The biggest question in my mind is whether God is a male or a female?
Msot people go along with the belief thst God is a male but why?
Some people think that God is a femaile. why?
I lean more towards a female. than a male becasue God is a benevolent God. God can forgive God created life. The only male species that i know of that actually can carry life is a seahorse. Therefore we are made in a likeness of a female God who made females create life as God choose to do. There are other things that point towards a female God.
This blog is lacking alot of content but its more of an interactive one wehre people can voice their opinons on this interesting topic. Voice your opion.
Is God Male or Female? What do you believe?
Neither.
Why does any god have to have a gender?
But does God have a gender?
Peace!
God does not have a gender. He is who he is. I do not know why we still write he when we refer to god. Maybe because the books have been written in a time when men controlled everything, and that why we associate he with god.
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I never let my schooling interfere with my education. - Mark Twain
No, which is why I said neither.
My own personal interpretation of God means it is an energy force, therefore lacking any personifications imposed by anyone.
I agree with that.
Were some God and he is made out of energy then it wouldn't be aware that it actually causes whatever it does, no?
I fear no man(Nazgul)...i'm no man(Eowyn) -LoTR
The point is it is probably some sort of greater consciousness/ energy that we do not understand so we have no idea if it is aware or not.
The point is it is probably some sort of greater consciousness/ energy that we do not understand so we have no idea if it is aware or not.
No, because God is just a term to label the energy. The same energy, in my interpration, that flows through anything. The same energy needed to make chemical compounds. It's universal. But that doesn't mean it has to be conscious in any sense of the term.
thought that all things were full of "gods". It sounds sorta the same. Interesting theory.
I fear no man(Nazgul)...i'm no man(Eowyn) -LoTR
I think people create gods through belief; they're personified facets of the universal energy.
Well, me, being atheistic at times and agnostic at other times(not about God but that there is something out there) would both believe what YOU said on an atheistic point of view and then could turn around and say perhaps those personified facets of the universal energy are some sort of omnipotent force on the agnostic side of myself.
I fear no man(Nazgul)...i'm no man(Eowyn) -LoTR
You can say whatever you want about it. Reality is purely perception.
Sounds like the string theory. All things are full of strings of energy and are all connected which is why we can measure things like probability.
I fear no man(Nazgul)...i'm no man(Eowyn) -LoTR
I've indulged in String Theory and Quantum Mechanics, but I fully believe in creating your own interpretation of the universe and comign to terms with it. Just because someone thought of something and published it doesn't make your own idea less valid.
In a way it is similar to the idea of the Force in Star Wars. The Force was actually based on a lot of research involving eastern religions.
Oh believe me, i'm not just going on what the makers of String Theory think. I had an interesting conversation with my friend's boyfriend. He's a Muslim/Jew/and Mexican too:). But he thinks outside the box ,unlike, well, many Muslims/Jews (who, like Christians, seem bound by their beliefs) In the Torah, it says that there are 7 levels (don't quote me on this) of worlds we cannot see (like the String Theory idea of Alternate Universes), and one is believed to be a life after death world (sort of like how there are said ghost who roam our world after they die. Well, and this part is coming from me, I believe that they would be stuck in what the world was like when they died or maybe just this one but they think it is their world.). He said a lot more than that but I can't remember everything. I'll have to look the Torah back up again cause I only read the some parts (for the first time) on those 7 levels after he had told me.
I don't give other people's beliefs more credibility than I give my own. I use bits and pieces of other beliefs, belief systems, different sciences, etc. At the same time, I don't believe I think that everyone's individual interpretation of the universe is correct. It's sort of like the intersection sign is mathematics. I think we can all separate everything that is different between different religions and religions beliefs and even personal opinions about the universe ans say those must not be true(at least, partly). The ones where everyone agrees must therefore be true(again, at least partly).
It's like:
The point where all religions disagree is the fact that there are gods, a God, a male God, a woman God, a God named Buddha, a God named Allah, etc. So that must not be true. Or-maybe there is something but it's the complete oppisite of this; not even having cognitive abilities and a simple universal constant.
The intersection of all the religions in the world is that all believe there is some sort of afterlife. So that COULD be true. etc.
I always try to figure in everything. Sometimes the rule of Parsimony is best served for these purposes. But the rule of Parsimony can be used even on a grand scale. It's not meant to present the most uber-simplistic model of the world. It can even be used on a grander scale; when talking about things like life after death. Keep it simple!
I fear no man(Nazgul)...i'm no man(Eowyn) -LoTR
You don't think everyone's interpretation is correct, and that's your reality. :)
When I say reality is based on perception, I'm not saying that one can will themselves to live in a land filled with gumdrops and flying ponies. I'm saying that people see different colors, smell different smells, experience different levels of emotions, etc. The sky is blue because that is the color our eyes filter out and recognize. Bees see UV radiation. Animals most certainly do not perceive the world exactly the same way as humans do. Hell, no two humans perceive the same exact thing the same way; one will always see a different angle of it. Two people could be staring at the same red box and see different shades red.
In general, I still believe that people should wade out and find what rings true for them concerning the nature of the universe. Just because someone wrote a book doesn't mean rhey have to completely stop thinking for themsevles.
People like the idea of God to mirror their own image, while maybe there is no gender but a source of energy that is more than all the God you need or whish to see in your own image!
God is energy, you might never feel it, while many do!
I think that God is a male because of all the years I've taken religion classes, I was always taught that God was a male; also, I've seen pictures of God and I definitely think God is a male, especially because of his beard and mustache.
how can someone capture a picture of God? Is that possible? Not to say that what you have been taught is a lie but who ordained that God was a man?
Peace!
I love it, good times, good laughs! Maybe god is a bearded lady though.
Res ipsa loquitur.
Memento mori, mahalo.
Have you ever considered that the pictures you saw weren't actuall like photographs? In addition, to the time in which the bible was written if god was a woman do you think those pompous males would actually admitt it?
Why should god be assigned a gender at all? Would it really make a difference?
Personally, if there is a god, I think it's a female. I believe during the time the bible was written sexism was rampant - not to say that it isn't now - the womanly qualities god possessed were probably over looked so that the male half of our species could be glorified yet again.
If you still want an assignment, why not hermaphrodite? Best of both worlds, can't go wrong... but what if god isn't either?... I shall ponder this further.
Would the gender of God allow favor to be bestowed on that gender, or would favor bestowed on a gender tend to influence what gender we think god is?
I think gender is really only an issue if reproduction is involved. A singular god, though perhaps having traits that we would consider feminine or masculine would have no need for a gender. A pantheon of gods would probably be differentiated by gender. The Christian god tends toward masculine traits like fatherly, but hindu's main god is female, but can embody some masculine traits. The Godess is the main god of neo-paganism. Older religions more focused on the miracle of child birth and nature tend towards feminine gods, and more "civilized" religions tend towards male gods.
Being an atheist I don't really worry about god's gender, but if I had to choose I would think female. Being male, a female god appeals more to my sense of aesthetics.
Res ipsa loquitur.
Memento mori, mahalo.
I remember learning in Humanities about the varying views and concentrations of some Christians. Some would believe that Christian figures like God or Jesus are more inclined to be male because these people tend to focus more on, say, Jesus the Judge than other aspects. One of the chief reasons that the Virgin Mary came to prominence within the Catholic Church was because some people felt that there needed to be a counterbalance to Jesus the Judge: it supposedly is, after all, "easier" or less "scary" to pray to a nurturing, mother-like figure than a disciplinarian, father-like figure.
People tend to vary on their degrees of focus. Some will focus more on a male aspect, others on a more female, and some manage a happy medium.
Personally, I don't believe that any deity's existence can be proven or disproven, but I'd say that concepts of deity can't be complete and perfect without all aspects considered. If I were of a monotheistic religion, I would be inclined to say that God is any and all "genders."
"Men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in proportion to their readiness to doubt."
"Freedom of press is limited to those who own one."
H. L. Mencken
This is a great discussion. I think it's definitely interesting to analyze the sex-assignment of the supreme supernatural being in each belief system. Why is it that Christians, Muslims, and Jews all believe in a male God? Is there actually a major religion that worships an obviously female chief goddess? (Because I think Brahman, the highest god of Hinduism is actually regarded as mainly male, though he is believed to have many forms.)
I'll think about this some more and have an entry on my crazy ideas on the topic.
Actually, from an Islamic prespective God is neither male or female. As we believe are all Abrahamic religions in there original teachings: Judaism and Christianity.
In fact, the Arabic term for God, "Allah" can not be made plural, masculine, or feminine like the word God in English. e.g. goddess, gods, etc. Also, in the Qur'an, God is always refered to with the neuter term "Hu"- which is usually translated into languages that lack an adequate pronoun as "He". So for that reason alone we say 'He' when talking in english- although God is not masculine.
Also, in Islam, God does not have a physical form we can comprehend. The only human close to seeing Him was Moses and we know from that story that He is something like light- but not light. We do not have any physical idea of how He looks (this is why depictions of God in pictures is forbidden)- the only way to have an idea and understand who God is, is through His attributes- such as All-Knowing, All-Merciful, All-Powerful, The Compassionate, The Loving and so many more.
Why should humans be able to comprehend what God is, if God exists, it is something greater than us and most likely something that we cannot even concieve. It would be like humans being 2D and God being 3D something that is 2D cannot think of what something looks like in the 3D.
If God were so far out of our reach as to be inconcievable, would he take any interest in us? Would we worship him if we couldn't even conceive of him? If God were really that far above us he would take as much time to explain himself to us as we would to cockroaches. This always seemed like an excuse for theists to not need to define, or even try to define God. An excuse not to think.
Res ipsa loquitur.
Memento mori, mahalo.
As humans, we are unable to take in what God looks like.
When Moses begged God to be able to see him, God agreed as long as Moses kept his eye low and on the mountain to the right. When God appeared, it was something like a light and there was a loud sound, both blinding and deafening I beleive. I hope I am correct at this. It was so extraordinary and spectacular that Moses fainted, without actually seeing God.
Only in Heaven will we be able to see God. Only then will our questions be answered. But as for now, only God knows.
Why does he take interest in us? As far as I know, God created the world for man, and man for Himself.
In my belief God did not take any time to explain himself to us, and there is much much more to think about if you do not assume that God is in Human form. How much is there to think about if you assume God looks like a giant man sitting in heaven, not much. There is no imagination involved. Even the idea that God could be unconceivable to humans takes more thinking than that.
I think it is rediculous to assume that God is in Human form.
I agree. This goes with my above comment.
How is it ridiculous? Why cant god be in human form if we are amde in Gods likeness.
Peace!
I don't understand why people even assume that god would be in the same dimension as us. If there is a god I would assume that it would be beyond our comprehension. It seems most people just want to think that the God they believe in looks like they do becasue they can imagine him and it is more comfortable.
Actually, does any other religion claim that humans are made in G/god's likeness?
The Bible is not the exact word of God. It was written by men and has been altered/changed throughout many centuries of corruption. Although some of it is still reliable, a lot of it is not.
I do not believe we are made in God's likeness. That is only a selfish, bigotted idea created by man.
That is what I think too.
O.K., so on some levels this discussion is baseless and ridiculous, but we are humans, we think about useless things for the sake of arguing with each other. There shouldn't be anything wrong with discussing the gender of this concept of "G/god." This is a question of theology, sociology, psychology, literature, art, history, and more, but not science. Of course no one can be sure about what form g/God takes and it's presumptuous to assume that we can understand the concept. But for the purpose of the discussion, theoretical analysis is the focus, not debate of absolute facts.
If we can't talk about things we don't understand, where does progress come in? How would mutual understanding develop? This process is about sharing and learning; it's a dialogue to benefit all.
I do not think it is for the sake of arguing. It is really just our inclination to go seek truth and find out what it is to be human.
God is a spiritual being. In the bible God is referred to as He, but really I dont think God has a specific gender. That's really hard to answer. I dont see why things like this is really that big of an issue, I mean who cares if God is a he/she, God is God.
Cant spiritual beings have gender?
Peace!
Everyone refers to the bible to define God, if God actually did recite the bible to humans I doubt that it described it's self and because back then men were dominant of course who ever was taking it down assumed God was man. By the way I do not actually believe that God recited the bible at all but that is another subject.
what religion are you anyway?
I don't believe in Organized religion. To me organized religion corrupts the spirituality of religion but I believe that there is some greater essance that had a part in the begining of the universe but does not watch over humans or anything like that. In a way a greater energy. I am still forming my religious views, learning from reading books, talking to people, so on. But that is the general idea that I believe in.
do you believe God always existed? and do you believe we, as His creation, have a purpose?
I don't really believe that we were God's creation. I don't think that God is a he or a she or anything of the sort. It is more of an energy, something that flows through out the universe, possible even some kind of higher consciousness that we have tapped into accidentally and maybe that is the reason we are the only things known to us that are conscious. I am not really sure of the details at this young stage of my life but I hope to find a better understanding as I grow up.
by He of course I mean neither male or female because there is no neuter term in the English language. I see what you're saying anyway.
I guess that is true there isn't muchof neuter term except for "it" might work. But I don't buy into a lot of things that are said in the bible, koran. For example jews cannot eat pigs but christians can, this came from the same God as far as I know. I think it just made sense that in the part of the world where most jews recided when this book was writen eating pigs was a bad idea and the when the bible was writen it did not really matter. All of the social ideas that fit the time period really throw me off. If God was all seeing he would mention things that would affect all time periods. Although I think whoever wrote the bible and so on was a genious writer.
Being that I am Muslim, I beleive the Torah, the Bible, and the Qur'an are all true revealtions. Except I believe that the Torah and Bible have been altered and changed throughout centuries of corruption. The Qur'an remains as the only unaltered and true revealation and is the exact word of God as revealed through the Angel Gabriel.
And the qur'an uses the neuter term 'Hu' in Arabic to refer to God. 'It' sounds disrespectful and like you are referring to some thing.
No offense to anybody else reading this, but I think the Jews have not strayed as far as the Christians, for at least the Jews practice many of the same laws revealed by God (kosher or our halal laws, beards for men, covering for women). The Christians have made the prophet Jesus (pbuh) a divine being- meaning they worship other than their Creator. But the Jews have claimed that they are the beloved race of God, whence God does not show favoritism, and have not yet accepted the teachings of the Messiah, Jesus(pbuh).
I had never heard it put that way but that is very interesting and makes a little more sense to me.
I guess we can introduce a new word into English and refer to the Judeo-Christian-Muslim G/god with the pronoun "hu." So this way, we don't need to designate a specific gender for G/god and we don't have to use the harsh "it."
How's that for problem solving?
~*Visit me at http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/sweetvoiceofharmony *~
I like that idea. Hu it is.
it can be a neutral word but that was kind of seem harsh for God.
Peace!
Harsh?
i believe that there is a God. I have christian beliefs as well as some jewish and muslim beliefs. I believe calling god a it is harsh and disrespectful. I only pose this question because i read a lot and it seems to me from my reading of the bible and other sources that god could have a gender. Why does gender matter? i dont know. Why does being gay matter? i dont know. its in the bible so i ask.
Peace!
It just means that I am not saying it is one gender or the other. No disrespect is meant.
I think I love you.
Kind of random.
Peace!
That wasn't to you.
Who was that to??
You.
I see, why is that?
It's not often that I come across someone that has even remotely the same religious beliefs as as I do.
I don't actually love you; it was an exaggeration.
Ya neither do I.
it has been determined that God is neither man or woman but a essence. So how does Hu have emotions or expresses emotions? How do you know that Hu is capable? Is it based on faith?
Peace!
It doesn't, you don't, yes.
Contradictory? No, because my interpretation is just an interpretation. Ultimately, no one will ever truly know. It's probably better that way.
Hu doesn't have much that humans can understand. I doubt hu has emotions or any of the other human ideas. THe thing about hu is it is greater than humans, came before humans and probably has very few similarities with humans.
so who or what created humans? and why does hu watch over humans?
Peace!
The point is hu does not watch over humans. Perhaps hu had something to do with the creation of the universe but humans evolved from another species.
The real question is: why do you assume it cares in the first place?
My point exactly
Brianne Greene
Everyone has been addressing the issue as if God was a human. The term "gods" has been thrown around, but I want to ask this question. Who are we to even think of God as a human. Most people believe that God created humans and the earth, and if this is true, we cannot even rightly question his gender. The reason that most people identify him with a man is becuase his Son Jesus Christ was a man. The central issue here is almost irrelevant, it's not that God is a man or a woman it is that God is God. Which is amazing he is bigger than us, greater than anything we can imagine. I think we think that if God is a man he loves men more and vise versa, but I do not believe that is true. God says that He died for everyone and that he loves us all equally, so where in lies the issue of his gender. God is God and we are not, so let faith take care of the rest!
Exactly my point. It gets kind of redundant, with everyone assuming that any sort of god is human purely because that's what we are. Why does any sort of god have to be human, or even animal, in the first place? It's a human ego thing.
It is just easier for humans to imagine things in a form that we are used to.
Exactly. It's a human ego thing.
This was very enlightening and yet so confusing. We are to trust faith but not know what to whom we are to have faith in? Tongue Twister!
Peace!
Who said anything about trusting faith?
Faith is trusting in the unknown, that is the whole difference between trust and faith in the first place.
IF there is something omniscient in the universe then it would most likely be NOTHING like humanity has ever imagined...I love that argument cause it does show us how little we know.
You know, there are so many beliefs and belief systems out there and everyone claims to have the right one.
There are people who believe in, as i've said before, Allah, God, Jove, Buddha, Odin, gods, godesses, little green men, little gray men, etc.
I remember reading an argument where someone used the fact that certain cultures and groups of people, since the beginning of time, had different spiritual occurences that had to do with their culture, country, or land. "Africans didn't have visions of animals or even people in Europe, Europeans didn't have visions of animals in Asia, etc." This person used this argument to try to DISPROVE the idea that there is something greater than us.
I, rather, think that perhaps this proves that all of our beliefs are related.
It seems, no matter what we believe in (and even though religion does tear us apart)-whether Wicca/Witchcraft, Christianity, Aliens, Buddhism, angels/demons, good spirits/bad spirits, esoterism, etc. we ALL think we've had these spiritual occurences (seeing a ghost, near death experience, feeling a loved one after they've passed, etc.-maybe something a little more subtle like a miracle, or an answered prayer), and that that somehow makes our beliefs more credible and discredits another person or group of people.
Maybe the universe responds to us in a way WE want it too.
If a person is, for example, non-Christian, then perhaps a guardian in the form of a demon(rather than an angel) would make them delve into their spiritual side(of course that's not always true).
If a person is Wiccan and "sees" or has a vision of a fairy(or whatever else) rather than a long bearded man named Christ(If this Wiccan does not believe in both a god/goddess), then that's how THEY became (more) spiritual.
If a person believes in aliens and that's practically their life then maybe a UFO sighting would change their life. (not talking about the wackos but the people who claim that they were healed/comforted, etc.)
My examples are not completely correct and I apologize if I offended anyones beliefs btu I was trying to explain this idea further.
One persons good is another persons evil. How we come into being spiritual is different. Even NOT being spiritual is a path.
My whole point is that if there is anything out there it would make sense that it would use what best suits us individually as a means of comfort, warning, or whatever.
I fear no man(Nazgul)...i'm no man(Eowyn) -LoTR
wasn't suppose to be a reply.
I fear no man(Nazgul)...i'm no man(Eowyn) -LoTR
Powerful. Hu, God, Whatever is the universe adapting to our needs for a religious or non-religious figure? If so why are humans the only ones granted this enlightentment, or is that just our human nture kicking in?
Peace!
The Bible refers to GOD as an he. I would agree with that, because if GOD were a woman, men would be the ones having babies.
Thank you.
Uhm... women are the givers and destroyers of life LIKE "God".
What did that mean anyway?
I fear no man(Nazgul)...i'm no man(Eowyn) -LoTR
...what?
And why is "god" in caps lock?
The sea dragon for example births the young. But still, in your opinion why cant God be a Godess? Do you believe that men are capapble of the compassion and benevolence and the quick temper that God displays in the bible?
Peace!
Honestly, what I see in the Bible is not compassion and benevolence but human selfishness and greed. I have always equated the word God with man for this reason. Personally, I see him as having that "it's my way or the highway" attitude. God is like Pharaoh; he wants HIS way. To have people serve him and NO ONE else(or else), etc.
As opposed to God, the goddess/mother earth or female-creator-of-the earth in general form has always been compassionate and benevolent, though quick to punish those who need to be punished, and also both "loving and cruel".
In most civilizations that had a female creator, there weren't many rules to be afraid of breaking except the common sense 1)honor/respect the earth, 2)don't kill, 3)don't lie(as a code of honor), etc. Basically commonsensical morals that we still have or pretend we have today.
But nothing that would put limits on human freedom like all of these Sabbath rules, gender roles, even racial roles, etc.
I fear no man(Nazgul)...i'm no man(Eowyn) -LoTR
Women are the only beings (and female animals) that can give life(besides the male seahorse, of course of course) (birth) as God supposedly created/"gave birth to" Adam and Eve. Women, like "God", can also destroy life in general(they can kill their offspring or just other people like men but men DON'T give birth so they don't start the cycle of life process), abort their young, etc.
I fear no man(Nazgul)...i'm no man(Eowyn) -LoTR