Why do people refer to God as He?

Question

God doesnt have a gender becasue hes a spirit right?

Answer 1

People refer to Him as "He" because we are human beings. We cannot understand a being that isn't male or female, but that is BOTH male and female. We cannot understand something that we cannot see, hold, look at, anything like that. We have no physical attributes of God. We only have what we THINK of Him. We are human beings and we have to have a way to explain God or otherwise we cannot deal with not having the answers.

God has been associated with being male mostly because 99% of the Biblical authors were male, and women were seen as property. Could you see it going over very well if God was called she or it? Probably not. But, essentially, you are right. God doesn't have gender; however, I think he's neither male nor female, but he is BOTH male and female. Yes, isn't that confusing?

Amanda

Answer 2

God refers to Himself as He. Also, He is Fatherly in nature and comporsure. And God is more than just Spirit. God has a Spirit yes (the Holy Spirit), but He also has a Soul (Jesus was made man) and an ethereal body (Jehovah). What's different about God also is that each of His persons have intellect ,will and emotions, whereas spirits generally don't have all these things, or a complete set.

take the devil for example. he is a spirit, and has intellect, but a limitted will and limitted emotions. most demons are mindless and have to be told what to do.

or take angels for example. they also have a limitted will (choose between good and evil once, as they don't have repentance) and limitted emotions, as angels (even fallen angels) cannot comprehend love.

and technically the Hebrew word refers to a neutral gender, because God has no current gender properties (x or y chromosomes), but God is male in person, not neccessarily in body. As for what He looks like, I guess we'll have to wait for that.

Answer 3

Most modern Christian religions are based on Jewish religion and the Jews were definitely a patriachial society. Women were at best second class citizens. Same for Muslims. So, God could not possibly be a woman. God had to be all powerful, and no woman was even a little powerful, so God was always referred to as "He". With the advent of Women's Lib, etc, there are those who are asking that question. In fact, in the late 1800s, there was a book written named "Does God Have a Willie". It was actually published in England and Europe, although you would really have problems finding a copy now. Supposedly, it was written by Mary Shelley, who also wrote "Frankenstein". For a really long time, women could not become priests or ministers, and could not directly participate in church services. I know, I'm long winded. Hope this answers your question.

Answer 4

The Judeo-Christian God is called "He" because Yahweh, the Israelite tribal God from whom He evolved, was a male deity. (There were many Gods and Goddesses worshipped in that part of the world at the time.) The male pronoun has been grandfathered in ever since. ;-)

Personally I believe that the Divine is beyond gender, but human beings, interpreting that fundamentally incomprehensible entity in human terms, usually feel most comfortable relating to the Divine as He or She. But that's just my opinion.

Answer 5

That’s right. God does not have gender but Jesus referred to him as Father. We are told that He likes to be called Father. Parent would probably be most accurate but we are too accustomed to thinking in terms of gender. Mother would imply qualities that perhaps wouldn’t fit the analogy. Like it or not we can’t take childbirth out of the maternal image and we think of Father more as a teacher and protector. Perhaps the term is more for our benefit. Both mothers and fathers can love their children unconditionally and give them good guidance.

Answer 6

This is mostly Christians. The thing is that they are not taught (unlike Jews and Muslims) to read their texts in the original languages and thus don't understand their deity is spoken of in the gender neutral in some Christian stories and the masculine in others.
It would be most appropriate to use "it," in most instances.

Answer 7

God is neither a he nor she but complete, heck God is not even a "person". However, we people need to refer to God as something and "he" is what we came up with. Use whatever term you want, as long as it comes from your spirit others will understand you.

Answer 8

Because referring to God as 'it' doesn't seem appropriate. Plus, God has been cast in a father role (the father, the son, the holy ghost).

Answer 9

God is called 'He' because back in the day when the bible, koran, and other holy books were written, the only people who were allowed to learn to read and write were men...

Answer 10

Comes from Romance languages. ALL nouns have a gender. So it was either she/he and the father is the head of the household so he it was/is/should be.