Thursday, October 21, 2010

Rob Bell, "She"

Female imagery God uses to describe himself (via Rob Bell, Nooma film "She"):

"As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you." Isaiah 66:13

"In Christ's family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ." Galatians 3:28

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them." Genesis 1:27

"Throughout the Bible, God is described as compassionate. In Hebrew, the original language of the Scriptures, it's the word 'raham.' It's also the word for 'womb.' So, 'God is compassionate' is 'God is womb-like.' This is a feminine image for God." - Bell

In this new reality of Christ, there is neither male nore female.

God asks Job "From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens?" Job 38:29

Of course this is poetry so you can't take it too literally, but there is certainly feminine imagery ascribed to God. "Now these images can be very helpful in describing the divine, but Jesus said that God is spirit. And spirit has no shape, it has no form, it has no physical essence. I mean, God is in essence beyond male and female. Or perhaps yo ucould say it more accurately: God transcends and yet includes what we know as male and female."

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