Jewish Question-Can someone help me? (translation, genesis, Muslim, Holy Ghost)

[Alpha8207]

In another thread, Judaism came up and the following statement was made:

Originally Posted by Tricky D

To the Jews God has no sex so they refer to God as a male and as female.

Can a Jewish person please verify and explain this just a bit?

I've looked at The Torah and it always calls God a He.

Looking for an education--Thanks!

[Alpha8207]

I did find this:

Most adult Jews know that it is inappropriate to envisage God as male. But given the constant references in Jewish prayer to God as “Father” and “King” and given our childhood memories of imaging God as an old man with a long white beard, it is no surprise that to the extent Jews do conceptualize God in human terms, they often think of God as male or masculine. Jewish tradition recognizes that God is not male. To limit God in this or any way is idolatrous; God is understood by tradition to encompass both masculinity and femininity and to transcend masculinity and femininity. Unfortunately, many Jews have never incorporated this complex image of God into their theology.

from WUJS - The Language of God and Prayer

I'd just like some clarification.

[Tricky D]

I stated that Judaism generally refer to God as male, but the Holy Ghost (the breath of God) is referred to as female.
To Christians God is male, Jesus is male, therefore the Holy Ghost must also be male, right? And even when Christians see the Holy Ghost as female, the trinity garbles it all up by saying that they are all 1, while the Jews do not believe in the trinity.
The Jews are forbidden to portray God and claiming that God is male already is depicting God which is forbidden.

But hey what do I know, since I’m not a Jew right?
Or a Christian.
So it is impossible for me, Tricky D someone who professes not to be a Christian, Jew or Muslim, to understand the Bible, Torah or the Qur’an.

[Alpha8207]

Originally Posted by Tricky D

I stated that Judaism generally refer to God as male, but the Holy Ghost (the breath of God) is referred to as female.
To Christians God is male, Jesus is male, therefore the Holy Ghost must also be male, right? And even when Christians see the Holy Ghost as female, the trinity garbles it all up by saying that they are all 1, while the Jews do not believe in the trinity.
The Jews are forbidden to portray God and claiming that God is male already is depicting God which is forbidden.

But hey what do I know, since I’m not a Jew right?
Or a Christian.
So it is impossible for me, Tricky D someone who professes not to be a Christian, Jew or Muslim, to understand the Bible, Torah or the Qur’an.

I'm not saying you are wrong, TD. I'm saying I don't know and I'd like some information from a Jew. That was your suggestion and I think it was a good one.

[Oakback]

Genesis;
1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image...

1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them....


IMHO;
I've always believed God to be paternal and maternal.
I seem to put God in a box when I limit my perception to male/man/masculine/paternal.... only.

[Sgoldie]

Just as there are to be no graven images in worship, G-d cannot be assigned a particular gender, but encompasses the full spectrum of all. Since we cannot know the complete entity as in a face to face human being we are not allowed to limit any facet of G-d which is the belief. That is why the concept becomes the larger, which will not assign a single gender but both at the same time.

To do otherwise would be quantifying G-d which is impossible.

[Towhee]

Originally Posted by Sgoldie

Just as there are to be no graven images in worship, G-d cannot be assigned a particular gender, but encompasses the full spectrum of all. Since we cannot know the complete entity as in a face to face human being we are not allowed to limit any facet of G-d which is the belief. That is why the concept becomes the larger, which will not assign a single gender but both at the same time.

To do otherwise would be quantifying G-d which is impossible.

Off topic, but I am curious...why do you type G-d instead of God ????

Since all of my bible translations call God 'He' and since He is called 'Father', espacially by His only begotten Son, I refuse to think of Him otherwise.

[Miss Blue]

Just my uneducated opinion here When God created us in his image I don't believe he meant "mirror image"..I believe he was talking about our thinking process..He allowed us to think so we would fit into His plans for us which were made before He created us..The ability to choose, and the ability to reason I believe are some of the
imageof God..I think when and IF he used the word he, God was referring to mankind as distinguished from animal kind or natural..
I don't think God has a gender, that is strictly a human identity..
Assigning a gender to God whether male or female makes the other gender less important no matter how much it is sugar coated..

[Sgoldie]

For the same reason as the explanation about gender, that G-d cannot be fully encompassed (or understood) by ourselves. I have likewise seen religious books referring to G-d as she.

The whole topic is the difference between Judiasm and what evolved thru the Roman heirarcy and down to most of the Protestant religions. It is more than using the vernacular of 'he' for all, it is the belief by non-jews that G-d is in fact a male entity. This is too limiting in Jewish thought.

[Alpha8207]

Originally Posted by Sgoldie

For the same reason as the explanation about gender, that G-d cannot be fully encompassed (or understood) by ourselves. I have likewise seen religious books referring to G-d as she.

The whole topic is the difference between Judiasm and what evolved thru the Roman heirarcy and down to most of the Protestant religions. It is more than using the vernacular of 'he' for all, it is the belief by non-jews that G-d is in fact a male entity. This is too limiting in Jewish thought.

Ah, I like this. And actually not far from what I truly believe....but I do refer to G-d as a He.

I believe G-d is sexless if you will. He IS.

'He' is the Great 'I AM', yes?

PS Thanks for the info. This is something I am not as well versed on as I should be!