God's Gender

I think it is important that we refer to the Divine in ways that are gender inclusive rather than gender neutral. Dominate “western” religious culture has spent the last two thousand years referring to God as “He,” “Lord,” “King,” etc. It is time to balance the scales by rising up and calling Her name, and not forgetting that the Spirit is also far beyond our limited gender constructs.

Jews and Christians believe that we are “made in the image,” therefore, we should be able to look to any person—male, female, white, brown, grey, gay or heterosexual—and see part of the Face of God.

Sometimes, breaking with traditions, however comforting and familiar, can help to liberate the full Presence of God in our lives.

As Rilke wrote:
We must not portray you in king’s robes,
you drifting mist that brought forth the morning.
Once again from the old paintboxes
we take the same gold for scepter and crown
that has disguised you through the ages.
Piously we produce our images of you
till they stand around you like a thousand walls.
And when our hearts would simply open,
our fervent hands hide you.

I think it's alright to affirm God's feminine side and God's masculine side in their turn, just as long as we remember that these are human constructs of great limitation, and do no justice in fully expressing the true awesomeness of the Divine.

In the first place it is refered to God as our Father. Then there is suppose to be the fact that "He" if i may,created man. Then took a rib from Adam,and created Eve.
How anyone would get any facts that God was a women i'll never know. Got could be anything. Even an animal type for all we know. Seeing animals were created first before us. And then there is proof we have heshe's in life,with both genders.
So it sounds to me someone is trying to turn minds into thinking women should be superior then they have already accomplished over men,through their own jeolousy to share,as men have shared in the past.

I'm a practicing Hindu and in the religion it is very clear that God is both genders and beyond all genders (both the manifested universe and beyond the manifested universe). However most of the texts that have been translated into English often still use the "He", "Lord", etc use...unless the text is specifically talking about a feminine aspect like Kali or Durga then "She" and other appropriate gender pronouns are used. At the same time I have read books where when the gender is unclear the word "It" is used. I'll admit that when I first began exploring Hinduism that I was immediately put off by this use of "It", but as I got to learn and understand Hinduism more and realized that in Sanskrit how words are masculine, feminine, and neutral all at the same time (and thus change according to use) that the idea of "It" was basically because the Sanskrit word used in those texts was the neutralized version of the word. An example is the word Dev, Deva, Devi. Dev is the neutral, Deva is the masculine, and Devi is the feminine. All translate as "God". I took me some time to get used to hearing "It" being used or to reading "It" as a translation, but with time I slowly recognized it. However even I, a person who adopted/converted to Hinduism, still often say "He" or "Lord". It's not that I think God is exclusively male....in fact even when I'm saying these words there is a larger part of me that thinks "It"....but instead I've often found myself using the gender based on what the people around me are using. I've talked to folks who refer to God as "She" and when I open my mouth and speak I find myself doing the same thing and yet, once again, thinking "It". I realize that when I say "It" to some people they react much the same way I first did when I read/heard "It" as used for God. Perhaps its because our language limits the use of that word to things...nonliving things to be specific...and God is very much alive. We have trouble associating the word "It" with God because of our own association of the word "it" as being only for nonliving things. We therefore limit our words. I've noticed when speaking to my many Hindu friends...those born into the Hindu tradition, that they often avoid pronouns altogether and stick with names that are often gender neutral...inter-sect used such as Ishvara or Brahman or just "God". It's not unusual for them to say "God" rather than "He", "Him", "Lord", etc. Saying things like "God is capable of drawing all people back to God." It sounds a little odd at first until you realize that's just because most of us would have said it as "God is capable of drawing all people back to Him." But I find I can more easily say "God" than I can "It" when I speak and am unaware or unsure of the person I am speaking to's own use of gender pronouns. So rather than think "do they think of God as 'he' or 'she' or 'it'" I just don't bother with it at all and say "God". If it comes down to it that I've heard what they've said and pronouns have become clear I am more apt to just start using the pronouns they use, too. Much the same way as I am when speaking to people and the word "God" is bothersome to them, then the word "Divine" is often used or some other term. Afterall English is only as limited as we make it and so long as the symbolism of our language properly conveys are understanding, then that is what is most important.

I am a Christian and so I go by the definition found in the chapter 3 of Exodus, where Yahweh defines himself.

That said, I also realize that God is a mystery and can be male/female, or both, or neither, or something else entirely.

That woman who bullied Marianne Williamson does seem rather jealous of the entire male species. I hope she found some way to peace.

I refer to God as "Him/He", and it makes no difference to me whether other people say God is male or female. I believe that God is beyond such human distinctions. I can sort of see the point that, even if God is beyond these distinctions, there are implications for us as people. However, I feel that a debate over the gender pronoun we should use for God distracts us from some more important questions. Just use what feels comfortable in your own heart and never mind political correctness.

hello folks, I guess if i thought gender was this important i'd also figure what race and so on, see it don't matter to me, all that. what matters is that i know that i am not alone any where i go and that i always have unconditional love all the time. pretty simple. wondering about the gender of god makes about as much sense as thinking your worth or value in gods eyes being only monetary. or that the church or the body of believers can only do good if they wait till the money comes before doing anything. look around you at what god did with nothing. thanks for the opportunity to say this. have a beautiful summer.

The Bible says God our Father