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God's Pronouns Are They/Them [message #78518]

Thu, 13 April 2023 20:02

Bensiamin

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Location: USA
Registered: July 2019
Messages: 372

Brandon Flanery, who recently published a survey on why most Evangelicals are leaving Christianity which was the subject of a previous Forum post (link here), had published a new article on God's gender. Here is the first part of the article, and then you can link to Baptist News Global to read the whole article if you choose.

God transcends gender.

Theologically speaking, God is nonbinary.

That means in English, God's pronouns are they/them.

God is trans.

I'd love to say this thought was originally mine, but that would be another cis white man commandeering someone else's thought, my friend's thought: Kevin Garcia.

Kevin is a nonbinary queer theologian who is spunky and smart and ambitious. They put me to shame when it comes to thoughts of the divine and spirituality; maybe it's the master's degree in theology.

The thought of God being trans -- transcending gender -- is provocative, important and ultimately true. We can see it all over Scripture.

God, Creator of the universe, is neither male nor female. And humans -- males, females and all in between -- are created in "their" image. The term "Spirit" is feminine in nature, and Scripture compares God to both a father and a mother.

Creation itself is nonbinary. Scripture speaks of God creating night and day, yet we know by observation that there are in-between times such as dawn and dusk. When it comes to animals, Genesis says God created creatures of land and sea, yet we know there are amphibians. And while Scripture says God created man and woman, we know 1.7% of the population are born intersex. The nonbinary is all throughout creation.

The very nature of God transcends a binary description too, and we are reflections of that nature. Is it any wonder that gender is expressed in various and wonderful ways? We can again look at the biblical text to confirm this.

In Christ, gender is abolished. In ancient Jewish thought, there were eight genders. In Christ's early church, it was a eunuch who was entrusted to carry the gospel to Africa. And even Jesus says many will become eunuchs and are born eunuchs (some scholars view this as intersex).

"Transness" is not only the nature of God; it also is ours. It is written into the very text Christians are somehow invoking today to block transgender individuals from basic human rights. This religious zealotry intends not just to block these children of God but to cause harm.

*****

You can link to the whole article here.

[Updated on: Thu, 13 April 2023 20:03]

Bensiamin

		God's Pronouns Are They/Them By: Bensiamin on Thu, 13 April 2023 20:02
		Re: God's Pronouns Are They/Them By: NW on Fri, 14 April 2023 09:31
		Re: God's Pronouns Are They/Them By: ray2x on Sun, 11 June 2023 19:22

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