Originally posted by Suzianne
HA, good point.
I, myself, have no problem ascribing male qualities to God. While many of His qualities could be seen as female (nurturing, loving, caring, shielding, protecting), He clearly wants to be known as our Father in Heaven, which is what He is. I say let's honor Him by letting Him choose how to be represented. After all, what's it to you? Does this affect you either way? Do you even have an opinion on your own OP?
I think I and all of us would have been greatly affected if the Ultimate Divinity (currently presented in the Abrahamic religions as the male God) had been presented, up to today, as female, or perhaps even moreso, as "genderful."
So believers are left to tell us why God chose to present as male. after all, it's their narrative.
Anthropologists are left to sort out why man would have chosen to present God as male, where they have. They could also explore how societies that don't do this, if there are any, might differ from those who do.
I tend to think that the Abrahamic God is male because of the ability of males, at bottom, to control things physically. IOW, it does not take into proper account the ability of females to control things psychologically. I would add a smiley if I didn't mean it.
But it does rather boggle my mind as to what the differences would have been.