Is God really male? What do you think? Why?

Question

Is God really male? What do you think? Why?

Answer 1

God has no gender!  God is far beyond the characteristics of His creation.  That's why we call Him "God" in the first place.  "He" is just used as a general term to refer to God.  Sometimes, God even uses "We" to refer to Himself, but it doesn't mean plurality of God but He just wants to give emphasis to His greatness.  We can only comprehend God from the Names He has revealed to us - like He's the Most Merciful, Most Compassionate.

Answer 2

We call him our FATHER. I believe that God is a male because when I speak to him, I call him Father. I understand that He is a spirit, but He did create us, and the male chromosome is what determines whether we are female or male therefore, it is what "creates" us.  

Answer 3

Well you have to believe in GOD in the first place to even ponder this. And if you do, then well who knows. But then again, from a more agnostic point of view, whose to say that God is either man or woman or even human. Why should God be human like? Because we want it to be that way? We can't pick and choose things in just are small life on earthe, so why should or would the afterl life be an exception if there is an after life? What makes us think God should be? Is this the truth, or a mere reflection of human fear and arrogance?

The view of us as commanders of living things and the center of everything and all so important is foolish, when in the true perspective, we are so insignifiacnt and so small in the real scheme of things. Why couldn't God simply be an energy force, a soul, a spark that drove the chain reaction of molecules and atoms to which became the universe and everything within?

Answer 4

God must be male, when you consider how unremittingly anti-woman religions are.

Answer 5

Honestly...sssshhhh!  No one is listening, right?  Well I don't think God has a gender.  Like MotherNature, God is a force

of energy.

Answer 6

There's an interesting book called "when god was a woman" which shows how the history of nations has been responsible for a change in the conceptualisation of god as a woman.

For example in the Aegean world it has been shown that although there were male votive figures from 3000 BCE onwards even these were not depictions of a god and instead it was the female votive figures of the Minoans that were godesses.

Going back even further into the Neolithic Period, the area which later became Sparta had sculptures of female only, no males which implied that they worshipped female gods because of woman's ability to bear children. Women were effectively seen as givers of life which was associated with the supernatural.

Later however, males particularly in the Greek world decided that the most powerful gods had to epitomise masculine traits since they valued prowess on the battlefield etc. So they created new gods like Zeus the father, Athena etc.

I will take Athena especially because although she was female she embodied the masculine trait of warfare and therefore was respected as a result. Few of the olympians reflected feminine qualities since the aim was to supress it in favour of masculism as the superior to fit in with their ideas of mythical heroism.

So basically they needed validation for conquering the world and making women second class citizens and used gods who reflect their traits so they could justify their position. Male gods became the norm from there and slowly even the idea of Gaia, the mother earth was supeceded by Christianity and similar religions

Answer 7

I don't think God is a gender. God is a tremendous force of energy that people really have no words to describe.  People call God a he and the Bible refers to maleness, but I think that just grew from the society norms of the time the legends and stories were told.  

I think when we try to define God, it becomes more than our minds can comprehend, like trying to think of how much infinity really is, or how long forever is, we just cannot bring that.

Who and what God is has been something major in my own spiritual life as a Christian.

Answer 8

If you believe in the God of the Bible, then yes.  Because he is specifically refered to as male, and I see no reason why people would pray to 'Our Father, which art in heaven' as Jesus teaches theyshould, if we were not intended to view God as male.

I have absolutely  no problem with the idea of God being male, and don't really understand why anyone should.  The countries where women have always been treated the best in the terms of rights etc are those that come from the Judaeo-christian tradition.  There are plenty of countries where goddesses are worshipped as well as gods, but women are not noticeably well treated in such countries.

Answer 9

Why would you say he exists in the first place? Nothing in our universe requires god. And there's exactly zero evidence for him.

Answer 10

Consistent, just, demanding, overpowering, and creative: God is a man and a half, just as Michelangelo pictured him.

Answer 11

even though God is known as a he,he is spirit so he is not male or female.

Answer 12

if you thought God is human or for that matter a living being then you are WRONG. God exists eternally.it existed before time and will continue to exist after time.  

Answer 13

Depends on which god.

I think of god as male, as I find that makes it easier to make a connection with him.  In turn, I imagine a lot of women think the higher being is female, since that makes it easier for them to make a personal connection as well, though I suppose it depends on your views of god.

Answer 14

I think god is a man hence the term "father" used in the bible BUT depends on which god you worship too.

Answer 15

No, because god doesn't exist in the form of a human being, despite what many people desperately want to believe. It simply doesn't make sense that one or two humans decide what god looks like and everyone should believe them. Personally, as a pantheist I believe that what we call 'god' is 'just' the value inherent in the natural world. There is simply no evidence for anything else.

Master_B makes a good point that gods conveniently reflect human desires of the time.

Louise - do you really think women are treated better in Pakistan (Muslim) than India (predominantly Hindu)? Or in Saudi Arabia (Muslim) than Thailand (Buddhist)? Women have only been (relatively) well treated in Christian countries since our Western civilisation has progressed beyond magical superstitious thinking.

Answer 16

if god was actually a s*x, a female god giving birth to the universe would make more sense.

Answer 17

God is all aspects of humanity and the planet and the universe we live in.  The careful balance and laws that we observe through science are there by his/her creation yet there are deeper mysteries both in our universe and in our own souls which point us to God at every step.  I picture God as the great experimenter still tinkering with this messy free willed human race that he/she/it created waiting for the escaped subjects to return.  God is a creature of such perfect love that male and female are united in bliss in its very sacred presence.

Answer 18

It is said that God is all knowing and all seeing /omniscience.

    In order for that to be true the creator would have to be everything.

Male as well as female. But I suppose a being such as God would transcend such physical differences.

        

Answer 19

Most cultures don't have a precise gender for 'God'...of course many cultures are polytheistic with some gods male and others female..You're thinking of the male God of the Old Testament patriarchs, the owner of the flocks who in those days was always a man...

Answer 20

I think so because he created Adam in his own image. And then he made Eve later because Adam was lonely.

Answer 21

No. God is a creative force. It is everything. It's a spirit. I highly doubt It has a p***s. That's just me using common sense and not believing everything I hear, though. Why people say he I have not the slightest clue. Usually people don't literally mean it though, unless they are a fundalmentalist. But no, God is definitely not a guy. God is a force.

Answer 22

I could care less it's not important to me; besides, it's really stupid to argue over.

Answer 23

The one in the bible?   It says HE, so it must be.   Those PC people that try to change the bible to fit their views are tearing it apart and making it useless.   I could probably sift through it and find enough information (minus most of it) to say I'm perfect.

Answer 24

No, it's ridiculous to assign a definite gender to a higher power. If God, as an entity, does exist there would be no reason to believe it would resemble us. Our appearances as a species were created by the environment we developed in. We have no clue about what kind of environment a higher power would exist in. We can't even assume that it would have a form, be visible, detectable or even perceivable in any way to human beings.

God is not human and thus can't be a man or woman. It is genderless, like by printer. In art however, God can logically be represented by the traditional symbol of wisdom and knowledge. A venerable old man.

Answer 25

I have to agree with Open Minded Unitarian, Tiger and all others who say that God is neither gender but is a force.

But when I was a kid, I always used to think of God as a man with a long, white beard :-)  

Answer 26

God is energy. God is beyond our limited and laughable intelligence.

Answer 27

God is neither male or female.  He embodies and represents us all.  Like others have said, God is not human...that is why he created Jesus.  To become more like him in human form.  The term "Father" used in the Christan bible is like referring to people as "mankind".  It is just a general term and representation of God's protection and guiding of us.

Answer 28

I believe, God isnt any particular gender, God is whatever you make it to be, thats the beauty of it, find your inner peace, and within your own happiness, God exist.

Answer 29

No, I am an atheist, and a follower of the way (Dao). There's a force of nature - something we are surrounded by. It's something that we live with in harmony for life.

Answer 30

I consider God to be a spiritual being that is genderless.  The Bible was written in ways that the ancient peoples could understand so they had to make God into a physical being that they could relate to.

Answer 31

When I pray I do use masculine pronouns so I do associate God with being male, but that probably comes from growing up traditional Christian and always hearing "him" referred to as male.  

When I really sit down to think about it though I really view "him" as sexless being that our genitals is what makes us male or female and I don't think God has a p***s, or a v****a for that matter.

In my own mind's eye, I see "him" as a kind male, authoritative (authoritative in the sense that disappointing "him" manifests guilt, which I believe is punishment for sin, not in the sense that "he" shakes some otherworldly finger at us) I also see "him" as capable of profound and endless love and forgiveness and one who stands back to let you make your own mistakes but who is there to catch you when you fall.

It's very much the same way my actual father is, so I think it's only natural that I grew up to associate "daddy in the sky" with my dad.

*I do not think that God could not manifest as a woman, but it does feel uncomfortable to me to imagine God as motherly.  Granted this probably has more to do with growing up with a not as great example of a mother as a father, then it has to do with gender ideas.

I think that's enough pop psych for today...