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Discussion » Questions » Religion and Spirituality » Do you think the story of creation would sound more realistic if there was a man God and a woman God?
Kittigate

Do you think the story of creation would sound more realistic if there was a man God and a woman God?

How could God create anything without a woman God? Even science says everything came from a black hole.
Big Bang!

Posted - August 10, 2019
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Responses


  • 4624
    Not more realistic, IMO, but perhaps more psychologically balanced and appealing - especially for women.

    We know from archaeology that in pre-Biblical times - meaning before writing had been invented - that the God that would later be referred to as Yahweh or Jehovah was a pair of gods.
    At that time, he had a bride who was his companion and equal, Shekinah. Still further back she was the goddess and he was her son, a babe.
    Archaeologists in Israel and throughout the Middle East, have unearthed thousands of shrines to Shekinah. As the centuries pass, the statues of her grow smaller and the shrines are found less in public places and closer to kitchen hearths. It seems she became a goddess for women. Gradually, as the masculine character of Yahweh grows, Shekinah diminishes until she is barely remembered, except as The Bride, on the Sabbath, which is the bride's day as well as the seventh day and the day of rest.
    Today Kabbalists still acknowledge Shekinah as the feminine aspect of God. Kabbalism is the esoteric and mystical inner core of Judaism - considered heretical by some sects, practised by the orthodox in some places, and practised by liberals in others. Zefat (also spelled Safed, Szfat, Tzfat, and Sfat) is considered the birthplace of Kabbalah and, after Jerusalem, is regarded as Israel's holiest town. Kabbala has been studied and practised there continuously since before the time of Jesus and the Diaspora. 


    This post was edited by inky at August 10, 2019 2:59 PM MDT
      August 10, 2019 1:51 AM MDT
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  • 13395
    Interesting -thanks. 
      August 10, 2019 6:06 AM MDT
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  • 4624
    Hi Kitty,
    You probably know I'm a rusted-on atheist - grew up that way from the year dot.
    By the time I was first exposed to religion, the stories struck me as no different to fairy tales.
    If I remember rightly, you started out being raised Christian and later rejected the faith.
    I'd be interested to know your journey towards the change.
    And how it sits with you now.
    warmly,
    Manna
      August 10, 2019 3:03 PM MDT
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  • 13395
    I missed noticing your comment till just now. It's a bit complex how I eventually decided in the reality of non-belief. Did God create everything?  That sounded fine when I was about 5 or six years old but the story of creation and all the supernatural stuff did sound too fairytalish and praying to a God seemed ltoo much like I was just talking to thin air. I  came to the conclusion that relying on my own resources worked better than trying to develop faith in a supernatural power. Can science explain all the mysterious phenomena of existence?  Well not yet but no need to conclude  that only a supernatural creator would be required to achieve any certain kinds of things.

    I have had the experience a few times during my lifetime of seemingly 'miraculous'  events and some people have told me 'there is somebody looking after you' but I do not believe that 'somebody' or 'something' necessarily needs be an element of supernatural intervention that needs to be worshipped,  prayed to or thanked -but appreciated; yes. This post was edited by Kittigate at August 25, 2019 9:07 PM MDT
      August 25, 2019 8:02 PM MDT
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  • 4624
    Thanks! :) I've been curious about your journey for ages.
     
    I'll grant that there are things in this world that are mighty mysterious.
    The "feel" when someone far behind you on the other side of the street is looking at you; you turn and there they are, a complete stranger, staring at you for no apparent reason. I'll admit it hasn't happened in a long time - but it still does occasionally. What sense is it that enables us to feel or intuit the intensity of someone's consciousness and attentiveness?

    I think of prayer as an appeal to some part of our unconscious - that part that contains an instinct to want to grow towards unconditional love, altruism, empathy, ethics and wisdom. Not everyone has it but I think most people do.
    Pray to a "god" and it is that part of the self that will most likely answer - sending a placebo cure for an illness, the fortitude for patience, an understanding that enables forgiveness, an insight into one's own fallibility and particular flaws, or the understanding that making a massive effort to achieve a certain goal is much better than trying to take some kind of shortcut.

    I'm inclined to believe that there is a rational, psychological or physical explanation for every phenomenon in existence -
    and if we don't know the answer yet, we probably will when science gets further advanced.

    Oh - and then there's the western cultural trait which needs explanations. Sometimes paradoxes are also a part of reality. Learning to recognise and accept them is, I think, an inevitable part of being an atheist.

    What do you think?
      August 25, 2019 9:21 PM MDT
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  • 13395
    I think we are all subconsciously interconnected and focusing one's eyes on another person strengthens the connection so they will feel something and glance directly at the observer. I can't stare at a pretty face for very long before an enquiring glance from her follows up.

    Guess I  need a bit of time to mull over the balance of your reply to respond. Getting late here. 10:20 pm. This post was edited by Kittigate at August 25, 2019 11:20 PM MDT
      August 25, 2019 11:19 PM MDT
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  • 13395
    Do you have any examples of an interesting kind of paradox? Or a link?
      August 26, 2019 10:10 PM MDT
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  • 4624
    There are many paradoxes in many categories.

    Here's a sampling...

    Catch 22: A situation in which someone is in need of something that can only be had by not being in need of it.
    In the novel, Catch 22, a soldier who wants to be declared insane to avoid combat is deemed not insane for that very reason and will therefore not be declared insane.
    ~
    Paradoxes in linguistic logic:
    This sentence is not known.
    This sentence is false.
    Is the answer to this question 'no'?
    I'm lying.
    ~
    Maths:
    The first number that can be considered "dull" rather than "interesting" becomes interesting because of that fact.
    ~
    Probability:
    Different common-sense definitions of randomness give quite different results.
    A test that is accurate the vast majority of the time could show you have a disease, but the probability that you actually have it could still be tiny.
    ~
    Classical mechanics:
    If we divide time into discrete 0-duration slices,
    no motion is happening in each of them,
    so taking them all as a whole, motion is impossible.
    ~
    Quantum mechanics:
    the Double Split Experiment: Matter and energy can act as a wave or as a particle depending on the experiment.
    ~
    Cosmology:
    Bentley's Paradox - In a Newtonian universe, gravitation should pull all matter into a single point.
    ~
    Philosophy:
    If all truths are knowable, then all truths must in fact be known.
    ~
    Psychology:
    People care about animals, but embrace diets that involve harming them.
    The contradictory association whereby higher levels of self-awareness are simultaneously associated with higher levels of psychological distress and with psychological well-being.





    This post was edited by inky at August 27, 2019 2:35 AM MDT
      August 27, 2019 2:32 AM MDT
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  • 5391
    No. 
    The whole Creation tale is still patently ridiculous. I mean, plants and trees  BEFORE the sun? Don’t get me started. 

    More fictional beings is not an improvement. 
      August 10, 2019 5:49 AM MDT
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  • 1305
    There are many verses where God describes his actions in a mothering role in order to relate to us, he is an invisible spirit.

    Hosea 11:3-

    God: “Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I who took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them.”

    Hosea 13:8

    “Like a bear robbed of her cubs, I will attack them and tear them asunder…”

    Deuteronomy 32:11-12

    “Like the eagle that stirs up its nest, and hovers over its young, God spreads wings to catch you, and carries you on pinions.”

    Deuteronomy 32:18

    “You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you; you forgot the God who gave you birth.”

    Isaiah 66:13

    God: “As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”

    Isaiah 49:15

    God: “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.”

    Isaiah 42:14

    God: “For a long time I have held my peace, I have kept myself still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in labor, I will gasp and pant.”

    Psalm 131:2

    “But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.”

    Psalm 123:2-3

    “As the eyes of a servant looks to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to you, YHWH, until you show us your mercy!”

    Matthew 23:37

    Jesus: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”

    Luke 15:8-10

    Jesus: “Or what woman having ten silver coins, is she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

     


    In the bible God doesn't create like a human of the flesh, he creates by speech "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

    The First Day

    And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. Hence, God speaks things into existence.  
    This is why Jesus is referred to as The Word, as the truth, and the light, and the world being created through him. John 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 

     

      August 10, 2019 11:13 AM MDT
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  • Who says there isn't ?
      August 10, 2019 11:57 AM MDT
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  • 13395
    Maybe the term 'God' really means Mr & Mrs God. 
      August 10, 2019 12:13 PM MDT
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  • 492
    A black hole and the big bang has nothing to do with sex.
    Wait, I take that back. They have a lot to do with sex. 
      August 25, 2019 7:17 PM MDT
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  • 46117
    No. Nothing about the story sounds realistic. But it is.  

    Because it is true.  It is no more bizarre than Trump getting elected. Nothing beats that one. NOTHING.  
      August 25, 2019 11:27 PM MDT
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  • 13395
    Well I think the Buddha was very wise to say 'leave beginnings for science to determine' instead of making up another fancy sounding story of creation. 
      August 25, 2019 11:37 PM MDT
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