>will say the same thing, but when one of the apostles himself
>is a raving mysogynist...

Paul? i wont comment too much on him....but i dont consider him an apostle....in fact the exact opposite....

>i guess my question is, what came first? the exclusively male
>god, or the culture that spawned him.

different and places the knowledge of the Divine manifested in different ways, mostly according to the understanding of the societies.....but the twisting of that for agendas is human maniplation....


>i don't believe in God as being male or female, as such. in
>describing different *aspects* or manifestations of
>God/Divinity, however, i think it might be appropriate to
>break those down into "masculine" and "feminine" as necessary
>for understanding.
>
>i just don't feel you can have one without the other. if
>you're going to speak to one, you need to balance the
>equation. otherwise things aren't gonna come out right.

word. its ok to break down the Divine, which is beyond encapsulating comprehension, into understandable concepts, but we have to be careful not to project those concepts back up, or to let certain concepts dominate over others...

>it's sad. and i find it abhorrent that women have had to
>suffer so widely for that.

indeed