Which religion are you referring to? 'God' is not always a he in some faiths.
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God is neither male nor female. Like Ann Coulter. But not Ann Coulter. She's Satan.
Funny.
Ross PK:
Well, there are a number of reasons why most faiths believe God is a "He."
I am Catholic, so I will give you a philosophical Catholic reason as to why God is a He:
God is His existence (Aquinas, Anselm, Bonaventure, I'm fairly certain Augustine, as well as many others). Since His essence is His existence and since God is Perfect and is not lacking: God is fully in Act, meaning He has no potentialities as we and all other creatures do.
Ancients and Medievals as well as some Moderns believed women were deformed men. So, women were viewed as not being as actualized as men were. If men are more actualized than women, then it would seem inappropriate to call God who is fully Actualized a woman.
A more theological reason for this in the Catholic tradition comes from Christ who calls God "His Father." So, there was no dispute over God the Father being male; however, you may find it interesting that many early Christians thought that Christ had to be a hermaphrodite in order to grant salvation to women too.
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Last edited by always_searching; 19th October 2009 at 10:36 PM..
Well, there are a number of reasons why most faiths believe God is a "He."
I am Catholic, so I will give you a philosophical Catholic reason as to why God is a He:
God is His existence (Aquinas, Anselm, Bonaventure, I'm fairly certain Augustine, as well as many others). Since His essence is His existence and since God is Perfect and is not lacking: God is fully in Act, meaning He has no potentialities as we and all other creatures do.
Ancients and Medievals as well as some Moderns believed women were deformed men. So, women were viewed as not being as actualized as men were. If men are more actualized than women, then it would seem inappropriate to call God who is fully Actualized a woman.
Whoa! Deep. (sarcasm off)
Quote:
Originally Posted by always_searching
A more theological reason for this in the Catholic tradition comes from Christ who calls God "His Father."
God was initially referred to as "he," or in the masculine sense because there was no such thing as inclusive language back in the day. It's a fairly recent phenomena (past 30-40 years).
it's interesting to hear priests use inclusive language so as to not upset their parishioners ... my thought is that "I'm a chick, I know I'm a chick, so I'm not going to be upset when 'he' or 'him' are used, because I know that it's a 'you understood' statement." Same thing when referring to God. Much more quicker to write "He" than "He/She/It" when it's understood that God's all-inclusive.
also interesting that over the past 10-15 years of faith formation programs in the Catholic Church, the catechists go out of their way to emphasize both masculine AND feminine nature of God, so that people get a better grasp of the kind of love He offers.
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God was initially referred to as "he," or in the masculine sense because there was no such thing as inclusive language back in the day. It's a fairly recent phenomena (past 30-40 years).
Where are you getting your info from?
Isn't the word "we" recent???
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