Valsdad,
To further this discussion,
How do "we" know God is a "he"?
We have no idea Who or What exactly God is. We do know from history God is very loving and extremely harsh. Consider Noah's Flood and killing His Own Son.
Is there physical evidence to support that line of thinking?
At the same time God says He took on the form of a man and looked us in the eye experiencing the same things we experience without our faults. The most documented legal historical fact is the life death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. God, The Rule Maker, tells us if you don't accept His Gift of His Son, Jesus, He will be
very offended. He will be so offended he will torment us for eternity. It is a Free Gift. But we must ask. Of course this requires something most of us don't even strive for: Humility
! Thanks for your reply Ringman,
I will echo what others have said regarding your decorum in the discussion of such a "hot topic".
I have to assume when you say " God tells us He is a spirit and those who worship him worship Him in spirit and Truth" that you are referring to Bible passages stating such? If you happen to have easy access to such a passage, could you please post it for me to read. I have no "old Testament" in my possession at the moment.
Again, as others have pointed out, one must "believe" the translations and interpretations of manuscripts written well after the occurrence of the events described in Genesis are correct and free from "human error" in order to "believe" that God tells us He is a "he".
And why are we to assume that the descriptions of those events are any truer than the creation events described in the following are any less valid?
http://indigenouspeople.net/creatlingit.htmThere are many similarities to the Hebrew creation story in that one, Raven releases light, and stars, and the moon (the heavens), makes the rivers, and even this:
"He made all the different races, as the Haida and the Tsimshian. They are human beings like the Thingit, but he made their languages different.
He also made the dog. It was at first a human being and did every thing Raven wanted done, but he was too quick with everything, so Raven took him by the neck and pushed him down, saying, "You are nothing but a dog. You shall have four legs."
" As he was traveling along in another place, a wild celery came out, became angry with Raven, and said, "You are always wandering around for things to eat." Then he named it wild celery (ya'naet) and said to it, "You shall stay there, and people shall eat you."
Mmmm, causing there to be different languages. Now where do I remember that type of thing?
And making animals and plants for "our" needs, sounds familiar too.
If we were to have originated in a place south of the equator we might wonder why the folks of the Hebrew tribe believe what they do when we have this to believe in:
http://web.archive.org/web/20030216144835/home.iprimus.com.au/lunetta/index-18.htmlA small excerpt (red emphasis mine):
"Out of
her stomach leaped all the animal tribes of the world, and all the spirit beings.
The sun leaped up into the sky to light the world for the tribes, and the moon jumped up to take his place in the night sky.
The Frog tribe started singing with delight as the blood of the Serpent flowed out of her body and into the channels cut by her travels, and into the deep chasms to become the sea. "
Again, sounds mighty familiar, but this time from a "she". The immediate creation of all the worlds animals, the lighting of the world and the creation of "the heavens" and the "waters".
Of course, based on what I was taught for many years, I am to "believe" that the Hebrew version is the correct one, because that version tells me it is so. And for some years passing perhaps "our" culture knew of no others, and afterwards when we became aware they were considered "gentile".
Seems like there are a number of different versions of the same "creation". Besides a self "authorizing" of "the Word" what evidence is there for a rational person to use to instill a belief in the idea that God is a "he"?
Geno
PS, the internet is a wonderful thing. I used to have to spend hours in a library to find information on other cultures creation stories. You might hazard a guess that I could come up with many more versions rather easily now.
