Where is the feminine in divinity?

Question

Why does religion focus so much around masculine divinity? Is this all to mean that women are inferior to men?

Answer 1

Read da Vinci code

Early religons founded themselves around Mother Nature, and the Sun, etc

Where the creator, was the Mother - but when the church became a booming business, they had to make all other things seem blashpemous, so they changed all the "she's" to "He's"

Anyone worshiping god as a woman was seen as "Pagan"

when we all know God's a hermaphrodite ;)

Answer 2

The scriptures were written during a time when women carried out a subservient role in society. Even Roman women of the time had little power compared to their male counterparts, though they could own their own property and slaves. Today in Islam you see a subservient role for women because the religion has not evolved with Western Democratic society. Most people today would laugh if one suggested that a female doctor was inferior to a male cook but 2 thousand years ago this would have been the case, except that your doctors would all be men anyway and all of your cooks would more than likely be male greek slaves. Personally, I have this to say. I am a cook and my Lady friend is a nurse/practitioner for the NHS in England. I would not propose to put her in a subservient role nor would she accept it. Nor would I say that I am the better cook because she was trained as a chef before she became a nurse. At the same time, I do not take a subservient role. She sure doesn't. It works for us because we have mutual respect for each other and we work together as a team. I hope this has given you some perspective.

Answer 3

Keep in mind God does not create religion. It is man that creates religion. We just live in a time and age where women, the sacred feminine is being oppressed.

God is equally both masculine and feminine. Actually probably more feminine because creation stems from the female. Women give birth to life. The same goes to animals. Souls are born from the Void which is the womb of the Mother of the Universe. "He" is from the word "She".

I worship the Divine Mother. Many Goddesses are worshiped in Hinduism. It is still worshiped as much as the male aspects of God.

Women are not inferior to men. Both are truly equal. The Holy Mother Mata Amritanandamayi (known as "Amma") has been bringing back the Divine Mother to people's consciousness all over the world in all religions.

The Black Madonna icons that were once removed from churches in Europe, have now been placed back and are travelling all over Europe. Same thing with Russia too.

Here is a quote worth sharing on this topic:

"I don't see into the future;
Nor do I care to see.
But one vision I see clear as life before me,
That the ancient Mother has awakened once more,
Sitting on Her throne rejuvenated, more glorious than ever!
Proclaim Her to all the world with the voice of peace and benediction."
--Swami Vivekananda

Divine Mother is making a come back! I write about her on my 360 blog:
http://360.yahoo.com/stacysgarage

Answer 4

If we look at the Old Testament, there are many references to feminine characteristics of God. Here is website that lists many of these verses, showing that God operates sometimes in ways that are maternal and nurturing, and that God even seems to have feminine body parts, such as lactating breasts and a womb.http://www.womensordination.org/pages/art_Images

In fact, some scholars would say that one of God's names, El Shaddai, means the God who has Breasts.

In earlier times a female goddess was worshipped, and when Israel began a nationalist religion that was monotheistic and male-oriented, a systematic suppression of all feminine understanding of God seemed to happen.

There are some great books you might like to read which I will list below.

Answer 5

One great thing about Catholicism is that Mary provides an example of femininity. She is not the "same" as God. But she is the most Holy woman, without sin. I am not even close to that. But I'm very happy to see a representation of feminine holiness in my Church. I also believe that it may not matter one way or the other whether God is male or female. Personally, I think God may be sexless. We only think in those terms because we are human.

P.S. Lam_9 spoke of Mary also. You may want to look up those specific apparitions and miraculous happenings for more information. She didn't necessarily say it in the nicest way, but it was good information. ^__^

Answer 6

No and no. Because God is transcendent, he doesn't actually have a gender. This is called anthropomorphism. So saying he's a male is as close as we can get. Females are not inferior, and males are not inferior. They are equals in rights but not responsibilities. That's just the way God made it. Man and woman are different.

Answer 7

no. God is not man. God is metaphysical. there is no masculine or feminine divinity. divinity is completely spiritual. God is referred to with the masculine pronouns in the Bible because everything in Hebrew had a masculine or feminine referrence - trees, plants, everything. its kinda like referring to a ship as "she". everything is referred with gender, but doesnt mean that it is of that particular gender. and the da vinci code is so full of fallacies, so that is definitely not able to be referred back to.

Answer 8

I don't believe God has a gender. I believe God is the formless, genderless, omnipresent, eternal energy source of life. God is the process of life itself.

God is commonly referred to as Father, or Him or He for a couple of reasons. First, because the early church leaders were male and manipulated the word of God and the bible to suit their own patriarchal agenda and to control the masses with fear.

Secondly, in the orginal biblical Aramaic language, apparently there was another pronoun used to refer to God, that was not gender specific, but that was more appropriate than it. The English language does not have an appropriate pronoun so we say He or Him out of mere convenience. It is annoying to say or hear Him/Her or He/She.

Answer 9

you've obviously read the davinci code. women are not inferior to men but the men have always dominated over women because eve sinned when she ate the apple. it's been going on for thousads of years and lots of men think their better than women

Answer 10

If you really read the bible, it calls for equality between all human beings. The problem is that the wrong people in power take the wrong interpretation and scew it to form their patriarchal societys.

Jesus did appear to women first after his ressurection.