A Masculine God?

whenever i come across post from people that embrace a belief in the great omni^3 being known as "God" i notice that they refer to "God" as a male. i've always found that making "God" masculine is somewhat sexist and arrogant. if there is such a being (which is not the point of this thread so no thread jacking) why does it follow that it would have a specific gender?

it just seems like one of the earliest conspiracies in religion, making the judeochristian deity a male.



[edit on 2-1-2006 by madnessinmysoul]

I don't think people really believe that God is male or female. I just think God is referred to by some as "he" for the same reason girls are sometimes called "guys."

Like saying "hey guys" to a group including girls and guys, or just girls. It's subconcious...

It's kind of foolish to believe God has a gender--a mortal trait--.

- Attero

Actually in the beginning of religion God was very male and very active in war.

The early Christian church made a statement when his only son came incarnated to earth as a male human.

I agree that through history God has been given the gender of male.

Male dominated society anybody?

Well in ancient hebrew God was gender neutral but when its translated into english a language without gender forms they had to make a choice and sinse the monarchies of the day were Male dominated they wanted a male god for male rule. How could God be a ruler if he was female?

I personally don't think that God (or whatever you want to call the diety) has a gender. I believe the diety is a power or something like "the force" in Star Wars, therefore it can't have a gender. Just my opinion anyways. However I don't like to get caught up in semantics and could really care less if people choose to call God a he or she, or a monkey for that matter.

I think its pretty obvious that god can't have a gender, gender is defined by producing sperm or eggs. I don't think god produces any of that.

Notice, however, that god gets mary pregnant. This is an act normally involving gender.

I think that most socieites tended to think of the super-god as male/masculine, even polytheistic ones that have a super-god at the top.

The idea that there was once a global matriarchal society with a Mother Goddess Religion, that was replaced by a patriarchal society with a Father god, has widely been rejected, for what its worth.

I believe you are wrong. gender, male/ female, positive/ negative, Chaos/ Order
in short Balance is present in all things, all creation, in fact in all of the known
cosmos.



Actually " In The Beginning" there was God and Goddess along with
the Daughter and the Son . ( from which the tradition of sister / bride comes)

My feelings of my Father or God is male gender but gender was never word play in my spirituality. I am with the aforementioned text as to who gives a hoot as to the gender reference. I am in agreement with the ancient Hebrew text. That written long ago the male gender reference was influenced by its writers - men - Now, the Father reference that I perfer mean respect, faith in His love for me, leader, teacher, and dad as a middle aged man would have a relationship with his paternal father. Those are my feelings.Praise to the Father and His Son J.C.. Cordially, LEGALCATALYST

I suspect the male gender association with God might be a result of the Trinity which, is defined as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

For most folks Father and Son suggest a male specific gender.

Can we conclude this is written in stone? Danged if I know.

'masucline' and 'feminine' aspects aside, god doesn't have a penis.

Also, the stories in the bible seem to indicate that god was considered as a male, at least insofar as he seems to have a female consort called Asherah/Astarte/etc. So the idea can stretch back beyond the trinity itself.

Co-incidentally, a subject very similar came up on an academic discussion list I use, and it's all rather interesting - to me at least, so hopefully to others. Bear in mind that sex and gender are different things...

Discussion on JISCMail

Also, for a discussion on gendering of the Christian Trinity (eg. whether feminine has a place in members of the Trinity except the Son), Julian of Norwich does this in her Showings (long text, Revelation 15, chapters 52-64).

Cheers.


[edit on 8-1-2006 by d60944]

I'm totally in sync with what you are conveying, stalkingwolf...
And also what Rob included in the previous post to this one.

Basically the same thing.

Gender:
male--positive--giving
female-negative--receiving

Positive and negative are neutral (as in not related to right and wrong, good and bad). As in electricity and other science related theories, the two are essentially a balance--not cancelling one another out, but combining to make one complete equilibrium.

The father initiates the family, with action and also with donation. The mother
nurtures and nourishes the family. Father's donation supplies, but mother administers said supplies. The father protects, the mother warms. The father encircles the mother, who encircles the family. Such an arrangement, the 'hardness' on the outside, and the 'softness' on the inside, is an ideal environment for 'healthy' upbringing of like progeny.

The father epitomizes:
strength
responsibility
fidelity (absolute reliability)
and cumulatively, truth.

The mother epitomizes:
acceptance
service
trust (faith in the father's fidelity)
and cumulatively, love.

At the Origins of Religion, God was Male and Female. I cringe when Christianity is referred as the beginnings of religion, its less than 2000 years old, while we have religious records going back nearly 6000 years.

That being said, in the original ancient Hebrew ( before the 10th Century "upgrade") God was given female and male aspects, and sometimes both.
When in the act of creation, god was female. When killing and murdering peoples and nations, god was Male. when in nuetral acts, both male and female.

Luckily many of the scribes that taught ancient hebrew were killed by the Church in the early middle ages, lest anyone beleive man and woman were destined to share society and culture.

While I personally do not believe that "God" exists within our dualistic reality, and is therefore neither male nor female, but rather the perfect union of both, I do know MANY people who truly believe It is male.

Those that I know, who believe this, do so because they believe that the KJV of the Bible is the unerring truth, and since it says God is a he, He is. It also helps to rationalize the fact that women are made subservient to men by a male diety, since it would make no sense for a female God to do so. Most Biblical women (note I said most, not all) are portrayed as deceitful vixens who beguile men into treachery. Why would a female diety portray her sex as femme fatales? She wouldn't, so therefore God must be a man. Mainly though they believe God is a man becauase the Bible calls It the Father, and that's good enough for them.

As for everyone else, who doesn't really assign God a gender or sex, but usually refers to It as a he, it's my theory that they do so because that's what they've always heard and it's sort of like calling a boat or a car "girl" or saying "ain't she a beaut?". It's nothing more than a force of habit and doesn't really mean anything one way or another.

Maybe your god is a hermaphrodite. Meaning he has both sexual organs. Personaly I don't believe in a god that the majority does. Find it humorous that a god would be male or female.

We know what you have been doing lately. You have been peeking or
maybe even a little touchie feelie?

There is a legend from early 1st temple that the veil over the Holy of Holies
was hung after a Priest walked in on Yeweh and Shekenah (sp?) doing
the wild thing.

If true, and most all legend has some basis in fact, that would kinda shoot your no Penis theory. Maybe you were feeling up The lady and didnt know it?

oh my darling shekinah! Ohh, you could mix in asherah there two and have a threeway! Talk about a holy trinity!

In ancient times god(s) were males and females...the god which most christians call he..was exactly that..a man...his name is URANUS.

His other name is ANU.

Most people have the "one" confused with the other "one" named uranus.

The "god" that jesus refered to was energy...enegry is not male or female,but positive and negative...to find the real "god" you first have to discover the balance between both energy's.

Jesus found the balance,which in turn ,made him like "god".


The "god" who christains are waiting for is really a alien.

His kingdom is called Nibiru.

I go with you Nygdan, but on another point, his prophets where all, or mostly male? but then again, let's not discriminate, but still hm you might know


hmmm, but still I go with, none gender, or both, as also member I see you suggested.

[edit on 9-1-2006 by alienaddicted]

I guess nobody bothered to read my post.Some people cant handle the truth.