards: Is God a man?

This is topic Is God a man? in forum Questions & Answers at Christian Message Boards.

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Posted by Crusader (Member # 4035) on :

Yesterday someone asked me "Is your God a man now?" When I refered to Him as the Father. And I was uncertain how to answer him.

I know we call God the Father, or Him. But I have never thought of it in the terms of whether He has a sex. So I was uncertain on how to answer that.

Does anyone here know?

Posted by WhiteEagle (Member # 3728) on :

I believe in John 4 is the story of Jesus and the woman at the well. He tells her that God is a Spirit, we need to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

God has no sexual gender, He is Spirit. We are taught to identify Him as male.

I was taught that was to show that ones who worship a Queen of heaven are not worshiping the one True God.

There has been goddess worship since the times of the Old Testament. They worship nature, mother earth, the queen of heaven, etc.

We identify with the One True God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and we refer to Him.

Jesus taught us to pray and call God, Our Father.

Does that help?

Posted by Lunarius (Member # 4205) on :

Good question Crusader, and also a good response from WhiteEagle.

I will add this: we do worship God as a spirit. One of the reasons I was taught that we apply a male connotation is because of the element of strong LEADERSHIP that we follow, just as the role of the male in human relationships is meant to be leadership, and that of the female is the nurturer, while both support and care for the needs of one another, as each posses that trait which the other seeks for completion. This is how we were built to function.

At first, I also wondered why nobody ever referred to God as "she", especially as God gave us life, i.e. - a woman gives birth to a child, but remember, God has no gender and that the COMING TOGETHER of a man and a woman in marriage (and joining of the flesh) is a REFLECTION of HIS image. This is outlined in Genesis.

Christ taught us that God is the "Father" of all mankind partly because He LEADS us through the wilderness, into his light, and shows us what is right in his way.

Posted by Caretaker (Member # 36) on :

Matt. 5:
That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Matt. 6:
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7

But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
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Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
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After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
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Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
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Give us this day our daily bread.
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And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
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And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
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For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
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But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Posted by BORN AGAIN (Member # 5) on :

Crusader, you could also say that because you have been bornagain with the Holy Spirit, you are now an adopted son of God, and as such, God is now also your Father Who is in heaven and we are His adopted sons and daughters through the Spirit which came into us once we believed in the finished work of Jesus. (Not that an outsider is going to understand all that, but, nonetheless....)

God bless, [Cross]

BORN AGAIN