(no subject)

[dreamer_easy]

In further Bible study news, I've only just clocked that in God's beautiful speech admonishing Job, He has both male and female characteristics:

Does the rain have a father?
Who fathers the drops of dew?
From whose womb comes the ice?
Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
when the waters become hard as stone,
when the surface of the deep is frozen?

(That's the NIV rendering of Job 38:28-30.)

(Those are amongst several images of God as creator and organiser of the cosmos - besides these biological ones, there are references to building, cutting irrigation channels, giving orders, looking after animals, pottery, textiles, and metalwork.)

Comments

[qthewetsprocket.livejournal.com]

well, 'eloi' is plural, after all. oddly enough, i was browsing an amplified bible today, and there was a chapter in isaiah (i think) that compared god's blessing to being nursed (breast-fed) by god, and 'bounced maternally' on god's knee.

it's perpetually infuriating how small groups of frightened men took all the femininity out of what was originally supposed to be such a lovely nurturing message. ah well. the catholic church even admits it's appropriate to acknowledge god as a mother these days (though you have to look really, really hard to find that bit of fine print)...even though they still won't let women be priests. our outrageous double standards, let us show u them.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

To be honest, the Catholic Church is far from the only one with issues.

I seem to recall that there was a lot of controversy some years ago when someone suggested that "God the Father" of the Church of England could also be "God the Mother".

[qthewetsprocket.livejournal.com]

To be honest, the Catholic Church is far from the only one with issues.

oh lordy, don't i know it. i grew up in the bible belt, which is nothing if not a gigantic smorgasbord of religious issues.

[murasaki-1966.livejournal.com]

And Satan, shows up, and he's one of the sons of God.

Just checked the King James Version: it's there too, and in the Latin Vulgate. I can't read the Greek or Hebrew. How interesting.

Someone once said "Job could withstand all calamitites, until his friends showed up".

[murasaki-1966.livejournal.com]

Have you seen William Blake's version of the Book of Job?

http://www.umilta.net/blakejob.html

[murasaki-1966.livejournal.com]

Here's the full set

http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/b/blake/william/job/

[hergrace.livejournal.com]

We have a rather lovely priest(ess) at our church who prefers to refer to the Trinity as:
Earth-maker
Pain-bearer
Life-giver

Says it all really.

Off-topic, but its about John Barrowman

[murasaki-1966.livejournal.com]

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/showbiz-and-lifestyle/2008/08/22/i-just-want-to-be-respected-barrowman-91466-21582834/

Re: Off-topic, but its about John Barrowman

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

And here's a picture:

http://community.livejournal.com/barrowmanfans/593789.html

Re: Off-topic, but its about John Barrowman

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

... crap, that's been flocked since I bookmarked it. It's just Captain Jack firing two bananas as though they were guns, during Torchwood location filming, which involves much goofing around. :)

[pbristow.livejournal.com]

Ayup.

Did you catch the one in Genesis 1, following the common "poetic" pattern of "State important thing; restate important thing: *explain* important thing"...

"So God created man in his own image;
in the image of God he created him:
Male and female he created them."
(Punctuation mine)

Thus confirming that both plurality and gender (or perhaps more generally, difference/diversity between the individual members), are at the heart of how humanity reflects the image of God.