»Do spirits/angels/god have gender?«

Traditionally, God is referred to as Him. Is God really male or female, though?

Meanwhile, angels are a mixed case. In religious texts, they are typically described as male. In religious art, they are depcited as either male or female. But would angels really have a gender, either?

In addition, what about the souls of humans? Do souls have a gender? Do men have male souls, and do women have female souls? In the afterlife, would each person's soul have a gender?

posted by Tiefling

in-my-opinion.org -> Religion and Mysteries, from worship to werewolves -> Religious & Philosophical Topics -> Do spirits/angels/god have gender?

Make a poll

Make a poll out of your question, please

posted by knn

Naturally (in my opinion) the female personality differs from the male personality so that if angels were to be holy they would have to be men(according to the bible because of Eve woman are the heart of all evil)But if you were to imagine that they were different genders might they be something completely unhuman?

posted by Kupov

Just to clarify

Kupov1:

I am not a christian so just to clarify i do not beleive women are the heart of all evil

posted by Kupov

i think that spirits and angles are so mush beyond the material things sush as gender, food, illness ... so they cannot be really defined

posted by zombi

Quote:

Traditionally, God is referred to as Him

Not quite. "Wind"/"spirit" is feminine in Hebrew, and that's a reference to God. God (אדני, אלהים, י־ה־ו־ה) is masculine, his spirit (Genesis 1:2) is feminine. This was a thing taught to me by a univrsity professor one Friday evening.

But, see, [almost] none of you know the Bible, or read it in Hebrew exclusively with a wide linguistic base and a lot of skepticism, so Razz

(That was a joke, by the way).

posted by Jonathan Howard

Religion is a form of magic which converts unanswerable questions into unquestionable answers.

Kupov:

according to the bible because of Eve woman are the heart of all evil

where's that bible verse? I learned something new, I guess

i also read somewhere, that adam began androgynous and began as a dualistic entity and then split into two beings male and female,i.e. adam and eve. i don't remember if this is in the literal hebrew translation or not as you stated here

Jonathan Howard:

But, see, [almost] none of you know the Bible, or read it in Hebrew exclusively with a wide linguistic base and a lot of skepticism, so

but i sure am curious...can you let us know if the hebrew word for adam or this first androgynous adam is masculine or feminine or both?

posted by The ONEder Man

I know where you live. I will send a rape commando -- knn

Jonathan Howard:

That's pretty interesting, actually. So it would seem the original Hebrew recognized that God was neither male nor female.

However, today, traditional Christians do indeed refer to, and think of, God as male.

posted by Tiefling

The ONEder Man:

i also read somewhere, that adam began androgynous and began as a dualistic entity and then split into two beings male and female,i.e. adam and eve.

Yeah because Eve was made of Adams rib.

posted by Kupov

Tiefling:

However, today, traditional Christians do indeed refer to, and think of, God as male.

Yeah, doesn't that suck? Not again

posted by a

Kupov:

Yeah because Eve was made of Adams rib

um duh? we are talking spirits here

oh and kupov you didn't answer my question above...

posted by The ONEder Man

Kupov:

if angels were to be holy they would have to be men(according to the bible because of Eve woman are the heart of all evil)

What the...?
...onederman already pointed this out, so I'm not going to elaborate.

Hmm... I have this book called "Cracking Da Vinci's Code"... and it has a little section discussing the gender of God - I'll type it up:

"The GOd of the Bible, though called our heavenly Father, has no gender... That's not to say that God is a mix of human maleness and human femaleness. We can't describe Him as androgynous. God created male and female genders; they don't define Him. And while He created us "male and female" for a number of reasons, one was certainly to express in the created universe some diverse elemetns that reflect His own character. SO even while the Bible most often refers to God by masculine names and pronouns (such as "Father" and "he"), sometiems he is compared toa mother holding a newborn or to a hen guarding her chicks (see Matthew 23:37; Isaiah 49:15)."

posted by nocturnal_anonymous

"NO CAPES!"

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