God is a man

Bam, immediately a statement to stand out. In Sweden, the Lutheran Church, led by Archbishop Antje Jackelen, has decided that God is henceforth gender-neutral. Six million baptized Swedes will no longer refer to God as “He” or the “Lord.” But I do not participate in that: I know that He is still a man, because He is my Heavenly Father.

Mormons believe that we are all spirit children of Heavenly Parents. Clearly, therefore, a Heavenly Father and a Heavenly Mother. A wonderful set of parents filled with love for all Their children.

We humans – man or woman – are created in the image of our Heavenly Parents. As children of God, we ourselves have divine characteristics: we have the task of developing the potential skills with which we can further grow as true heirs of Heavenly Parents.

Shouldn't we also be a bit careful that the pendulum swings too far if we want to make everything gender-neutral? I understand that we come from a history where women were considered inferior and that we are still not where we need to be: equality between men and women.

Mormons believe very strongly in the equality of men and women. Religion is often considered backward, and people think that religions remain proponents of a strong distinction between men and women.

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it is different. There we first learn the important difference between the meaning of equality versus sameness. Man and woman are not the same. Place a naked man next to a naked woman and you can see with the naked eye that they are not the same. Fortunately.

Men and women each have intrinsic characteristics and different characteristics. There is nothing wrong with the fact that women are generally softer-natured and men – again generally – are better at reading a map. It's not for nothing that it remains Men are from Mars, women are from Venus a bestseller, reprint after reprint. In the Netherlands alone, more than half a million copies have been sold since the first edition in 1992.

But it is not because man and woman are not equal, that they are not of equal worth. Despite – or perhaps rather thanks to – the differences, both are of immeasurable value. Man and woman are equal partners in the eyes of God, precisely because both are needed to form an eternal family after His example and to care for the children together as man and woman.

Precisely because of the differences between man and woman, they are much stronger together. Powerful glues usually also consist of two components. Reading the same book twice can be fun, but you learn the most from two different books. Differences make life interesting.

So let us finally embrace and applaud the differences, instead of trying to wipe them away. That won't succeed, even if we try our best as if. Not even if we now refer to God with the neuter 'it'.