Why God is called labelled "He"

[Silver]

Originally Posted by supernova

You maybe true. Yes females are weaker and less traveled and therefore they were considered softer sexes.

However I feel that women are not incapable of anything under the sun.

Today also in most countries women are considered weaker sexes and in some parts of India women are treated as commodities and women have no free lives and they are dependents and men marry them for sexual gratifications and at the same time for begetting babies for their husbands.

This entails the fact that women had and still have lesser roles and remained subservient in society. Of course women must unite and reposition their existence in society, redefine their roles and authority and reorient their power and positions

Then God will be re-labeled SHE

I had heard long ago that some cultures mainly in the past, both here (some American Indian tribes) and other continents had cultures that were matriarchal.
I don't know which ones, though.

When I was relatively young, basically still a kid, my mom was driving somewhere with me, and I said to her (we were talking about Jesus coming again), maybe Christ will come as a female, instead of Christ, it will be Christina, like his sister, sort of wondering out loud about this sort of thing to her. You should've seen her face. Her jaw dropped to the floor in amazement. To this day, I don't fully relate to anybody having that response, but you'd have thought I performed a miracle, which just goes to show just how truly beaten down (mentally and/or physically) and belittled women were back then. Which angers me greatly because I came from a long line of hard working reasonably intelligent, loving women (and men) on my mother's side (I knew more of them, although I'm sure my dad's side had too).

[inspirit]

That's a good question. I think that one reason He is used is because of the precedent. God has been seen as a male and a king for many centuries long before Jesus came along. They would see him as having might and power, qualities that were associated with males at the time.

Then came Jesus who tried to introduce God as a Father and the people as his children. Jesus often quoted scripture and I believe that was to get people to listen and he stuck with the precedent of God being a male for purposes of keeping it simple. The main point Jesus wanted to get across though wasn't that God is a male. I think he wanted us to know about our relationship to God and that he loves us like a father (or mother) loves his children. Moreover Jesus wants us to view God as a person and not as a mere force of energy and we do not have gender neutral pronouns for people in our language. So he continued with the precedent of He. But I think in fact God has no gender, but that he encompasses both male and female.

As for the reasons why God incarnated as Jesus, a male child, that is a different question but also worth exploring. I think He probably knew that he would be able to have the most effect as a male because of sexism. Jesus was against sexism and spoke up for women, but at the same time I think he might have chosen to take advantage of the greater status that males had at that time.

Originally Posted by Kaere

Apologies for my lack of clarity mac - I hadn't realized a dissertation was required this morning.

no apology needed - You did what you could

"As for the reasons why God incarnated as Jesus,....." Huh! Musta got that wrong - thought it was claimed that the Nazarene was the son of god, not God the father etc?

Originally Posted by supernova

God is gendered and deemed masculine mostly if not always. In most cultures God is a male and mostly is addressed as "He". Why dis God manifest in male figures? In Christianity females have little role. There is an example of St. Mary, Magdalena and the like but mostly it is males.

In Hinduism there are female figures but mostly male figures. In Islam there God is a male figure.

Why we do not address God as "SHE"?

Is it because the world is male dominated? Or it is male's muscular prowess that femininity always has to be subservient?

I do not want this to be a controversy and just want people's opinions on the issue so that I and the rest who might have questions on this can learn

It is because the Romans invented Christianity and theirs was a patriarchal society.

The name of the Christian and Catholic God is Yahweh, that's not a Goddess name, if in scripture today and back then, there would be evidence that it was a Goddess not a God. Plus, the beard kinda gives it away, unless you're worshipping a bearded lady.

[innerlight]

Originally Posted by supernova

God is gendered and deemed masculine mostly if not always. In most cultures God is a male and mostly is addressed as "He". Why dis God manifest in male figures? In Christianity females have little role. There is an example of St. Mary, Magdalena and the like but mostly it is males.

In Hinduism there are female figures but mostly male figures. In Islam there God is a male figure.

Why we do not address God as "SHE"?

Is it because the world is male dominated? Or it is male's muscular prowess that femininity always has to be subservient?

I do not want this to be a controversy and just want people's opinions on the issue so that I and the rest who might have questions on this can learn

Calling God a he, or a she, or Goddess falls into duality. If there is a he then there is a she. A father then has the mother, and so on. Most of the times when you see God referred to as a he is more than likely because of the author trying to establish male supremacy over the female.

Sadly such a concept is still prevalent in the church as females are unable to be priests. Only males can. (Unless they changed that)

I think it was also a way that the author was using for them to understand. Such as males used God, and then the females had their version being the Goddess.

[John32241]

As I see it, what humanity defines as God is genderless. It is true that men in our history has feared the feminine intuition. Thus defining God as male. Women are more integrated than men. This attribute can be hard for a man to accept.

The creator crafted men and women as equals. They are designed to either work together in harmony or feel inadequate them self. That apples to both genders. I found it quite disturbing that, as a culture, we have not yet learned to appreciate one another.

In my view, each gender could appreciate the ways of being for the other gender much more than we do at this time.

The constant reference to God as a He is clear evidence to me, how unbalanced we are. Much of our scripture recorded by men, distorts the true nature of divinity.

For some deeper insight as well as a woman's perspective, I suggest these two Anna books.

http://seepublishing.com/

John

Originally Posted by innerlight

Calling God a he, or a she, or Goddess falls into duality. If there is a he then there is a she. A father then has the mother, and so on. Most of the times when you see God referred to as a he is more than likely because of the author trying to establish male supremacy over the female.

Sadly such a concept is still prevalent in the church as females are unable to be priests. Only males can. (Unless they changed that)

I think it was also a way that the author was using for them to understand. Such as males used God, and then the females had their version being the Goddess.

So there should be a Goddess in charge as well alongside your God? Would this be Gaia (Mother Earth)?

[innerlight]

Originally Posted by Rumar

So there should be a Goddess in charge as well alongside your God? Would this be Gaia (Mother Earth)?

Depending on whom you talk to there is a belief that it was a father and mother creater that created humans, and earth, and was not just one entity.

I was referring to if you're creating God as a He you are also creating a Goddess as a She.