First<\/strong>: Happy birthday to my sister, Alexa. Now to our day\u2019s post: Is God a \u201cfather\u201d or a \u201cmother\u201d? How should we talk about God? And is the word \u201cFather\u201d fixed or flexible? This is discussed in Sarah Sumner\u2019s book, Men and Women in the Church<\/em>, chp. 9. First: Happy birthday to my sister, Alexa. Now to our day\u2019s post: Is God a \u201cfather\u201d or a \u201cmother\u201d? How should we talk about God? And is the word \u201cFather\u201d fixed or flexible? This is discussed in Sarah Sumner\u2019s book, Men and Women in the Church, chp. 9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[476,425,1750],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-missional","category-women-and-ministry"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nI really do want to know your answer to the following question, and that means that we have to be especially respectful today. I believe some will answer this question in ways some of us may not like \u2014 but let\u2019s listen and learn from one another \u2014 and it is OK to disagree with one another \u2014 as long as we behave. So, here it is:
\nIs \u201cFather\u201d just a metaphor? Or, is \u201cFather\u201d a fixed term for our understanding of God?
\nWhat we think about God, so says Sumner (borrowing from AW Tozer), is the most important thing about us. So, how do we think about God? What do we think about God?
\nPicture-making and idol-making were prohibited, but some have done nearly the same with language. So, let\u2019s be careful. All language about God, since God is Spirit, is analogical; she even says \u201cNo one can describe God adequately\u201d (116). And, \u201cBiblical metaphors are statements of truth. But they are true metaphorically, not literally\u201d (117).
\nOr this: \u201cGod is our Father in the very same sense that Jeus Christ really is the door\u201d (118).
\nGod is likened to a mother (Isa 66:13; Luke 15:8-10), but God is not Mother the way God is Father. God is motherly, but not Mother (119). Deut 32:18 has God being both fatherly and motherly.
\nAnd, God is Father, but God is not male; God is not masculine. As Carl Henry puts it: \u201cThe God of the Bible is a sexless God\u201d (121). To call God \u201che\u201d is to speak of his personhood, not his sex\/gender.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"