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Now, this topic has been discussed before I know. But, to my knowledge, not to this level. Hopefully this will end the debate once and for all, or at least keep it all in this thread to cut back on spam.

God is used in Hebrew as a gender-neutral term(or rather, it was understood He was even there were no gender-neutral nouns). This is unusual since Hebrew does not have Gender Neutral nouns or pronouns(such as it or he/she). This could also be compared to the use of no vowels in words such as YHVH, literally the Hebrew has no vowels. True we pronounce it "Yaweh" but the sound of the word is mere speculation on our part. Now, onto the OP.

Now assuming nouns have gender in the Bible(in Hebrew) it becomes a lot easier to identify the gender of God.

The Spirit of God "Ruach Elohim" and the presence of God "Shekhinah " are both used with feminine nouns...making God female? Hardly...look at the word for animal: "hayyah". This is a feminine noun, they would have used to refer to all animals in a generic since. Does that mean they believed all animals to be female? No. It just helps to classify, such as the spanish "El" and "La" for masculine and feminine nouns.

Now looking at three commonly used words for God in the Bible, "Elohim", "El", and "Adonai," we see those are masculine nouns. So then we now have God refered to, in Hebrew, both as masculine and feminine.

So what must one conclude? Simply God has no gender. Since Hebrew has no gender-neutral nouns they simply used both genders to show God was all encompassing, or above, beyond, what have you.

And that friends, is YHVH's "gender".

Commonly Used Arguments Pro-male:



"In His image" is not refering to sex, nor any manifestation of our physical appearance. Bur rather we have conscienceness, the ability to know right and wrong, free-will, and a since of self. All of these attributes we share with God.

P.S. Title of thread is just to raise attention to the thread and to show that this is a commonly misunderstood concept.

And it makes common sense.
The purpose of gender is sexual reproduction.
Why would God be within that system?

Gender roles, really do not qualify for an argument seeing as they are not true.



Agreed. Hince the point of the thread wink

Well really it only speaks out against homosexuals in regards to temple Prostitutes in the OT. Other than that I cannot find anything.



Meaning we have conscienceness. Emotion. The ability to know right and wrong. Not the physical manifestation or looks or gender of God. To my knowledge anyway.



That is probably more accurate. There are a lot of names used for God in the OT, as I showed in the OP. Some consider these to be different Gods in the Hebrew faith. But I present it is the different personalities of God, and the gender roles Hebrews of the OT attributed those attributes to.

I don't see what meaning it would have to assign God a sex anyway.

Male and female is a concept that stems from the necessity of reproduction; and God doesn't reproduce.

Not to mention that he lacks gametes, so he has no biological sex. If you then wanted to assign him a gender based on social constructions go for it, but it would be your construction - not something inherent to him (TEEHEEE LOOK AT THAT PRONOUN).

Gasp and whatnot, but more importantly, LYSIA IS FEMALE LOL?

Furthermore, yes, yes, God is an It. That having been said, what effect would it's having a gender have? In all seriousness. I've always been kind of curious about this. Do you treat a male deity differently than a female deity, or does it say anything about humans males in relation to human females, or what?

Of course in his image was not in respect to gender. It refers to being a free willed moral being that is (or at least contains an eternal component) eternal.