In what sense is God male?

Question

What does it mean that God is the father and not the mother or the parent?

Answer 1

God is supposed to be spirit -- not male or female. He is just a pronoun used by men when writing.

Answer 2

"He's" not blatantly feminine, so he's called male so that traditional feminine qualities are not implied. Culturally, it's the blatantly feminine that makes someone a "woman". However, being blatantly masculine is not required for men. You can just be average and it's okay. I believe that's why it makes sense to people to refer to God as "he", though I highly doubt "he" has sex organs.

Biologically, I think it would make more sense to call it "she", because female is the default. Unless extra things happen in gestation, you turn out female - Y chromosome or not.

Based on the "creation" aspects of the Bible, God appears far more of a mother. Based on the punitive aspects of the Bible, God appears more of a father. Since the violence and punishment outweigh pretty much everything else, I'm fine with calling God "he".

Answer 3

Well, part of Christianity pulls influences from paganism. Some Pagan faiths believed in an "Earth Mother", so I guess that makes God the father.

Other than that, other than the fact the Old and New Testament refer to God in the masculent, you are right. There is nothing defining God as a male or female.

Answer 4

Well, it's not based on genitalia like we would typically classify a father. I think it's simply the way that He wished to be thought of, so He gave the inspiration to have it expressed that way.

This also depends upon your feeling of male/female gender roles and personalities. Some believe that men and women are quite a bit different in their personalities and how they approach life. I think men fit a personality type that is closer to the way God is than women. This isn't to say that someone that is masculine cannot have some features that are typically feminine.

Answer 5

~~~eleventy,,,, "God as father" stems from pre-christian Symbolism of the "Father Sky"(spirit) that gives this seed to "Mother Earth"(matter),,, this is also a "Yin Yang Dynamic" in which The Duality of The Universe is made manifest in the various Life Forms,,,(this also sets up the scenario for The Virgin Birth,,, which is far from exclusive to christianity). ~ FYI: This is a very simplistic answer to your Q. You should do a quick study comparison of the Creation Myths of various cultures and you will find these common denominators of Symbolism. The late Prof. Joseph Campbell was the best at Comparitive Mythologies. Begin with him and you will save yourself much research time. ~ Namaste`

Answer 6

People usually try to make excuses for God being Father and will say things like God is spirit only, but God can be what He wants to be and takes Fatherhood to a level way beyond our understanding of it, Jesus called God Father and not `Great spirit` or `He who acts like a Father`.

Answer 7

the whole God concept was created by men and the bible was written by many men, so of course God must be a man. I bet alot of folks on yahoo answers think God is an American despite the fact that his people were like from Mesopotamia also known as Iraq

Answer 8

The Bible reads in Gen 1:27; "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them"...

What do you mean what does it mean? It means God is the Father of all...? Period. Woman came out of man so life didnt begin with a Mother. She was taken out of him.

Answer 9

I was told once that, in the Old Testament, 'It's' really a combination of male and female-It was assigned the male character when spoken of because 'it' wasn't an important enough word. Society was dominated by males at the time so they chose to give it the masculine form when they needed.

Answer 10

I've always wondered the same, since in ancient times, the ruling deity was nearly always a woman. If "God" is the giver of life, doesn't it stand to reason that "God" is a woman?

Answer 11

why do people always assume "god" is male... wouldn't it be more realistic that since "he" is a creator of all things that "he" would be a she?... because in life all around us .. females creat life.... but they do need a little help from men for that proses.... so i really dunno. hmm... or at lest unisex or something? lol but to think of it realistically, god is a man made idea..


oh, and another thing, why do you all believe what you read in bibles?!!! it was written by men (yes! meaning humans.. is that a shocker for you?)! it was changed over time by other men! how do we know what they say is true (other then blindly believing it! )