Interloper wrote:Maybe, bailewen, but they were still clueless about actual biology, even the most basic idea of what "semen" is. I suspect that the "semen of the red substance" was menstrual blood, just as "semen of the white substance" is ejaculate. Like I said earlier, they had only the most superficially observable aspects of sexual reproduction processes to go by, and menstrual fluid and jiz... along with pregnancy and childbirth, are some of those most obvious ones.
I made no comment whatsoever on the biological accuracy. I quick scan of the Talmud tractate quote I posted shows that it is entirely unscientific. I was just pointing out that it
does give equal credit for the creation of a new life to both the husband and the wife. It's pretty 50/50. 5 aspects contributed by each [human] party.
Steve James wrote:Question: someone once told me that the word "God" (not the name) is dual gender ... or is it neuter? Just curious.
Biblically, there is no such word. There are just names and titles, lots of them. Most of them are gender ambiguous but not all. In genesis the implication is that G_d is a combination of both make and female which is why you get the rather confusing verse in Gen 1:27
http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0101.htmAnd God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.
Emphasis mine. The word here translated as "man", in Hebrew is "The Adam".
Ha-Adam. "Adam" is preceded by the definate article "ha" or "the" which implies that "Adam" is almost more of a title or description than a name. It's what "man"
is. The passage doesn't translate well because English does not allow for the sort of Gender ambiguity that is there in the original.
The term for "God" in the first few verses of Genesis is "Elohim" which, at first glance appear to be not only gender neutral, but plural. Classical Hebrew scholars explain that this is equivalent to the "royal we". My take on it is that it alludes to the sense of G_d as all the multiplicitious forces of nature. Those early passages of Genesis are incredibly dense with Kabalistic metaphor. The original "man" is described as being both male
and female. It is only after the rib is removed that there is considered to be two sexes. The original Adam had not yet divided into heterosexuality and as it says that The Adam was created in His image, we can infer that G_d too is not divided into male or female.