Why are all angels in JW publications male?

kenpodragon

Why are all angels in JW publications male? I was thinking about this today, as I notice other Christian religions show angels as male and female. Do you think that this was another way of showing how males were superior to females in their teaching, or that their god "Jehovah" was more favorable to the male appearance.

Also, why did Jesus have to be a man? Why was Abraham considered the beginning of the Jewish nation, when he only provided half of the project to make a baby? Why was Adam tempted by a woman, and not by himself? Better yet, why is God always shown as a man?

Ever wonder these things? Is Judaism and Christianity sexist?

Just wondering

Vivamus

Is Judaism and Christianity sexist

YES.

The bible was written in an age where women were considered inferior. Men were the owners of women. First the father, than the husband.

The watchtower apparently loves this image, they propagate the inequality of women vs. men.

barry

Someone has claimed that there are no women in heaven and to prove it used the text in Revelation that there was silence in heaven for half an hour. Barry

A Paduan

There are reasons for sexual distinctions in the bible.

Seed is male
Soul is female
satan is the other seed - male
God is Spirit - a male sense denoting paternity (eg Jesus)
Our souls are female - e.g. the widow (previous spouse of spirit)

There's definite reasons for it in the bible.

paduan

Edited by - a paduan on 17 September 2002 4:48:19

Cardinal Fang

*GROAN* @ Barry - that was prehistoric!

Seriously, I was racking my brains trying to think of any scriptural examples, and a couple do spring to mind; John refers to the angel giving him the Revelation as male ("right away HE said to me, 'these are the ones that come out of the great tribulation...'"), and the angels that visited Lot appeared as men. Come to think of it, the 'rebellious' angels pre-Flood, when they fancied a bit of nooky, materialised as men, too. Think about it - all the fun, with none of the pregnancy... *running for cover*

"God help us, help us lose our minds..." - 'Slippery People', Talking Heads

plmkrzy

just like a man. Names his cars and boats after women. Most Hurricanes are named after womwn also. Crap, even Moby Dick was called a "she"

"There she blows!"

seems like everything connected to earth is female and everything connected to heaven is male.

Matty

They will explain it away by saying that depictions of spirit creatures as male are just symbolic, and of course they actually have no gender. Classes and collectives tend to be depicted as female, the bride of Christ, the spiritual Israel, being the obvious one.

Mimilly

seems like everything connected to earth is female and everything connected to heaven is male.

Could be 'cos the short span of time we're with them we're screaming "Oh Gawd!" and other than that, we're grounded to reality.

Oh I couldn't resist!

Mim

ozziepost

The apostle Paul wrote these words "Do you not know that we shall judge angels?"

When writing those words, he was directing them to Christians, both men and women.

Clearly then, there is no distinction in heaven along the lines that WTS publications might convey.

I suspect that the depiction of angels as male may be influenced by their practice of restricting leadership to the males in the congregations.

Cheers, Ozzie

Beck_Melbourne

Why are all angels in JW publications male?

Because the two angels named in the bible were supposedly male.

Beck

Why are all angels in JW publications male?

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