Is it easier for women to have a deep relationship with Christ because they're female

[KingAlfred]

What are both of you talking about???

• God is not a man.
• God is pure spirit - neither male nor female.
• God is both masculine and feminine, otherwise men AND women could not have been created in the image and likeness of God. (Check out the 1st Chapter of Genesis.)
• Jesus, God, Word of God, Son of God, Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, became incarnate on this earth as a male human (a man) with two natures: one fully human and one fully divine.

John 1:14 - *“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we saw his glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

“And the Word was made flesh*…” – the word *“flesh” *is translated from the Greek word “sarx” which does not mean “man” nor “male” nor “masculine,” nor any organ of the human body, but has a meaning which cannot be fully translated by any of our English words. The word sarx means not just human but everything that makes us human: skin and bones and all the other parts, heart and soul, mind and spirit, likes and dislikes, emotions of joy and pain and everything in between… everything (except sin).

So, yes, Jesus was incarnate as a fully human man and now is risen in His glorified, male Body, But to say that God is a man?? Uhhhh, no.

Got it??

So, maybe it is true that women can have a deeper relationship with Christ because we’ve learned, like Mary who chose the better part, to sit at His feet and listen to Him, rather than stand up and make ridiculous and untrue assertions.

Jesus was a man. Also, I’m suspicious of feminism’s radicalism. Sorry.

 

[iaskquestions]

What are both of you talking about???

• God is not a man.
• God is pure spirit - neither male nor female.
• God is both masculine and feminine, otherwise men AND women could not have been created in the image and likeness of God. (Check out the 1st Chapter of Genesis.)

I was quoting the Catholic apologist Peter Kreeft. Read beckycmarie’s post (#39)

 

[iaskquestions]

God is pure spirit, he doesn’t have gender. In my understanding, male and female are reflections (individually they are fragments) of the totality of Him.

I did not imply that God (Jesus) was a male before the Incarnation.

Being masculine doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a male! A woman can be masculine and a man can be feminine, although this is not so common, but there are a lot of cases.

Also read my previous post (#42).

 

[Augustine]

Being masculine doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a male! A woman can be masculine and a man can be feminine, although this is not so common, but there are a lot of cases.

Yes, those cases are called psychosis.

 

[Augustine]

******So, maybe it is true that women can have a deeper relationship with Christ because we’ve learned, like Mary who chose the better part, to sit at His feet and listen to Him, rather than stand up and make ridiculous and untrue assertions.

By way of analogy God relationship to His creation in man is that of a father. A mother gives a person his body, the matter that makes up his infant body, whereas the father just plants his seed.

Does it mean that God is man? NO. Does it mean that men are more worthy than women? NO. So why is it that women find it hard to read such statements that Jesus became a man, not a woman, and that He called God Father, not mother? Yet, women find it very easy to relate to the God-man Jesus and to God the Father. In other words, some women throw a tantrum at the expressions of these truths all the while knowing their heart that they are truthful.

 

[Dtmccameron]

Respectfully, I disagree with this statement. I have a very close relationship with Our Lady, despite being a woman. She is my Mother! And I also love Our Lord Jesus, very dearly. But that isn’t because He is male… and I’m female. It’s because He’s my Lord and Creator!

I don’t understand the logic in this question. Why would a man NOT have as deep a relationship with Our Lord… (or a woman, with Our Lady)… simply because of shared gender? Remember, it was St. John (also a male) who was referred to as “The Disciple Jesus loved”.

We could just as easily ask… “Does Our Lord have a deeper relationship with brown eyed persons, over blue eyed persons?”.

Of course not! Our Lord and Our Lady loves each and every single one of us… DEARLY and PRECIOUSLY. Believe it! God bless.

Now I have a story to relate, but I’ll get to it in time. Might I just say now that some folks have an easier time have a relationship with Our Father of Our Lady, depending on their own personal lives. Those with abusive fathers, for instance, might have trouble creating a deep, profound connection to the Almighty, and to them, Our Lady reaches out, not as a female substitute for God, but rather, as a healing…Writers block…You get the idea.

Now then, on to the story! A Pentecostal friend of mine was speaking of a service she had attended, in which, the preacher, or the preachers wife, was giving her message.

“Just imagine yourself…imagine yourself…just imagine yourself being romanced…being romanced…just imagine yourself being romanced by the Lord of Ages! Just close your eyes and imagine yourself being romances by the Lord of Ages!”

And she looked about at the congregation, as saw the women, hands upheld, eyes closes, practically swooning with the vision!

And she looked upon the men, who had never sat so straight backed, and their eyes peeled as wide as can be, not daring to blink lest some image of the Lord of Ages romancing them pop into their heads!

“Hey, Jesus, man, I love you and all, but, ah, let’s just keep it professional, okay?”

I proclaim that all this trouble comes from society equating the lovers motions as Love itself! Were no such association to take place, not only would we have fewer teen pregnancies (for it seems to me that despite the cynicism of the youth, they’re surprisingly gullible!), we would also avoid uncomfortable pictures such as the one presented above!

 

[Augustine]

Is it easier for women to have a deep relationship with Christ because they’re female?

I also believe that the number of nuns being 2 to 5 times greater than that of priests and religious men, depending on the country, indicates that it’s indeed easier for women to relate to Jesus by committing their lives to Him.

 

[GemmaRose]

By way of analogy God relationship to His creation in man is that of a father. A mother gives a person his body, the matter that makes up his infant body, whereas the father just plants his seed.

Does it mean that God is man? NO. Does it mean that men are more worthy than women? NO. So why is it that women find it hard to read such statements that Jesus became a man, not a woman, and that He called God Father, not mother? Yet, women find it very easy to relate to the God-man Jesus and to God the Father. In other words, some women throw a tantrum at the expressions of these truths all the while knowing their heart that they are truthful.

Since you quoted my post, I cannot help but assume that yours is somehow supposedly an answer to mine. If my assumption is correct, possibly you did not read my post thoroughly.

I’ll try again.

KingAlfred specifically stated:

This is a bit off-topic, but I must admit, one of my fears of feminism is that if it ever infiltrates the priesthood, it will subvert our belief in God as a man. This is my primary opposition to the idea of female priests. Sorry.

I will repeat: GOD IS NOT A MAN. GOD IS PURE SPIRIT. (If you will re-read my post, I think you will see that there is no denial of Jesus being born as a male human being.) My assertions that GOD IS NOT A MAN and that GOD IS PURE SPIRIT are not fanciful thinking on my part. I refer you to the Catechism of the Catholic Church which states:

370 In no way is God in man’s image. He is neither man nor woman. God is pure spirit in which there is no place for the difference between the sexes. But the respective “perfections” of man and woman reflect something of the infinite perfection of God: those of a mother and those of a father and husband.

(emphasis mine)

Further, iask questions stated:

God was not a man before the Incarnation. He was only masculine…

This also is not in agreement with what the Catechism teaches.

370 In no way is God in man’s image. He is neither man nor woman. God is pure spirit in which there is no place for the difference between the sexes. But the respective “perfections” of man and woman reflect something of the infinite perfection of God: those of a mother and those of a father and husband.

(emphasis mine)

Anyone who finds it “hard to read such statements that Jesus became a man…” needs their head examined.

Anyone who wants to re-write the Catechism had better be a darn good theologian… wearing a mitre.

Bless you too.

 

[KingAlfred]

“GOD IS NOT A MAN. GOD IS PURE SPIRIT. (If you will re-read my post, I think you will see that there is no denial of Jesus being born as a male human being.) My assertions that GOD IS NOT A MAN and that GOD IS PURE SPIRIT are not fanciful thinking on my part.”

God is three beings in one: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Son is partly man, and always has been. So…yes. God is a man.

 

[Mark_Robert]

I would say it’s easier for a woman to have a relationship with Christ because they don’t have to deal with temptations against purity as much. As a male, I find temptations against purity to be bloody awful. They are very, very painful to resist. I’m definitely being physically crucified being chaste. I would say women typically don’t suffer as much grief in remaining chaste. That’s why most pornography is directed at men. Men simply have more interest in sexual things than women. The commandments of God are particularly severe against violations of chastity. Any sin of impurity whether external or internal is a mortal sin. Since women don’t typically struggle as much with this as previously stated, it’s easier for them, on average, to remain in a state of grace.

 

[KingAlfred]

Yeah…good explanation. I agree. One exception, I think, and this is what I fear the most with regard to the proposal of female priests, are masculine lesbians. They’re the ‘male’ version of women, and I suspect the practice of chastity on their part would be just as daunting as it is for men. I wouldn’t want them in the priesthood.

 

[GemmaRose]

“GOD IS NOT A MAN. GOD IS PURE SPIRIT. (If you will re-read my post, I think you will see that there is no denial of Jesus being born as a male human being.) My assertions that GOD IS NOT A MAN and that GOD IS PURE SPIRIT are not fanciful thinking on my part.”

God is three beings in one: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Son is partly man, and always has been. So…yes. God is a man.

No, God is not a man.

It’s interesting how you quoted only a part of my post, leaving out the quote from the CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH:

370 In no way is God in man’s image. He is neither man nor woman. God is pure spirit in which there is no place for the difference between the sexes. But the respective “perfections” of man and woman reflect something of the infinite perfection of God: those of a mother and those of a father and husband. (Emphasis mine.)

As for Jesus, He is not partly man/human – He is FULLY human.

464 The unique and altogether singular event of the Incarnation of the Son of God does not mean that Jesus Christ is part God and part man, nor does it imply that he is the result of a confused mixture of the divine and the human. He became truly man while remaining truly God. Jesus Christ is true God and true man. During the first centuries, the Church had to defend and clarify this truth of faith against the heresies that falsified it. (Catechism of the Catholic Church) (Emphasis mine.)

He was not always human, but became so at the Incarnation.

456 With the Nicene Creed, we answer by confessing: “For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven; by the power of the Holy Spirit, he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church) (Emphasis mine.)

466 The Nestorian heresy regarded Christ as a human person joined to the divine person of God’s Son. Opposing this heresy, St. Cyril of Alexandria and the third ecumenical council at Ephesus in 431 confessed “that the Word, uniting to himself in his person the flesh animated by a rational soul, became man.” Christ’s humanity has no other subject than the divine person of the Son of God, who assumed it and made it his own, from his conception. For this reason the Council of Ephesus proclaimed in 431 that Mary truly became the Mother of God by the human conception of the Son of God in her womb: “Mother of God, not that the nature of the Word or his divinity received the beginning of its existence from the holy Virgin, but that, since the holy body, animated by a rational soul, which the Word of God united to himself according to the hypostasis, was born from her, the Word is said to be born according to the flesh.”

I trust you will forgive me for giving more credence to the Catechism than to you.

 

[Beachcomber]

That was a question I hadn’t thought of before. IMHO, no, they don’t. It depends on the person.

 

[KingAlfred]

No, God is not a man.

It’s interesting how you quoted only a part of my post, leaving out the quote from the CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH:

As for Jesus, He is not partly man/human – He is FULLY human.

He was not always human, but became so at the Incarnation.

I trust you will forgive me for giving more credence to the Catechism than to you.

Think about it. If God is three beings in one (e.g., the Trinity) – the FATHER, the Son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit – and consisted of these three beings for all eternity, from beginning to end, forever, then yes…God in large measure is a man. I’ve read the Catechism daily for the last 13 years. Nowhere have I found the basic, traditional concept of the Trinity modified in any way.

 

[NTOT]

I would believe that since “God made man to His own likeness” and the bible states that there is much weight on men, the women so as to speak, being the weaker ones, then there must be also much spiritual gifting or guidance. Then we come to "to one God gives one talent to another two and another three---- So as you say it is a point that only God can say.
Godbless
Thistle

This is very true. It goes back to how men have the greater cross to bear in life, more is expected of them, and their potential reward for remaining faithful is that much greater than what is possible for women.

 

[NTOT]

I also believe that the number of nuns being 2 to 5 times greater than that of priests and religious men, depending on the country, indicates that it’s indeed easier for women to relate to Jesus by committing their lives to Him.

Further proof that women have it easier.

 

[NTOT]

I would say it’s easier for a woman to have a relationship with Christ because they don’t have to deal with temptations against purity as much. As a male, I find temptations against purity to be bloody awful.

But keep up the struggle, you have an advantage that women don’t have. I wish I had such a struggle.

 

[NTOT]

Since women don’t typically struggle as much with this as previously stated, it’s easier for them, on average, to remain in a state of grace.

Once again, reward is commensurate with how great the cross one bears.

 

[DixiesFinest]

Is it easier for women to have a deep relationship with Christ because they’re female?

Not easier either way. It is just different. Men and women are different.

 

[NTOT]

God is not a man.

False, God is true God and true Man. Affirmed in the Nicene Creed.

God is pure spirit - neither male nor female.

True.

God is both masculine and feminine, otherwise men AND women could not have been created in the image and likeness of God. (Check out the 1st Chapter of Genesis.)

False. God is neither masculine nor feminine. Man is made in the image of God. Man is not God. Human traits do not describe God. If a human being can think it, it can’t be God. God is above human thought and reason and is absolute perfection. Masculine and Feminine are traits which limit man and are imperfect images of the perfection of God. God is not half man and half woman which make a complete God. Union between a man and woman is an imperfect image of the mystery of the Blessed Trinity. An eternal and perfect union of Persons.

Jesus, God, Word of God, Son of God, Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, became incarnate on this earth as a male human (a man) with two natures: one fully human and one fully divine.

true.

So, maybe it is true that women can have a deeper relationship with Christ because we’ve learned, like Mary who chose the better part, to sit at His feet and listen to Him, rather than stand up and make ridiculous and untrue assertions.

You are confusing what is possible with what is easier. It is possible for both men and women to have a deeper relationship. Women just have an easier time at having a relationship period, albeit, most of the time it only a superficial and emotional one.