Customer Reviews

Nooma She 021: Rob Bell

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Surprisingly I had recently preached a lesson on this touchy subject and of all people, a woman disagreed with me. She said, "nope - not my God." As if to say, `her God' had to be a man. Her God had to be male...or what? He wasn't God?

I said, `what about creation? don't you know that you were made in God's image? Part of the image of God has to be female.' But she wasn't biting. There are even those who preach that it is actually the holy spirit who takes on the feminine aspects of God. I won't say `gender' or `role' because I think God transcends those titles.

But why do we overlook the feminine characteristics of God?

Rob quoted a passage from Job 38:29, God says, "From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the frost of heaven?"

Can your God give birth? Does your God have a womb?

I would hope that as a woman - you would WANT God to share aspects that you could identify with. Where does motherhood come from? Where does the desire to create life come from? Where does female intuition come from? Where do emotions and love and tenderness and softness and family and all the traits I see in my wife, my mother and my sisters come from? They come from the creator - who made the woman in his own image.

And when you leave the female out of the equation... I believe you lessen God's presence and his voice.

I have been visiting a lot of church websites lately. When I see job postings, one of the first thing I do is check out their website. And the first page I go to is the staff page. And you know what I see? Typically as I scroll down I see.

A man

A man

A man

A man

A woman, and she is the children's "director"

It's rare that I see a woman youth pastor, or a woman assistant pastor, or a woman teaching pastor or heaven forbid a woman female pastor! [you go Presbyterians!!!]

What are we doing? God made BOTH male and female in his image and I believe if only one side of the conversation or the voice or the relationship is represented, then there is a part of God that has been silenced.

Wouldn't that be sin?

How do I feel about women in ministry? Why is that even a question?

Maybe if we were more aware of the feminine imagery for God we would have a better understanding of who God is and what God is like.