Opinions on this statement please…..

There is one God, both male and female.

Jehovah is the Male half and Sophia is the Female half.

In Wiccan terms, the Lord Jehovah is God and the Lady Sophia is Goddess.

Lord Jesus Christ was God with us on earth, indwelt by Jehovah himself.

The Bible, and other equally valid writings, are the inspired words of God.

In the Bible, the Holy Spirit/Ghost of God is Sophia.

I believe…

* We are all imperfect, and the only means for Christians of being cleansed from all imperfection is through Jesus Christ.

* Inspiration by the Holy Spirit is necessary for Christian salvation.

* In Christian baptism by immersion in water.

* That baptism in the Holy Spirit is given to Christian believers who ask for it.

* Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Christian is enabled in living a holy life.

* As a follower of Christ, I am called first and foremost to love.

About Jesus Christ, I believe in:

* His Divinity/Deity

* His virgin birth

* His sinless life

* His miracles

* His redeeming death

* His resurrection

* His ascension

* His future return

Esoterically, I believe in:

* The Wiccan Rede, “An it harm none, do as you will” The word rede as a verb means “to advise or counsel” so it is simply a guide to help choose ones actions.

* The Karmic Law, any energy sent out will come back, actions will directly affect what happens. However, I must also accept that sometimes, ‘stuff happens’ and in that case, it is my response that matters most.

* Self-responsibility, I are the only one responsible for my actions. ‘Evil influences’ are no excuse, no matter what the influence, I still have free-will.

* Living Ethically, one should always strive to learn, grow, and change, try to make the world a better place.

* Attunement with Divinity, to work towards being in harmony with the Divine. This may be done through such practices as prayer, ritual or meditation, with or without props such as candles and incense.

To me, God surpasses gender. So I don’t think there is any problem in mixing male & female pronouns when talking about Him/Her. It’s a view that a lot of Christians share, incl. Rob Bell: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko9IitWf8tY

I am curious as to why “Sophia” and other concepts from Wicca to do this though.

Hi Maryanne

Thanks for being brave and bringing this very interesting topic up. I imagine it might be quite challenging to a few people here… however it’s great that we can all have our various views, respect differences and be open to other possibilities. Exploring different ideas to our own is a good way to learn.

I am more and more convinced that God has a female aspect despite that this hasn’t been traditionally taught. I would even say this information has been deliberately camouflaged in the bible. We are afterall created male and female in his image. And regardless of outward gender, we each have masculine and feminine attributes which balance each other like yin and yeng. So why wouldn’t our creator have this too? It’s important to note that the attribute of ‘wisdom’ in proverbs is depicted as a woman, which surely reflects something of the divine feminine or at the least that women can be spiritual. And something I only just learnt is that the original word for the Holy Spirit was originally written in the female gender then later changed into the male. Amazing.

Here’s an even more way out idea. Some people believe that Mary Magdalene may have been the divine counterpart to Jesus, possibly the divine lover referred to in Song of Solomons, the bride of Christ. Not entirely sure about this but the more I learn about MM, am led to think it’s quite possible. We don’t have to look too hard to see how her name was besmirched (possibly represented as the black madonna in scripture, not because of race but because her reputation was unfairly sullied which cast her into the shadows) and how women were treated as second class people by the culture of the day. Not surprising then that the patriarchy would diminish the feminine is all it’s forms, including any divine representation.

These days, I’m not so into the dogma about Jesus’ life. I believe the way to eternity is more inclusive than I once thought, and that the name of Jesus emcompasses other religions. God has many different names in the bible and so I believe that to be the case today. I believe Jehovah, Allah, God, Sophia, The Great Spirit and many others are all one and the same. Put more simply, where there’s love, there is God by whatever name.

In terms of working out my own salvation, I like the gnostic idea of setting out to become fully human. I believe that being fully human is to be divine. This involves the pursuit of deep self awareness and wisdom through experiences like meditation, visions, dreams, prayer, reflection etc rather than mere book knowledge. The process is about journeying to become more whole.

Maryanne, your esoteric beliefs seem like good common sense ways of being and they fit with biblical teachings. i.e. karma is the same as reaping and sowing. And ‘..harm none..’ sounds like ‘Do unto others as to yourself’. I like the emphasis on self responsibility rather than using external evil as an excuse. This is the harder path to take because it requires some inner effort rather than blaming others. This is very much emphasised in the gnostic way too.

I will just add that the above are my personal thoughts and beliefs only and not things that will necessarily work for others. I think it’s important that we each be true to ourselves and find our own salvation.

Blessings,

Ann Maree

Thanks Ann Maree. I think we are on the same wavelength…a very interesting discussion, also I think love is much bigger than many of us realise. We can limit it according to our understanding.

i think you may find, if you investigated earlier versions/writings of the old testament, that God had a stronger female aspect than how the bible states it now …

another unfortunate example of people’s interference with “Holy Scripture”

but that is another story/topic