I was reading in the book of Isaiah and was struck once again at how often God reminds us that He is the only God to be worshipped. There is only ONE God, not two as the WMSCOG teaches. God would not say something in the Bible that He would have to contradict later in order to reveal "Mother God" to the world. No, that would make Him out to be a liar, which He cannot be.
The following verses are from Isaiah chapters 42-46. Look how often God repeats it in these five chapters.
I'll include the Hebrew word used for God in each. You can see, it doesn't matter whether you're talking about "Elohim," "El," or "Eloah," the LORD (YHWH, Jehovah) is the only one.
"I am the LORD, that is My name;
And My glory I will not give to another,
Nor My praise to carved images." (Is. 42:8)
“You are My witnesses,” says the LORD,
“And My servant whom I have chosen,
That you may know and believe Me,
And understand that I am He.
Before Me there was no God [El] formed,
Nor shall there be after Me.
I,even I, am the LORD,
And besides Me there is no savior." (Is. 43:10-11)
Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel,
And his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts:
"I am the First and I am the Last;
Besides Me there is no God [Elohim]." (Is. 44:6)
"Do not fear, nor be afraid;
Have I not told you from that time, and declared it?
You are My witnesses.
Is there a God [Eloah] besides Me?
Indeed there is no other Rock;
I know not one.’” (Is. 44:8)
I am the LORD, and there is no other;
There is no God [Elohim] besides Me.
I will gird you, though you have not known Me,
That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting
That there is none besides Me.
I am the LORD, and there is no other; (Is. 45:5-6)
This is what the LORD says: ... "They will bow down before you and plead with you, saying, 'Surely God [El] is with you, and there is no other; there is no other god [Elohim].'" (Is. 45:14 NIV)
For thus says the LORD,
Who created the heavens,
Who is God [Elohim],
Who formed the earth and made it,
Who has established it,
Who did not create it in vain,
Who formed it to be inhabited:
“I am the LORD, and there is no other." (Is. 45:18)
"Tell and bring forth your case;
Yes, let them take counsel together.
Who has declared this from ancient time?
Who has told it from that time?
Have not I, the LORD?
And there is no other God [Elohim] besides Me,
A just God [El] and a Savior;
There is none besides Me.
Look to Me, and be saved,
All you ends of the earth!
For I am God [El], and there is no other." (Is. 45:21-22)
"Remember the former things of old,
For I am God [El], and there is no other;
I am God [Elohim], and there is none like Me," (Is. 46:9)
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Mothers and Fathers...and Snails
An interesting thing happened at our house. Some time ago I put a snail in our aquarium, but it died after a while. Occasionally when I cleaned the tank, I'd find some tiny "rocks" stuck on the filter. I could tell they were snail-shaped, but very, very tiny. I threw them back into the water to see what would happen.
Yesterday, we were admiring our fish and noticed many snails. Those tiny snail-shaped "rocks" were real snails that had grown and were now about the size of a pencil eraser. They are the same color as the rocks and hard to see on the bottom of the tank, but when they are crawling on the aquarium walls, it's obvious that they are living snails. You might think my family strange, but we adore our baby snails. They are cute!
How did they all get there? Snails can reproduce themselves without a partner. They don't need a mother and a father to make babies. One snail is both mother and father at the same time.
That brings me to one of the lines of thought the World Mission Society Church of God uses to show the existence of "God the Mother." Here it is:
Families here on earth have a father, a mother, sisters and brothers. Things on earth are copies and shadows of things in heaven. We have a physical father, and we have a spiritual Father (God). We have physical brothers and sisters, and we have spiritual brothers and sisters (fellow believers). We have a physical mother, therefore we must have a spiritual mother also--"Heavenly Jerusalem Mother."
They talk about how all the creatures on earth come from a mother and a father. They conclude that since all creatures must have a mother and a father to come into existence, then all creation testifies to the existence of a "Heavenly Mother." If you ever read any member blogs, you might see posts about this accompanied by cute pictures of both human and animal babies and family groups.
The official church website's page about Heavenly Mother states,
"It is written that God's invisible qualities have been clearly seen and can be understood through what has been made (Rom. 1:20). Is there any creature that is given life through only their father, alone, without a mother being present?... Since it is written that God created all things by His will, a certain will of God was expressed when He created mothers on this earth. As you know, all creatures have a mother figure. There is not a single creature that can come into existence without a mother."
That is not true. Our snail was what's called a simultaneous hermaphrodite. There are also creatures that reproduce by parthenogenesis (some types of reptiles, insects, and fish). There are a variety of creatures that can come into existence with only one parent.
Just thought you might find that interesting....
Yesterday, we were admiring our fish and noticed many snails. Those tiny snail-shaped "rocks" were real snails that had grown and were now about the size of a pencil eraser. They are the same color as the rocks and hard to see on the bottom of the tank, but when they are crawling on the aquarium walls, it's obvious that they are living snails. You might think my family strange, but we adore our baby snails. They are cute!
How did they all get there? Snails can reproduce themselves without a partner. They don't need a mother and a father to make babies. One snail is both mother and father at the same time.
That brings me to one of the lines of thought the World Mission Society Church of God uses to show the existence of "God the Mother." Here it is:
Families here on earth have a father, a mother, sisters and brothers. Things on earth are copies and shadows of things in heaven. We have a physical father, and we have a spiritual Father (God). We have physical brothers and sisters, and we have spiritual brothers and sisters (fellow believers). We have a physical mother, therefore we must have a spiritual mother also--"Heavenly Jerusalem Mother."
They talk about how all the creatures on earth come from a mother and a father. They conclude that since all creatures must have a mother and a father to come into existence, then all creation testifies to the existence of a "Heavenly Mother." If you ever read any member blogs, you might see posts about this accompanied by cute pictures of both human and animal babies and family groups.
The official church website's page about Heavenly Mother states,
"It is written that God's invisible qualities have been clearly seen and can be understood through what has been made (Rom. 1:20). Is there any creature that is given life through only their father, alone, without a mother being present?... Since it is written that God created all things by His will, a certain will of God was expressed when He created mothers on this earth. As you know, all creatures have a mother figure. There is not a single creature that can come into existence without a mother."
That is not true. Our snail was what's called a simultaneous hermaphrodite. There are also creatures that reproduce by parthenogenesis (some types of reptiles, insects, and fish). There are a variety of creatures that can come into existence with only one parent.
Just thought you might find that interesting....
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Is God Male or Female? Both or Neither?
Genesis 1:26-27
The WMSCOG says that since "God created man in his own image" and there are both male and female humans, then there must be two "Gods"--a God of the male image ("God the Father") and a God of the female image ("God the Mother").
I've already shown that the Hebrew word Elohim used here does not indicate that there are plural "Gods" creating the human race (see my study on Elohim, part 1, part 2, and part 3). If it did, then "said" and "created" would also have also be plural verbs, but they are singular. Plus, it would have said "their own image" and "they created," but those pronouns are singular also.
But besides that, what about gender--does God have a gender? Is God male or female, neither or both? And is that what being made "in his image" is about?
The questions below in red are what came to mind through this study.
If humans are created in God's image, does that mean God has a body like ours?
No, God is spirit, not flesh like us humans. (Yes, Jesus was God manifest in the flesh, but we're talking about the overall nature of God.)
John 4:24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.
The Bible talks about "spiritual bodies," but they are different than our earthly bodies, so we cannot say that God's image is a body like ours. (1 Corinthians 15:40,44)
Is there any place for the differences between the genders in the spirit realm?
These two verses would indicate no:
Mark 12:25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
God is referred to as "He" throughout the Bible. Does that mean He is male?
No, not necessarily. All nouns in Hebrew are either feminine or masculine. There are no neutral nouns (it). Everything is a "he" or a "she," even the door, the rock, and the fence. It's interesting to note that while Hebrew nouns for "God" are grammatically masculine, the Hebrew word for God's "Spirit" is grammatically feminine. It's not possible in Hebrew to refer to God as gender-neutral, so there is still the possibility that He is neither male nor female (or that He is both at once).
How about the masculine images of God that we see in the Bible--the Father and the Son, and even the Bridegroom? Does that mean He's male?
There are some feminine images of God too. They appear less often, but they are there. For example, God is pictured as a mother (Isaiah 49:14-15, 66:13), a woman in labor (Isaiah 42:24), having a womb and giving birth (Job 38:29, Deuteronomy 32:18)...
Then there is "El Shaddai" -- This Hebrew title of God means "The All Sufficient God" and is usually translated "God Almighty." It comes from the word "shad" which means "breast." So it describes God's sufficiency like a mother who is able to provide all the nourishment her new baby needs. It's used 48 times. Here it is in Genesis 17:1
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God [El-Shaddai]; walk before Me and be blameless."
So is this proof that there is "God the Mother" as well as "God the Father" just as the WMSCOG teaches?
No. If you look more carefully, those verses that show God in a feminine light refer to the LORD, which is YHWH, or Jehovah. The WMSCOG teaches that Jehovah is "Father God" and not "Mother God." So these verses are NOT referring to their separate "Mother God." Instead they describe feminine traits of Jehovah.
Then, is God both male and female at the same time, since He is pictured sometimes as male and sometimes as female?
No, not exactly. He is also pictured as a...
lion (Jeremiah 35:28 and 50:44)
bear (Lamentations 3:10 and Hosea 13:8)
hen (Matthew 23:37 / Luke 13:34)
rock (Deuteronomy 32:18 and 2 Samuel 22:47)
fire (Deuteronomy 4:24)
dove (John 1:32)
God is pictured as having hands (Exodus 33:22-23), feet (Isaiah 66:1; Nahum 1:3), and eyes (2 Chronicles 16:9), but also wings and feathers (Psalm 63:7 and 91:4).
Is God literally all of these things? Then neither must He be literally male or female.
All of these descriptions of God are literary devices (anthropomorphisms or personifications) to show God to us in a way we can understand.
I will conclude with a quote from a dear family friend, who is a Bible scholar, former pastor, and missionary worker. (Thank you, Brother, for your guidance with this study.)
"Being made in the image of God has nothing to do with gender or flesh, but that man and woman were made in the likeness of God's morality (holiness without sin), socially made to have fellowship both with God and man (remember God came seeking Adam and Eve in the garden to walk with them) and mentally able to make decisions and choices, reason and love all of which separated man and woman from the animal kingdom."
For more information about God as male or female, please read The Image of God here.
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;
let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the
air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
The WMSCOG says that since "God created man in his own image" and there are both male and female humans, then there must be two "Gods"--a God of the male image ("God the Father") and a God of the female image ("God the Mother").
I've already shown that the Hebrew word Elohim used here does not indicate that there are plural "Gods" creating the human race (see my study on Elohim, part 1, part 2, and part 3). If it did, then "said" and "created" would also have also be plural verbs, but they are singular. Plus, it would have said "their own image" and "they created," but those pronouns are singular also.
But besides that, what about gender--does God have a gender? Is God male or female, neither or both? And is that what being made "in his image" is about?
The questions below in red are what came to mind through this study.
If humans are created in God's image, does that mean God has a body like ours?
No, God is spirit, not flesh like us humans. (Yes, Jesus was God manifest in the flesh, but we're talking about the overall nature of God.)
John 4:24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.
The Bible talks about "spiritual bodies," but they are different than our earthly bodies, so we cannot say that God's image is a body like ours. (1 Corinthians 15:40,44)
Is there any place for the differences between the genders in the spirit realm?
These two verses would indicate no:
Mark 12:25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
God is referred to as "He" throughout the Bible. Does that mean He is male?
No, not necessarily. All nouns in Hebrew are either feminine or masculine. There are no neutral nouns (it). Everything is a "he" or a "she," even the door, the rock, and the fence. It's interesting to note that while Hebrew nouns for "God" are grammatically masculine, the Hebrew word for God's "Spirit" is grammatically feminine. It's not possible in Hebrew to refer to God as gender-neutral, so there is still the possibility that He is neither male nor female (or that He is both at once).
How about the masculine images of God that we see in the Bible--the Father and the Son, and even the Bridegroom? Does that mean He's male?
There are some feminine images of God too. They appear less often, but they are there. For example, God is pictured as a mother (Isaiah 49:14-15, 66:13), a woman in labor (Isaiah 42:24), having a womb and giving birth (Job 38:29, Deuteronomy 32:18)...
Then there is "El Shaddai" -- This Hebrew title of God means "The All Sufficient God" and is usually translated "God Almighty." It comes from the word "shad" which means "breast." So it describes God's sufficiency like a mother who is able to provide all the nourishment her new baby needs. It's used 48 times. Here it is in Genesis 17:1
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God [El-Shaddai]; walk before Me and be blameless."
So is this proof that there is "God the Mother" as well as "God the Father" just as the WMSCOG teaches?
No. If you look more carefully, those verses that show God in a feminine light refer to the LORD, which is YHWH, or Jehovah. The WMSCOG teaches that Jehovah is "Father God" and not "Mother God." So these verses are NOT referring to their separate "Mother God." Instead they describe feminine traits of Jehovah.
Then, is God both male and female at the same time, since He is pictured sometimes as male and sometimes as female?
No, not exactly. He is also pictured as a...
lion (Jeremiah 35:28 and 50:44)
bear (Lamentations 3:10 and Hosea 13:8)
hen (Matthew 23:37 / Luke 13:34)
rock (Deuteronomy 32:18 and 2 Samuel 22:47)
fire (Deuteronomy 4:24)
dove (John 1:32)
God is pictured as having hands (Exodus 33:22-23), feet (Isaiah 66:1; Nahum 1:3), and eyes (2 Chronicles 16:9), but also wings and feathers (Psalm 63:7 and 91:4).
Is God literally all of these things? Then neither must He be literally male or female.
All of these descriptions of God are literary devices (anthropomorphisms or personifications) to show God to us in a way we can understand.
I will conclude with a quote from a dear family friend, who is a Bible scholar, former pastor, and missionary worker. (Thank you, Brother, for your guidance with this study.)
"Being made in the image of God has nothing to do with gender or flesh, but that man and woman were made in the likeness of God's morality (holiness without sin), socially made to have fellowship both with God and man (remember God came seeking Adam and Eve in the garden to walk with them) and mentally able to make decisions and choices, reason and love all of which separated man and woman from the animal kingdom."
For more information about God as male or female, please read The Image of God here.
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