Interesting debate, though...hope to get to read the thoughts of others...MUD

I point this out precisely BECAUSE people try to make a point about God using English. But the Old Testament of the Bible is written in Hebrew, the later portions in Greek. And the New Testament is written in Greek.

"God" in Hebrew is not a "He". It's a "them".

In God's image he made them, male and female he made them.

God is Spirit.

To be made in God's image is to be made a spiritual being. Adam and Eve were made in God's spiritual likeness.

The word "Elohiym" in Hebrew - "God(s)" - is a PLURAL noun.

Elohiym is simply the word for "God" or "god" (as when referring to pagan gods).

Elohiym is plural but has to be in grammatical agreement with the verb...ie. is the verb singular.

"God" in Hebrew is not a "He". It's a "them".

Pointing to the Triune nature of God...One God, Three Persons...easy enough to understand.

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

The holy spirit is a He in English. In Hebrew, she is a she, always. In Greek, the Holy Spirit is always an "It".

Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as "He".

However when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth; for He shall not speak from Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak; and He will show you things to come. John 16:13

We are to approach God in the masculine.

As to the use of feminine nouns, God is not opposed to refer to Himself using feminine qualities.

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

There is infinite tenderness there. What a Great God we have, Vic.

Genesis is in the Bible just fine. It's just not literally true.

All of Genesis? Just certain parts? Can you give an example?

Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as "He."

So says the dude who first heard it, the dude who first wrote it down, and the dudes who have translated the Word ever since. Doesn't make it untrue, but the innate gender bias should not be ignored when seeking Absolute Truth....MUD

innate gender bias

If you were "seeking Absolute Truth" you would have found it by now.

Jesus said "ye shall know the truth".

Jesus went on to say of Himself, "I am the Truth"

What more do you need?

Regards...MUD

just wondering why most peoples and religions assume our All-Powerful Deity is a paternal entity.

My best guess would be that God uses gender to establish authority, which in turn establishes order. We see this order through out the Creation.

If all those people who were recording "The Word" were women

This is exactly the methods Satan uses to disrupt the order of the Universe...by putting the female in charge of the male. As if that is not enough, luciferian groups like the Masons inject chaos (the opposite of order) by flipping the genders entirely. Transgenderism = confusion.

From the very beginning Satan worked to disrupt God's order. He creates chaos/confusion and then offers his version of order...which is rebellion toward God.

I don't think posing sincere questions is the work of Satan, my friend.

if our Faith cannot withstand sincere questioning from newcomers trying to learn more

I wholeheartedly agree.

What are the capitalized words in the original language?

If you know.

We good then

I never knew there was a "we bad"...so yeah, we good.

sincere questions about the Holy Bible

I have a sincere question for you Mud.

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Why do we exist?

In short, I would hope to leave my time on God's Creation with the World around me being a little bit better place than when I arrived. As an Architect, I was taught that the Earth is in a constant state of Entropy, so anything I design and build is a scar upon God's Landscape, so it had best be a conscious design purpose and a positive addition. That philosophy applies to whatever one does for a living...make the lives of others better and you will be rewarded accordingLEE.

So, in short, we are here to serve as God's Agents, sent here to make His Creation a Greater America/World...MUD

As an Architect,

Well dang, Mud. Now I'm curious...

You describe yourself as an "Architect".

What does that mean? Is it a title within your deist religion?

I was taught that the Earth is in a constant state of Entropy...That philosophy

Is this a School of Philosophy I should be familiar with? Who "taught" you?

On the plus side, however, I am a Stoner and a Professional Disc Golf player, as well as a Gemini... what's YOUR sign?!

Not really...but sorta really...gypsies, native Americans, indigenous peoples everywhere...

I was taught that the Earth is in a constant state of Entropy

Didn't realize they taught Entropy at the University of Virginia School of Architecture...so you can imagine my confusion.

the fact that there are constantly struggles to be overcome in life

Life didn't start out this way as you read in Genesis 1. As you continue to read the Book of Genesis you will find out how the struggle entered into our existence: the fall of man which brought the curse on the whole Universe.

our meager efforts to exert our individual wills to create some semblance of Order-and thereby Peace--

You must come to grips that your efforts have failed and will continue to fail...apart from God Who is Jesus Christ (the God of the Bible).

Nietzsche

With the masonic hidden hand (which I only noticed just now)...

Tells me absolutely everything I need to know about Nietzsche...just another devil worshipper (he worshipped Lucifer as do all masons/fools).

EWE are obsessed with TheDevil, ain't ya, boy?!

"your efforts have failed and will continue to fail..."

Says EWE, ya inconsequential MORON...MUD

Almost all the Founding Fathers were DEISTs

If by Deists, you mean belonging to some dumbass secret society...

EWE are obsessed with TheDevil, ain't ya, boy?!

No. But he is the ruler of this fallen world.

Only a fool would ignore Satan's control of people and governments.

Nietzsche, amongst others...to be a genuine optimist

UBER-pessimist, Freidrich Nietzche,

Is Nietzsche an optimist or pessimist...make up your mind

I assume he was an atheist

Who doesn't recall this bit of old graffiti?

In John 14, he refers to the Paraclete, which is a masculine noun, and he uses the masculine pronoun to refer back to the Paraclete - which would be required in Greek.

Jesus never uses a masculine pronoun to refer to the spirit, because spirit is not masculine in Greek.

Of course, Jesus spoke Aramaic, and if you refer to the Aramic Peshitta, the ancient Aramaic text of the Gospels (which contains the words of Jesus in the Aramaic in which he spoke them), he always refers to the Holy Spirit using Ruah, which is a feminine noun in Aramaic, and he always uses a feminine pronoun.

So actually Jesus always referred to the Holy Spirit as a SHE, if one wants to really burrow down. Jesus spoke Aramaic to his people, not Greek. The Gospels are a translation of what he said. The Aramaic Peshitta is what he actuallly said.

what's YOUR sign?!

I'm a Taurus...which means that I am fixed earth and stubborn as a...well, as a bull. There is no POINT in arguing with me about anything. I'm always right, or think I am, and I will never, ever change my mind.

And I have a Scorpio Moon, full moon, actually, and was born at night. Water, but fixed water. DOUBLY stubborn - there is no more stubborn person than me, really. And smart. But with an apparently evil bent. I don't simply dig in, I start to get really ANGRY when people keep pushing me. And with that Scorpio full there, born at night, I won't just stomp the ground like a bull. I'll do that FIRST. But if you keep pushing me, I will fucking sting you again and again and leave you to DIE.

No point in arguing with me. Just look at what I say, see it as very pure, and understand that if you keep arguing with me past a certain point, I really do want to murder you in your sleep. And what good is THAT?

Pisces Ascendant. Which means that I'm all spiritual and soft sounding. So, stubborn iron and murder, but with a gentle exterior that is deceptive.

And Lilith, the "dark moon", the locus of evil in the chart? It's in Scorpio - a nightmare sign: "Sex and death hold an equal fascination! The transience of life and the constant presence of death in their thoughts make these people keep their senses alert at all times, ready to furiously and disdainfully snatch and raid what they please from life. They don’t believe in luck, and they constantly put it to the test whether through gamble or other vices with life itself as the stake."

In truth, I'm a freaking astrological nightmare.

Now, I don't believe that the stars determine anything. I think they're placeholders. I DO think that the time of the year you're born and the influence of the moon's gravity (which moves the tides 60 feet every day in the Bay of Fundy) DOES affect us, not mysteriously but concretely. But then, I WOULD say that, wouldn't I, being a Taurus, Scorpio moon, Lilith in Scorpio.

Of course I say this knowing that the wankers will whine. There is no innocence here. Whine away, wankers! You make me smile.

Whine away, wankers...

My advice to ALL Dem brainwashed Marxist snowflakes...let them bitch!!

Once again, the gender of a noun does not always reflect the gender of a person.

Notice who had the last word

I noticed...and you noticed...but others here...not so much.

Perhaps as the days pass and events continue to unfold (distress, tribulation, hunger)...folks will begin to notice Who has the last word in all of our lives.

"Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God."

Great quote...who was the author again? Almost as classic as Virginia's state motto, "Sic Semper Tyrannus...Thus Always to Tyrants". This Nation was founded by REBELS who were rejecting the Great PlutocRATZ Across the Sea, and America has thrived by keeping that Federal Bureaucracy relatively small and not Union-RATZ selling their souls and our National Security to the Chi-Comz.

If WeThePeople have the CAJONES to make a stand, then the Trump Tsunami of November 2024 could be the death knell for Marxism in North America, as Trump/DeSantis root out the Marxist AppaRATchix in the DeeCeeSwamp, root and stem. RATZ can see this coming, and many are desperate...by all means necessary, be prepared for just about ANYTHING from these SJWers, RATZ have been brainwashed to believe laws do not apply to them as long as these fascist RAT Brownshirtz continue to do the bidding of their DeeCee SwampMasterz...MUD

I'm a Taurus...which means that I am fixed earth and stubborn as a...well, as a bull.

You are ever so funny, in both an evil and transience of life sort of way, of course.

I happened to purchase a bull calf last fall. He's a dandy. He had lived his first two months of life in an 8x8 stall, so you can imagine how happy he was to be turned out on some lush green grass. And he grew accordingly on that grass and leftover milk from my cows. As I was reading your comment, I looked out to see him flying across the paddock...500lb bull meets 1000lb momma cow. He tried to do that "fixed earth" on her and, well...

There's a moral to the story for you somewhere in my barnyard yarn, bully boy. I just don't know what it is.

As to the rest of your terrible condition...

with an apparently evil bent, I start to get really ANGRY, I will fucking sting you again and again and leave you to DIE, I really do want to murder you in your sleep, the locus of evil

...I'd say it's nothing more than good ole demonic possession...and Jesus has healed much worse than you, Vic

1 They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.2 And when he had stepped out of the boat, immediately a man out of the tombs with an unclean spirit met him. 3 He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain; 4 for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always howling and bruising himself with stones. 6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him; 7 and he shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” 8 For he had said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” 9 Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” 10 He begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. 11 Now there on the hillside a great herd of swine was feeding; 12 and the unclean spirits begged him, “Send us into the swine; let us enter them.” 13 So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and were drowned in the sea.

14 The swineherds ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came to see what it was that had happened. 15 They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion;

I have preached this great message to hundreds of men at homeless shelters. They come in smelly, depressed, often raging, and hear what Jesus did for one such as them...leaving them clothed, sitting down, and in their right minds. There's hope for you, too.

If only you would bow down before Him.

Bow down to some man who claims to know what Jesus was all about? Hard pass.

I know Jesus as well as any man alive, having read him over and over, in English, in French, cross referenced in Latin, in Greek, in Aramaic.

And I've gone through the drill of doing a complete harmony of everything he ever said or did. So I know not just what he is said to have said, but when, in the scheme of things, he is said to have said it.

Some of it is contradictory. And I know what that is.

There are lots of guys out there who claim to speak for Jesus, but who don't connect what Jesus said in one place to what he said in another.

I used to argue with them. I don't bother anymore.

If Jesus shows up and it's really Jesus, sure, I'll bow down.

He has already shown up. When He shows up again it will be too late (for you).

Bow down to some man who claims to know what Jesus was all about? Hard pass.

Are you talking about the Pope?

I know Jesus as well as any man alive, having read him over and over, in English, in French, cross referenced in Latin, in Greek, in Aramaic. And I've gone through the drill of doing a complete harmony of everything he ever said or did.

That's a tremendous amount of reading, cross referencing, and harmonizing just to come up empty. Judging by your intensive study, I see that you do want something. Did not Jesus speak to you directly when He said..."You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me...

...BUT YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO COME TO ME THAT YOU MAY HAVE LIFE".

"Hard pass."

Yep...dittos.

My relationship with Him ain't up for debate with a bunch of faceless Screen Names...MUD