Originally posted by mikelom
and not 'She' or 'It'?
It is an ultimate entity, if it exists.
And why can't it be a 'She', just as much a 'He', for that matter?
Female comments are openly invited, so as for unsexist analogies to run a matter of true course. 😉
-m.
Well, it is certainly true that Christianity has traditionally understood God as male. This is not to say, however, that God is
physically male nor to exclude feminine qualities of God. Scripture does present readers with a number of maternal images of God. For example, God is described as a 'womb' (I think this is in Jeremiah.) Jesus himself likens himself to a hen, if I recall correctly. The reason God is male, at least as early Christians understood, is because of His double status as father of creation and husband to mankind.
It would be a mistake to read this as misogynistic or as a relic of Hebraic patriarchy. One of the implications of this theology is that mankind relates to God as a woman. Israel is the bride of God; the Church is the bride of Christ (see Ephesians 5.) Mankind, ironically, relates to God as a female. God's masculinity only affirms the dignity of womanhood as much as God loves and saves His Church.