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Podcast
Calling God She
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Transcript
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Hi, I'm Dave DeWitt, and today I want to talk about the question, what about calling
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God she?
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There are three arguments used to support calling God she.
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Number one, God created man in his image, male and female.
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Number two, God is also referred to as a mother.
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And three, calling God she emphasizes the love of God.
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So I'll talk about those just a little bit, one at a time.
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First of all, God created man in his image, both male and female.
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The elders of a church, a friend of mine attends, recently defended using feminine terms for
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God.
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Here's a few of the elders' comments.
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God has no gender.
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If he were a man, only men would be in his image.
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When God created man in his image, he created them male and female.
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Bisexuality is not God's quality.
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Well, here's my answer.
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But the men and women were not created the same.
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God created man from the dust, but the woman was taken out of man because it's not good
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for man to be alone, Genesis 2.18.
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When these elders go back to creation to demonstrate that both the males and females are created
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in the image of God, they neglect the rest of the story.
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Eve was not created as head or even as co-leader with Adam.
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She was created as a helper suitable for him.
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Of course, God does not have gender in the sense of sexual identity.
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Jesus told the Samaritan woman God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship him
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in spirit and in truth.
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God is spirit, but God is also a him, a personal being who is a planner, creator, sustainer
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of everything, Isaiah 45, 5-7.
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The pronoun he identifies with the masculine identity in the sense of headship.
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Any reference to God as she would not be a God who is a planner, creator, and sustainer
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of all things.
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She sounds like a God who is in submission to some other God.
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Now the second comment, God is also referred to as a mother.
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Well, there are six references used to claim God as a mother.
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Here's those references with my comment.
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First one is Deuteronomy 32, verse 18, you neglected the rock who begot you and forgot
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the God who gave you birth.
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My answer, this is a metaphor about God creating the nation of Israel.
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Moses had no intention of suggesting God was feminine.
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If this says God is an actual mother, then it says God is an actual rock.
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Psalm 131-2, surely I have composed and quieted my soul like a weaned child rests against
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his mother.
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My soul is like a weaned child within me.
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Answer, David is talking about his own composure, not the character of God.
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Isaiah 49-15, can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of
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her womb?
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Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.
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Answer, this is a contrast, not an identification.
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The point is God's compassion goes beyond that of a mother.
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Isaiah 66-13, as one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you and you will be comforted
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in Jerusalem.
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Answer, in the context, starting with verse 10, this is a Jerusalem, not God who's referring
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to as the comforting mother.
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Hosea 11-3, yet as I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them in my arms even though those
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may forget, but I will not forget you.
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Answer, why is this a reference to a mother?
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Fathers might also teach their children to walk.
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Matthew 23-37, Jerusalem, Jerusalem who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent
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to her.
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How often would I gather your children together the way the hen gathers their chicks under
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their wings and you are not willing?
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Answer, there's no more intent here to refer to God as a mother than there is to refer
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to God as a chicken.
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The point is God wants Jerusalem to return to him.
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This is not an attempt to feminize God.
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The God of the Bible is called a father, not a mother.
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Deuteronomy 32-6, is not he your father who brought you?
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Malachi 2-10, do we not have one father?
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Has not one God created us?
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Matthew 6-9, our father is in heaven.
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John 10-30, I and the Father are one.
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First Corinthians 8-6, yet for us there is but one God, the Father.
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In the Gospels alone, Christ used the term father in direct reference to God for nearly
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160 times.
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Now the objection number three, calling God she emphasizes the love of God.
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Here's some comments made by an unnamed author representing Christian feminism today, quote,
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When I say she, when I think of her, I get a full, warm, compassionate feeling in my
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heart.
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I get a God of love feeling.
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When I say he, I don't get that same feeling.
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Maybe it's because of the image of God I absorbed during my childhood, the scary dude who sat
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up in heaven and judged the quick and the dead.
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Maybe it's because everyone I've ever met who makes a point to exclude LGBTQ people
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call God he.
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I don't know, but I do know that she just feels more like a God of love to me.
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That's a close quote.
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My answer, God does not just have one attribute.
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The attribute of God includes truth, holiness, righteousness, and justice.
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Throughout scripture, God initiates his contact with sinful man in the form of judgment, flood
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of Noah, destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, exile of Israel, and the death of Jesus to
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pay for our sins.
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Paul wrote, but because of your stubbornness and an unrepentant heart, you're storing up
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wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.
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That's in Romans 2.5.
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Let's think about the plan of salvation.
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Salvation message of Christ and the apostles was first bad news, not good news.
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It was first a realization that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans
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3.23.
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Not a, quote, full, warm, compassionate feeling, close quote.
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As Jesus said, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
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That's in Matthew 10.28.
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John's statement, perfect love casts out fear, means there must first be fear for perfect
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love to cast out.
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If God was just a, quote, full, warm, compassionate feeling, close quote, without truth, holiness,
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and justice, there would be no need for Jesus to die for our sins, which may be the point
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of the liberal progressive agenda.
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The last point I want to make is that the God of the Bible is he because he denotes
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headship.
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1 Corinthians 11.3, but I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, man
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is the head of every woman, and God is the head of Christ.
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Feminine references and gender neutral references are never used and should never be used to
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denote the God of the Bible because those designations diminish the headship, the lead
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of God.
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The Old Testament Hebrew had only masculine and feminine pronouns, and it shows the masculine
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for God every time.
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The New Testament Greek has gender neutral terms, yet God is always referred to in masculine
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terms.
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Any reference to God as she or mother or any other feminine term is not talking about the
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God of the Bible.
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It's not determined by studying the Bible.
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It's not an application of some biblical passage.
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From Genesis to Revelation, the God of the Bible is referred to with a masculine personal
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pronoun.
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Genesis 1.27, God created man in his own image.
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In the image of God, he created him, male and female.
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He created them.
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Revelation 4.2 and 3, immediately I was in the spirit, and behold, a throne was standing
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in heaven, and one sitting on the throne, and he who was sitting on it was like a jasper
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stone and sardis in appearance.
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Well thanks for listening.
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If you're interested in my paper on the subject, it's available on our website, relationalconcepts.org.
