Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site zehntel.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!houxm!houxz!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!hplabs!zehntel!zinfandel!greg From: greg@zinfandel.UUCP Newsgroups: net.religion Subject: Re: Deific gender question - (nf) Message-ID: <1572@zehntel.UUCP> Date: Sat, 11-Aug-84 04:25:14 EDT Article-I.D.: zehntel.1572 Posted: Sat Aug 11 04:25:14 1984 Date-Received: Mon, 13-Aug-84 00:48:34 EDT Sender: root@zehntel.UUCP Organization: Zehntel Inc., Walnut Creek, CA Lines: 24 #R:pyuxn:-95700:zinfandel:20600009:000:955 zinfandel!greg Aug 9 12:21:00 1984 Maybe we're looking at this backwards. Maybe the Biblical view of God as male isn't just man's projection of his own nature onto God. Let's not forget that when Jesus came to the earth, He came as a man. "And [Jesus] is... the exact representation of [God's] nature." (Heb. 1:3) He could have come neuter, couldn't He? Look again at the passage in Ephesians that describes the way husbands and wives should relate. (Paraphrased) Husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the church. Wives should submit to their husbands as the church should submit to Christ. "This mystery is great, but I am speaking with reference to *Christ and the church*." (5:32) Maybe God created us with gender so that we could better understand His nature. Maybe instead of "transcending" gender He fulfills it. Well, we'll just have to wait and see... "Now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face." (I Cor. 13:12) Greg Boyd zehntel!zinfandel!greg