Daniel Tomberlin

Warning… this is an explicit post!

According to ancient Egyptian mythology, the chief god rose out of the primordial swamps as a male deity. He then masturbated and with his semen he created the other gods and goddesses. The gods and goddesses copulated together, with humans, and even with animals. The sexualization of the gods was understood as a fertility cult. The Pharaoh of Egypt was the son of the great sun god. That’s what happens when we imagine that the gods are like ourselves – creatures with bodies and genitalia. It was the sexualized fertility cults that were strictly forbidden by the God of Israel. Images of Baal (male god) and Asherah (female god) were to be burned.

Continue reading “Why I Oppose the Sexualization of God”

Joseph McCarthy was a United States senator (1947-1957) from Wisconsin who became notorious by making largely unfounded allegations that communist spies from the Soviet Union had infiltrated the highest levels of the United States federal government. He even accused members of President Eisenhower‘s cabinet of being communist sympathizers. Because of fears stirred by the Cold War, he found a receptive audience among many Americans. He utilized a campaign known today as McCarthyism – making reckless and unsubstantiated accusations, and publicly attacking the character of one’s political opponents. In the end, McCarthy was proved to be nothing more than a demagogue and was censured by the United States Senate.

Continue reading “McCarthyism in the Church of God”

Feminist theologians* began using feminine nouns and pronouns in reference to God in response to masculinist theologians who insisted that male identity and authority is derived from the image of a masculine deity. To insist on a masculine deity means that women cannot share the image of God. If sharing the image of God is the theological definition of humanity, then insisting on a masculine deity dehumanizes women. Feminist theologians insist that referring to God with feminine nouns and pronouns dignifies women with the image of God. I offer this as an explanation, not an affirmation.

Continue reading “More Reflections on the Ungendered God”