Comments on SANDER CHAN 陈文山: God, He or She?

To start off, I would like to say that I think tha...

2009-10-20T01:20:49.032+08:00

To start off, I would like to say that I think that woman bears just as much of God's image as man. However, men and women do have different roles in the family. Woman was clearly created to be man's helper, not all women to all men, but one man and one woman through marriage. This is clearly seen throughout the Bible, including the passage you quoted from Timothy.

We know for a fact that Christ was male, and his bride the Church is (at least in a sense) female. All Christian's are to be a helper to Christ, as a wife is supposed to be the helper to a husband.

From ephisians 5

22Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

23For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

24Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

25Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

26That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

27That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

28So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

29For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:

30For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

31For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

32This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

33Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

Dear Eric, Thanks for your comment. I agree with ...

2009-08-25T22:56:44.085+08:00

Dear Eric,
Thanks for your comment. I agree with you that God's sex does not necessarily translate into a certain human social organization. However, a greater part of the Church assumes man is the image of God. In the Genesis account the woman was only created later, as a 'helper'. I do not agree with this interpretation, but it is one that is quite mainstream. It suggests that God is masculine and therefore men are a better resembling image of God than women. We see this interpretation working out the submission of women. I am sure you know the quotes, but let me give you an example:(1 Tim. 2:12-15) "I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control."

So how about the one woman who happens to be very good at teaching. Or the woman who will not bare a child, is she lost?

Best! S.

Thanks for your openness, Sander. It's good t...

2009-08-25T15:30:52.295+08:00

Thanks for your openness, Sander. It's good to hear what you're thinking and feeling these days. I can relate to some of the feelings you express in your post -- and I agree wholeheartedly that God expresses a perfect sense of femininity as well as masculinity, as described in the Bible.

I think the assignment of a pronoun to God is actually less of an issue of sexual dominance -- and more an issue of personal relatability. As someone who's tried my hand at writing a good bit, I've learned that it's incredibly difficult to create some kind of androgynous character (though it would sometimes seem nice to be able to do this, so the reader could more easily identify with the narrator, for instance, regardless of his or her sex). It's just hard to relate to an "It" or a "He/She" as a person. Thus, assigning God a gender (as imperfect as that may be) helps us to relate to Him better.

Anway, those are just a couple of random thoughts I had as I was reading your post. Like I said, it's just good to hear what you're up to these days. We miss you here in Amsterdam.