MUST READ PART 1 FIRST
Now that we got all that out of the way, back to the original question. Why do we refer to God as “He?” It very well could be because Elohiym is masculine. That would make a lot of sense. But if that’s the case, then why don’t we call the Holy Spirit “she” since the Hebrew word that is always translated “Spirit” in reference to God is Ruha? Ruha is a feminine plural noun.
Let’s just say, hypothetically, that the feminine and masculine tenses were just something the ancient civilizations made up and it got passed down and they don’t mean anything; now if we believe that God the Father and God the Holy Spirit (whether they are the same entity or separate makes no difference right now) are invisible spiritual entities that created the universe and all that exists, would it not be a Reasonable Assumption to make that with only a consciousness and no physical body that God could not have a gender? I think so.
And if Adam and Eve were both created in God’s image and likeness, and God does not have a physical image, would it not also be a Reasonable assumption to make that “image” is speaking of a figurative image rather than a literal image? In which case, God would represent both male AND female. So why DO we refer to God as “He?”
Maybe it got lost in translation. Literally. For all extensive purposes, women had no rights until the late 1800’s when the Women’s Rights Movement took off. Before then, the translators of the Scriptures (which were all biased political men) could translate them however they wanted, and they did. By the time common people could gain access to the earliest scriptures available, the masses were already used to referring to the Godhead as “He.” Maybe it just stuck.
OR… maybe God really is physical male beings as Elohiym describes. No, not THE God, Source of Existence God, but the God or Gods described in the Bible. Maybe what the ancients were experiencing as Gods, angels, and demons were actual physical beings that “came down from the heavens?”
Maybe these beings were thought of as Elohiym because they were powerful and strong and could perform seemingly miraculous things. Maybe the ancients called them Elohiym because they hadn’t seen any being like them before, and out of their amazement, they deemed them gods.
Read more » And if Adam and Eve were both created in God’s image and likeness, and God does not have a physical image, would it not also be a Reasonable assumption to make that “image” is speaking of a figurative image rather than a literal image? In which case, God would represent both male AND female. So why DO we refer to God as “He?”
Maybe it got lost in translation. Literally. For all extensive purposes, women had no rights until the late 1800’s when the Women’s Rights Movement took off. Before then, the translators of the Scriptures (which were all biased political men) could translate them however they wanted, and they did. By the time common people could gain access to the earliest scriptures available, the masses were already used to referring to the Godhead as “He.” Maybe it just stuck.
OR… maybe God really is physical male beings as Elohiym describes. No, not THE God, Source of Existence God, but the God or Gods described in the Bible. Maybe what the ancients were experiencing as Gods, angels, and demons were actual physical beings that “came down from the heavens?”
Maybe these beings were thought of as Elohiym because they were powerful and strong and could perform seemingly miraculous things. Maybe the ancients called them Elohiym because they hadn’t seen any being like them before, and out of their amazement, they deemed them gods.
