Gender of Holy Spirit

[TwoKnives99]

Obviously you haven't seen or read The Shack (not that I recommend it).

If you had, you'd know that the Holy Spirit is an attractive and quirky Asian woman; the Father is a sweet black woman who bakes well; and the Son is just a terrific chill dude, who may be baked much of the time.

You're welcome.

That Sam Worthington film? 

I watched that. 

2hrs and 12mins of my life I'll never get back

[Minimalist]

I would like to clarify that I am part of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church,

I read a fantastic book about the Jacobites and Nestorians and their spread into Asia before the 10th century.  I recommend it because it is a story which has been thoroughly suppressed by later, European, jesusism.

https://www.harpercollins.com/9780061472...istianity/

The Lost History of Christianity
The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia--and How It Died
by John Philip Jenkins

Of course, all religion is a load of crap but the story of the spread of their influence into Islamic kingdoms is most enlightening.

[TwoKnives99]

I believe they did share their thoughts. Allow me to summarize "Atheists don't believe in God or Gods, this usually includes any part of the Hebrew trinity".

If you'd like to have a sematic discussion on ancient languages and the importance of gender in language and it's relevance to a belief in a Hebrew God I can comment. I don't care whether "it" mean male, female or non-binary in differing languages. I do like your correlation to the experience of Father, Mother and son. I believe it's more experiential and less gender role specific though.

Hi Dave, 

When I was reading the Peshitta, which is the Syriac version of the Bible and in there, in Genesis 1:2 the verb for hovered takes on the feminine noun, so it translates "the Spirit of God, she was hovering over the face of waters " 

So would it not make more sense to refer to the Holy Spirit as 'she'? instead of 'it'

[tackattack]

I believe they did share their thoughts. Allow me to summarize "Atheists don't believe in God or Gods, this usually includes any part of the Hebrew trinity".

If you'd like to have a sematic discussion on ancient languages and the importance of gender in language and it's relevance to a belief in a Hebrew God I can comment. I don't care whether "it" mean male, female or non-binary in differing languages. I do like your correlation to the experience of Father, Mother and son. I believe it's more experiential and less gender role specific though.

Hi Dave, 

When I was reading the Peshitta, which is the Syriac version of the Bible and in there, in Genesis 1:2 the verb for hovered takes on the feminine noun, so it translates "the Spirit of God, she was hovering over the face of waters " 

So would it not make more sense to refer to the Holy Spirit as 'she'? instead of 'it'

I try to use as few pronouns as possible in my daily life. It's very disconcerting to some people. I'd like to call John as John, Lauren as Lauren. If I have to use a personal pronoun then I'm usually talking about someone when they're not around and that takes me both out of the moment and is usually rude.

I would say The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters or the Holy Spirit was hovering over the face of the waters.

I would also like to add that a pedantic review of language is not what I wanted to participate in, but I'm glad to discuss the symbology of family and trinity.

[Crossless2.0]

Obviously you haven't seen or read The Shack (not that I recommend it).

If you had, you'd know that the Holy Spirit is an attractive and quirky Asian woman; the Father is a sweet black woman who bakes well; and the Son is just a terrific chill dude, who may be baked much of the time.

You're welcome.

That Sam Worthington film? 

I watched that. 

2hrs and 12mins of my life I'll never get back

I feel your pain. 

The shit I do to please my wife . . . .

[TwoKnives99]

That Sam Worthington film? 

I watched that. 

2hrs and 12mins of my life I'll never get back

I feel your pain. 

The shit I do to please my wife . . . .

Being a bachelor lothario is the life. 

It is however, not my life

[Whateverist]

Before I begin, I would like to clarify that I am part of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, which is the Indian branch of the Syriac Orthodox Church, which uses the Divine Liturgy of St. James and our liturgical language is Syriac. 

The Holy Spirit's grammatical gender in Greek is neuter (pneuma) and masculine in Latin (spiritus) and so because the Bible refers to the Holy Spirit as 'it', I believed the Holy Spirit to be genderless 

Imagine my surprise, when I discover the word for Spirit in Syriac is rucha and is feminine, same with the Hebrew ruach and that the established gender usage for referring to the Holy Spirit is feminine in Syriac tradition and that early Syriac works like the Odes to Solomon refers to the Holy Spirit as feminine [1][2] 

I got to thinking, hey, If the Holy Spirit is feminine then that makes the Trinity: 

God the Father 
God the Mother
God the Son 

So, what do you think? It is better to refer to the Holy Spirit as feminine or should it just stay 'it'?  

Cheers, Knives. 

[1] The Holy Spirit as Feminine 
[2] Susan Harvey on Early Syriac Tradition

I think it must be masculine since so many acolytes describe being filled by it and those who haven't long for it.  Frankly I think Christianity might be gay ... not that there is anything wrong with that!

[TwoKnives99]

Before I begin, I would like to clarify that I am part of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, which is the Indian branch of the Syriac Orthodox Church, which uses the Divine Liturgy of St. James and our liturgical language is Syriac. 

The Holy Spirit's grammatical gender in Greek is neuter (pneuma) and masculine in Latin (spiritus) and so because the Bible refers to the Holy Spirit as 'it', I believed the Holy Spirit to be genderless 

Imagine my surprise, when I discover the word for Spirit in Syriac is rucha and is feminine, same with the Hebrew ruach and that the established gender usage for referring to the Holy Spirit is feminine in Syriac tradition and that early Syriac works like the Odes to Solomon refers to the Holy Spirit as feminine [1][2] 

I got to thinking, hey, If the Holy Spirit is feminine then that makes the Trinity: 

God the Father 
God the Mother
God the Son 

So, what do you think? It is better to refer to the Holy Spirit as feminine or should it just stay 'it'?  

Cheers, Knives. 

[1] The Holy Spirit as Feminine 
[2] Susan Harvey on Early Syriac Tradition

I think it must be masculine since so many acolytes describe being filled by it and those who haven't long for it.  Frankly I think Christianity might be gay ... not that there is anything wrong with that!

Ah.. yes that famous part of the Trinity. 

The Holy Gigolo

[Fidel_Castronaut]

I think it’s better to refer to ‘it’ as non-existent.

[Silver]

Gender is dependent upon the societal norm at the time.

Early religion depicted the Goddess as reign of that which existed beyond the skies. Yet with her in charge, man was in no way subjugated or made to feel inferior.

Later, there was the pantheon of male gods and female goddesses. A step in a better direction?

Until we get to the point where man seemed to evolve testosterone and decide that women were evil; thus creating the tyrannical, monotheistic, patriarchal god who hated so much yet was ignorantly viewed as benevolent.