jenn

To the Christian,

What does this mean to you? Also, did you know that it is not only in Genesis where this may be found? <img src="graemlins/notworthy.gif" border="0" alt="[Not Worthy]" />

cloudyphiz

jenn-
even better... elohim is not only plural but feminine. so not only were there 'gods' instead of 'god', they were female.
-gary

King Arthur

Let's be fair to poor Christians now...

First, I don't think Elohim is feminine (is it?) because the "im" ending is masculine plural. The feminine plural would be "ot" or something like that.

Second, Elohim is obviously not always plural because the verbs that go with it are singular in form. It'd be like saying "Gods does good works" instead of "God does good works" or "Gods do good works." God it?! Gut!!

cloudyphiz

"...fair..."

okay. i've looked around the web, and found sites that say elohim is feminine plural, masculine plural of a feminine word, and... pretty much anything you want it to mean i guess. that's one of the advantages of writing your sacred texts in the most infinitely interpretable language ever invented.

<a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Hebrew/heb.cgi?number=0430&version=nas" target="_blank">here's what one hebrew lexicon says about it</a>

still, whether masculine or feminine, the word is plural.

also, see Genesis 1:7 for an example of the schizo wargod-in-a-box talking to itselves.

-gary

RyanS2

It's all about the roots... the root of Elohim is debateable, but most assume it comes from Eloah, which is a feminine root. (Crosswalks says that it's a masculine root, far as I know, that's wrong.)

Elohim is then given a masculine ending, which is "-im", the feminine suffix would be "-oth". An example would be "liloth" which means "spirits" and is a feminine form. Elohim is a masculine suffix, but with a feminine root. Feminists like Barbara Walker or Merlin Stone will tell you that this is because the Hebrew God was once a woman, and when the men created their masculine God, they had to wipe over the feminine parts of the Bible. You can make up your own mind about that.

jenn

In Job 38:7 "while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy".
If one keeps on reading you will surely understand the concept of light and darkness. It is very clear that our choices reflect light or darkness. And most importantly it clearly shows you that "WE" were there when man was created.

My point in sharing some of the scripture that clearly states that God was not alone, was to show the "christian" that it was not the "trinity" scripture refers to.
Scripture in the OT clearly shows that the "Sons of God" was with the Creator in creating mankind.

Not only that, it is clear that reincarnation exists between the kingdoms of species. We evolve into "wholeness" throughout our incarnations.
Our spirits were there, believe it or not!

As for "Liloth", she is the female side of God. God could not have created us in our image without having female attributes.

I challenge anyone to read the Bible with an open mind and really pay attention to what is,"Light" and what is man made. Only then will one get a clear understanding of what the Universe is all about.
<img src="graemlins/notworthy.gif" border="0" alt="[Not Worthy]" />

CX

I'm not conversant in Hebrew, but I have studied several other languages and in general the gender of a word has no bearing on the gender of what it represents. The Greek word hAMARTIA means "sin" and is feminine in gender. This does not mean "sin" is a feminine trait. The Greek word AGGELOS means "messenger" (from which we get the English word "angel"). AGGELOS is masculine in gender, but it does not mean all messengers are men. In French voiture means car and is feminine in gender, but obviously this doesn't mean that cars are female. In Spanish biblioteca&lt means "library" and is feminine in gender, but that doesn't mean libraries are female. Word gender is often difficult for English speaking people to grasp because there is no comparable structure in English.

[ June 21, 2002: Message edited by: CX ]</p>

Undercurrent

I don't know about Greek, but in French, usually if a word has a sensible gender (woman, girl, husband, &c) the grammatical gender of the word is that gender, its only when the noun has no sensible gender that the gender is arbitrary.

I think that if the hebrews imagined their god as having a gender, and they used a grammatically masculine word for it, its sensible to deduce that they imagined that their god was male.

m.

Sturgeon

"Let US make man in our image": the US is god and satan even though neither exist

john_v_h

Oh, of course, that's the most sensible explanation.

Looks like some earnest respondents were snared by this looney troll. Better luck next lifetime!