God the Mother? Ooh Boy...
I was walking downtown yesterday afternoon when I was approached from behind by a young Korean man. He asked me a most unusual question:
Excuse me, sir. Do you know about God the Mother?
Well, this should be interesting, I thought.
"What?" [That's me]
Do you believe in God?
At this point I crossed myself and said,
"Yes, in fact I'm Orthodox."
Do you know about God the Mother? Can I show you from the Bible?
Ooh boy. Not your run-of-the-mill walk today!
"I have not heard of God the Mother", I said. "That sounds intriguing."
So, we walked over to the side of the street and proceeded to talk for the next 45 minutes. He was armed with a Bible (an english-korean NIV to be precise), and was very efficient at flipping from one verse to the next quickly. He started off in Genesis.
Look here, sir. In Genesis we read "Then God said, ' Let us make mankind in our image...' ... So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." Do you know who this 'Us' he is talking about?
In fact I did know, so I responded. "Yes, the word for God here is Elohim, suggestive of a plural nature. It is an Old Testament reference to the Trinity."
Yes. Many people say that. But look, sir. He created them in his own image: male and female. Does that not suggest that God is both male and female.
I rolled my mental eyes at him. "Actually, God has no Gender."
Sir, It says God made them male and female in his own image - there is God the Father and there is God the Mother. Look around. Everyone is either male or female. That tells us that God has a Father aspect and a Mother aspect. But sir, most people will say that God is Father. That is true. But what about the female side? Is it God the son? No. He is male. Some people say the female is God the Holy Spirit, but look here sir...
Fingers raced through the pages. He was very well organized.
See, Jesus says here that "And I will ask the Father and he will give you another advocate to help you a be with you forever...The world cannot accept him..." So you see, sir? The Holy Spirit is male, too. Now...
More rapid flipping.
See in Revelation it says "I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride." So, sir, who is the Holy City? Right, the Bride. Look here now, it says "The Spirit and the Bride say 'Come'. So, sir, who is the Bride would you say?
I smiled and said "The Church"
Ah, yes many people say it's the church, but sir, can a building save you? No, a building cannot save you. This is not a building. This is not Saints. This is God the Mother.
Well, this should be interesting, I thought.
"What?" [That's me]
Do you believe in God?
At this point I crossed myself and said,
"Yes, in fact I'm Orthodox."
Do you know about God the Mother? Can I show you from the Bible?
Ooh boy. Not your run-of-the-mill walk today!
"I have not heard of God the Mother", I said. "That sounds intriguing."
So, we walked over to the side of the street and proceeded to talk for the next 45 minutes. He was armed with a Bible (an english-korean NIV to be precise), and was very efficient at flipping from one verse to the next quickly. He started off in Genesis.
Look here, sir. In Genesis we read "Then God said, ' Let us make mankind in our image...' ... So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." Do you know who this 'Us' he is talking about?
In fact I did know, so I responded. "Yes, the word for God here is Elohim, suggestive of a plural nature. It is an Old Testament reference to the Trinity."
Yes. Many people say that. But look, sir. He created them in his own image: male and female. Does that not suggest that God is both male and female.
I rolled my mental eyes at him. "Actually, God has no Gender."
Sir, It says God made them male and female in his own image - there is God the Father and there is God the Mother. Look around. Everyone is either male or female. That tells us that God has a Father aspect and a Mother aspect. But sir, most people will say that God is Father. That is true. But what about the female side? Is it God the son? No. He is male. Some people say the female is God the Holy Spirit, but look here sir...
Fingers raced through the pages. He was very well organized.
See, Jesus says here that "And I will ask the Father and he will give you another advocate to help you a be with you forever...The world cannot accept him..." So you see, sir? The Holy Spirit is male, too. Now...
More rapid flipping.
See in Revelation it says "I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride." So, sir, who is the Holy City? Right, the Bride. Look here now, it says "The Spirit and the Bride say 'Come'. So, sir, who is the Bride would you say?
I smiled and said "The Church"
Ah, yes many people say it's the church, but sir, can a building save you? No, a building cannot save you. This is not a building. This is not Saints. This is God the Mother.
* * *
That was the gist of his argument. We talked a lot about Biblical interpretation. I told him him that this was why I became Orthodox, because we can't just pick up our Bible and say I'm going to interpret it all by myself.
At the end I asked him "The problem is there are thousands of people and groups all claiming to understand the Bible properly. What about the people you disagree with?"
Look here, sir, "All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness."
"Yes. You should realize that what Paul was refering to was..." I was going to tell him that Paul was talking about the Old Testament - and not the Old Testament this young man had in his hand, either, but an Old Testament with at least 7 extra books that this NIV did not have, but I was soon interrupted.
Don't you believe in the Bible, sir?
"Look. As an Orthodox Christian, the Bible is the most important method of learning about the truth, but it can't be used by interpreting it differently than everyone else.
What do you mean, sir?
"Well, many people believe in the Rapture"
I don't sir.
"Right, and neither do I. Nobody did 200 years ago, but most Christians today do. And they claim it's from the Bible. What do you do with that? Also, the Jehovah's Witnesses don't believe in the Trinity, and they will show you verses to prove their point. What do you do with that?"
They are using the Bible wrong, sir
"Okay, I have to go back to work now, but you need to be very careful that you are interpreting the Bible according to the Traditions of the Church or you are going to go off into severe error."
We don't need Traditions. We have the Bible
* * *
And that was the end of our conversation. Such zeal in the young man - I admire that. He studied and "discovered" something that he thought was valuable for everyone to know. He got over a fear of people (because let's face it, everyone would find it nerve-wracking to approach strangers downtown with a Bible in their hand), and tried to preach the "truth". I admire that very much because I'm not sure how willing I would be to do that.
But what a tragedy. The problem with this young man is that I see 3 possible outcomes for him:
- He realizes that he can't claim he is the only one understanding the Bible and joins a more traditional Christian group.
- He continues in his delusion and starts his own little church
- He gives up and loses his faith altogether
It's troubling to think of this man's future because he's on such an individualistic journey. We need each other to keep us in the truth. But also, we need traditional Christian doctrine, because the Bible can be used to "prove" every sort of heresy imaginable.
When you study doctrine and proof-texts, it soon becomes overwhelming.
- Baptize infants or adults?
- Calvinism's double predestination or free-will?
- Eucharist literally the body and blood of Christ or only a symbol?
- Will the Chuch be raptured in the last days or not?
- Is Israel still a special part of God's plan or not?
- Was the earth created in 6 literal 24 hour days or not?
- Is tongue-speaking as we know it today what was experienced at Pentacost or not?
- Is it ok to venerate icons or not?
- Is it ok to pray for the dead or not?
- Should we excommunicate/shun someone who has rejected the faith or should we approach that person in love and acceptance?
- Is Jesus Christ divine? Or was He created?
I could personally make a "Biblical" argument for any one of these. The point is, just using the Bible is simply not enough. And honest, good Christian scholarship has led people to both sides of many of these things. How is it that we are to cope with this? How can we know what is true?
Obviously, it's no surprise what I believe. We need the Apostolic tradition of the Church Christ established on this earth. We desperately need it. Why? Because the Sola Scriptura argument of the reformation has resulted in this young man. Everybody reading the Bible and believing they are interpreting it correctly.
News flash: You're not that smart, and neither am I.
God help us.