Is God Masculine, Feminine or Combination?

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Don’t you think that if your heart is in the right place, that emotions can “aide” or guide the will? Therefore emotions are not a liability, but a God given gift to also help us be fully human.
Yes, IF the emotions are in line with your will, and your will is in line with the Church’s teaching.
 
I would like to respectfully suggest that it is futile to argue whether the Father-Son relationship is “not marriage” or “marriage like” because I think both are true in different senses.

Indeed we can never full comprehend God, that is why any reality on earth are imperfect analogies for God. But at the same time, we can also have some understanding about God through these realities, however imperfect. So yes, I think we can say the Father-Son relationship is both LIKE MARRIAGE (“All the Father has is the Son’s, and all the Son has is the Father’s”) and NOT EXACTLY MARRIAGE.
 
Yes, IF the emotions are in line with your will, and your will is in line with the Church’s teaching.
Real love is a choice and not a feeling. But when the feeling of love is present, it helps the will - at least that has been my experience.
 
Real love is a choice and not a feeling. But when the feeling of love is present, it helps the will - at least that has been my experience.
You are correct. In fact, you are exactly correct. However, that doesn’t change the fact that you should use your will to decide to believe the truth which the Church teaches.
 
You are correct. In fact, you are exactly correct. However, that doesn’t change the fact that you should use your will to decide to believe the truth which the Church teaches.
There is only one truth that is most important to me. “GOD IS LOVE and whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God in them.” 1 John 4

As we follow God’s will, we are perfected in LOVE. And it is a wondeful thing to have the “feelings of love” when God allows that consolation.

What I am beginning to sense from the sharings, is that having feelings is feminine and just relying on the will (not emotions) is masculine. Isn’t that one of the things that is so screwed up in America - that men can’t or don’t show emotion/affection? God has affection/emotion don’t you think? God is not just all masculine.
 
There is only one truth that is most important to me. “GOD IS LOVE and whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God in them.” 1 John 4

As we follow God’s will, we are perfected in LOVE. And it is a wondeful thing to have the “feelings of love” when God allows that consolation.

What I am beginning to sense from the sharings, is that having feelings is feminine and just relying on the will (not emotions) is masculine. Isn’t that one of the things that is so screwed up in America - that men can’t or don’t show emotion/affection? God has affection/emotion don’t you think? God is not just all masculine.
God is love, so he can have affection, but God does not have emotion, because He does not change.

The feelings are not exclusively feminine and the will is not exclusively masculine. In general, men and women tend to lean toward them respectively, but that is just an inclination and has nothing to do with men and women’s actual ability to be willful or controlled by feelings.
 
There is only one truth that is most important to me. “GOD IS LOVE and whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God in them.” 1 John 4

As we follow God’s will, we are perfected in LOVE. And it is a wondeful thing to have the “feelings of love” when God allows that consolation.

What I am beginning to sense from the sharings, is that having feelings is feminine and just relying on the will (not emotions) is masculine. Isn’t that one of the things that is so screwed up in America - that men can’t or don’t show emotion/affection? God has affection/emotion don’t you think? God is not just all masculine.
In most cultures–not all, however–boys are socialized not to express fear, sadness, or even excessive happiness, compassion, kindness, because these emotions are considered feminine and weak. The only emotion boys are allowed, even encouraged, to express is anger. Girls are taught the reverse: the expression of fear, sadness, happiness, compassion, and kindness is fine; but anger is regarded as unladylike. This has an impact on boys and girls when they grow up and the way each sex views themselves and the world. It probably also influences how they view G-d. So, in this sense, I agree with you: there is a mismatch, a discrepancy between our (male) gender socialization and what we are taught about the nature of G-d, Who is loving, compassionate, and merciful.
 
What has your experience of God been like? Would you acknowlege that God’s heart is also like that of a Mother (although I know you would not refer to God as Mother).
Hmmmmm… I would acknowledge that God’s heart is like that of a Father. That is how Our Lord described Him.
 
In most cultures–not all, however–boys are socialized not to express fear, sadness, or even excessive happiness, compassion, kindness, because these emotions are considered feminine and weak. The only emotion boys are allowed, even encouraged, to express is anger. Girls are taught the reverse: the expression of fear, sadness, happiness, compassion, and kindness is fine; but anger is regarded as unladylike. This has an impact on boys and girls when they grow up and the way each sex views themselves and the world. It probably also influences how they view G-d. So, in this sense, I agree with you: there is a mismatch, a discrepancy between our (male) gender socialization and what we are taught about the nature of G-d, Who is loving, compassionate, and merciful.
very well said 🙂
 
Man/Woman is created in God’s image and likeness. A painting reflects the Painter.

Man/Masculinity does not adequately reflect who God is. Woman/Femininity does not adequately reflect who God is. Man and Woman together in relationship having children as the fruit of their union/love in Christian Marriage is the most ‘perfect’ image of God (according to John Paul 2 in Theology of the Body) we have of the Trinity here on earth.
 
Man/Woman is created in God’s image and likeness. A painting reflects the Painter.

Man/Masculinity does not adequately reflect who God is. Woman/Femininity does not adequately reflect who God is. Man and Woman together in relationship having children as the fruit of their union/love in Christian Marriage is the most ‘perfect’ image of God (according to John Paul 2 in Theology of the Body) we have of the Trinity here on earth.
My friend,

Returning back to the original question, you may not call God “mother” because He has commanded we call Him “Father.” He is not a harsh and cruel Father, but rather just, strong, merciful, and steadfast. Every good quality is His, first and foremost.
 
I am sure God is big and kind enough to handle if I should pray “thank you for your heart - the heart of a Mother as well as a Father.”

Here is a great article by Peter Kreeft titled “Sex in Heaven”.

peterkreeft.com/topics/sex-in-heaven.htm

Here are a few lines worth noting:

Third Principle: Sex Is Spiritual
That does not mean “vaguely pious, ethereal, and idealistic”. “Spiritual” means “a matter of the spirit”, or soul, or psyche, not just the body. Sex is between the ears before it’s between the legs. We have sexual souls.

Sex “goes all the way up” as well as “all the way down”. Spirit is no less sexual than matter; on the contrary, all qualities and all contrasts are richer, sharper, more real as we rise closer and closer to the archetype of realness, God. The God of the Bible is not a monistic pudding in which differences are reduced to lumps, or a light that out-dazzles all finite lights and colors. God is a sexual being, the most sexual of all beings.
 
I am sure God is big and kind enough to handle if I should pray “thank you for the heart of a Mother as well as a Father that you have.”

Here is a great article by Peter Kreeft titled “Sex in Heaven”.

peterkreeft.com/topics/sex-in-heaven.htm

Here are a few lines worth noting:

Third Principle: Sex Is Spiritual
That does not mean “vaguely pious, ethereal, and idealistic”. “Spiritual” means “a matter of the spirit”, or soul, or psyche, not just the body. Sex is between the ears before it’s between the legs. We have sexual souls.

Sex “goes all the way up” as well as “all the way down”. Spirit is no less sexual than matter; on the contrary, all qualities and all contrasts are richer, sharper, more real as we rise closer and closer to the archetype of realness, God. The God of the Bible is not a monistic pudding in which differences are reduced to lumps, or a light that out-dazzles all finite lights and colors. God is a sexual being, the most sexual of all beings.
Sounds interesting, but I’ve frequently had concerns about Peter Kreeft, as a source of orthodox Catholic information.

The idea that God is a sexual being does not have any foundation on the direct teaching of the church, as far as I am aware.
 
Sounds interesting, but I’ve frequently had concerns about Peter Kreeft, as a source of orthodox Catholic information.

The idea that God is a sexual being does not have any foundation on the direct teaching of the church, as far as I am aware.
He definitely makes you think. My common sense tells me he is right on the money.
 
So, if you take what he says as truth, what conclusions do you form about God, and your actions towards Heaven?
The Trinity is the most sexual reality there is.

Second - allow God to make me more fully human. I look forward to being fully human in heaven with all my brothers and sisters.
 
The Trinity is the most sexual reality there is.
That is an unproven opinion. You may cite Peter Kreeft, but he only writes opinion pieces himself, and is not a solid Church source. Can you prove this to me using official Church documents and the CCC?
Second - allow God to make me more fully human. I look forward to being fully human in heaven with all my brothers and sisters.
What do you mean by this?
 
That is an unproven opinion. You may cite Peter Kreeft, but he only writes opinion pieces himself, and is not a solid Church source. Can you prove this to me using official Church documents and the CCC?
Did you read the article by Peter Kreeft? “Spiritual is no less sexual than matter … This sounds shocking to people who only see sex as physical and not spiritual …”

As a thinking person, I totally agree with these statements.
What do you mean by this?
You’ll have to think about what it means to be human and then from there … try to get a glimpse of what it means to be fully human. It speaks for itself
 
Did you read the article by Peter Kreeft? “Spiritual is no less sexual than matter … This sounds shocking to people who only see sex as physical and not spiritual …”

As a thinking person, I totally agree with these statements.

You’ll have to think about what it means to be human and then from there … try to get a glimpse of what it means to be fully human. It speaks for itself
Based on the horrible atrosities committed thoughout the centuries because of the lack of a proper understanding of the true nature of the human person, it clearly does not speak for itself.

What do you believe it means to be fully human?
 
Based on the horrible atrosities committed thoughout the centuries because of the lack of a proper understanding of the true nature of the human person, it clearly does not speak for itself.

What do you believe it means to be fully human?
Perfected in the Love of God through Christ

For instance, recently I had a bad day at work and when I got home my wife really needed me to just give her a hug, but because I was so self-absorbed in myself and my day I wasn’t able to reach out to her. I was cut off from her emotionally and wasn’t able to be “human” to her … to be loving
 
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