Why "He"?

[Captain Civic]

I always believed that Jesus was born male because back in those days no one would have listened to or followed a woman.

I think that's a part of it. Plus, God refers to Himself in Scripture as "He". It's merely a title. God doesn't 'reproduce' as we do. He creates.

 

[Fluffy]

I always try to make a concious effort to say "it" but then old habits are hard to break.

I do believe that by viewing God as a "he", we enforce an unequal, anti-female meme.

 

[Reverend Rick]

Why must god be reffered to as a he?

Who told you that?

I dont know if anyone remembers, i often put a he/she bit on my god posts. Also i made a thread about this before, but since i want to see the view of new members.

That's cool

Can't god be a she?

I don't see why not

Does the male from of god promote sexism?

You mean male form? It can, but it is not a requirement.

Why is god a man in so many scriptures?

Because men wrote them perhaps?

Is religion suggesting man is dominant/superior to females?

I don't believe so.

Thanks in advance

Your welcome

 

[McBell]

Why must god be reffered to as a he? I dont know if anyone remembers, i often put a he/she bit on my god posts. Also i made a thread about this before, but since i want to see the view of new members.

Can't god be a she?

I see no reason why not.

Does the male from of god promote sexism?

It is my opinion that if someone is looking to nit pick, they will find something to nit pick about.

Why is god a man in so many scriptures?

My theory is that people tend to see God in a way they can mostly relate to.
A woman likely sees God as female.
An older person would likely see God as elderly.
A dog would see God as a dog, a cat would see God as a cat.

Since the authors were mostly male, it seems that they would present the image of God they relate to most, a male.

Is religion suggesting man is dominant/superior to females?

It is hard to combat the fact that for many many years it was thought that man was completely superior to woman.

At one point in time it was thought that women were nothing more than an incubator.
That it was the man who deposited the 'seed' into the women.
It was not till much later that it was learned that the egg was carried by the woman and that the man only supplied half of the equation.

Now one could argue, and I am not going to in this thread, that it is religion that led men to believe that they were the superior gender.
At least in the beginning.

 

[Starfish]

My God is the God of the Bible, and in the Bible, Christ constantly refers to him as his Father. Fathers are male. Wishful thinking and personal perferences doesn't change it.

But why would anyone want him to be female?

 

[Francine]

But why would anyone want him to be female?

Because women prefer strengthening the community to bombing the next community over just because they have browner skin or have funny economic theories or sit on a bunch of oil.

 

[Starfish]

Because women prefer strengthening the community to bombing the next community over just because they have browner skin or have funny economic theories or sit on a bunch of oil.

Is it fair to lump all men into one type? I could also say all women are weepy, gossipy, emotional, and hormonal. But that wouldn't be fair either.

 

[kai]

if god is the only god why would he need a sexuality, he doesnt need to reproduce or look attractive there is no one else of his kind. these traits are all in mans mind creating god in his own image

 

[Black_bear]

I believe there are a number of reasons:
1 - most religious texts were written by men
2 - men are seen culturally as rulers, powerful and knowledgable e.g. as the hunter/gatherer, as the medicine man in native americans. As These are seen as characteristics of God also, he is labelled male.
Christians may say: Looking at the bible God created Adam in his likeness, as Adam was a man- if taken literally - then logically God must be seen as a man and therefore "he" the father. But then as Eve was made of one of Adam's ribs then she is in adams likeness and therefore God (?) so maybe God is seen as both male and female?

 

[Troublemane]

Men did NOT make life happen...Your sun is useless without a seed..You sperm does NOTHING without something to fertilize...

If you made "life" happen you dont need anything to fertilize..

Men AND women make life happen..One can NOT make life happen without the other..PERIOD!

If men make "life happen" then you do not need a woman.

Blessings

Dallas

oh I know that, i was just saying what primitive people thought. the sun god is central to most primitive cultures, even christianity. the myth of jesus born at the darkest time of the year was taken from mithraism, but its still a solar-deity myth.

 

[ChristineES]

Eve was also created in God's image, she was made from Adam's side (although some translations say rib) so she was a part of Adam. Adam before Eve was neither male nor female. It says that a husband and wife join together to form "one flesh".

 

[Magic Man]

It's simply because in most cultures men have always been in charge. They always wanted to "keep women in their place", and so, since they wrote the books and did the teaching, they made God a man. As was brought up earlier, I'm sure any female-dominated culture would view God as female.

 

[Gentoo]

Why must god be reffered to as a he?

Who says god "must" be a he?

I dont know if anyone remembers, i often put a he/she bit on my god posts. Also i made a thread about this before, but since i want to see the view of new members.

Can't god be a she?

Of course

Does the male from of god promote sexism?

It may not necessarily promote sexism, but I don't think it helps in some cases.

Why is god a man in so many scriptures?

I've thought a lot about this, and I agree with some posters above me, that the gods are beyond gender. However, our world and our existence is often split into categories to make things a little easier to remember and even comprehend. Even though the gods are beyond gender, we still look for ways to connect to them on some level, and this is where I think the "he, she" comes from. Those pronouns are a way to bring those supreme beings down to a level that our mortal minds can work with.

Is religion suggesting man is dominant/superior to females?

Probably not on purpose, but some members may for one reason or another...

Thanks in advance

Good questions, thank you

 

[Persephone]

Okay, first of all I'd like to clearly detangle the concept of male dominance/superiority. Males may be dominant within society but they will never be superior. They may just break even, but even that'd be lucky.:sorry1:

I always try to make a concious effort to say "it" but then old habits are hard to break.

I do believe that by viewing God as a "he", we enforce an unequal, anti-female meme.

Hmm... is it wrong to think of "He" as an english honorific of "it"? It might be a bit degrading to men, but just hold back on judgements for a second. "It" is either derrogatory or neutral in English and there is no other neutral pronoun for us to use. In other Latin-based languages such as spanish, if a word doesn't have a strong inclination toward either gender it defaults to masculine.

Yes, I know that a lot of the masculinity of God comes from masculine nature (aka the need to dominate) and all that it entails- but could there have been a translation somewhere between hebrew, whatever other languages our Holy texts might have been written in, and our native tongue which demanded the use of "He" as a gender-neutral honorific?

 

[Magic Man]

Okay, first of all I'd like to clearly detangle the concept of male dominance/superiority. Males may be dominant within society but they will never be superior. They may just break even, but even that'd be lucky.:sorry1:




Hmm... is it wrong to think of "He" as an english honorific of "it"? It might be a bit degrading to men, but just hold back on judgements for a second. "It" is either derrogatory or neutral in English and there is no other neutral pronoun for us to use. In other Latin-based languages such as spanish, if a word doesn't have a strong inclination toward either gender it defaults to masculine.

Yes, I know that a lot of the masculinity of God comes from masculine nature (aka the need to dominate) and all that it entails- but could there have been a translation somewhere between hebrew, whatever other languages our Holy texts might have been written in, and our native tongue which demanded the use of "He" as a gender-neutral honorific?

First, I don't think most here were saying that men are superior. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think if anyone used that word, it was mainly meant in reference to the way men have seen themselves, not necessarily the way they truly are.

Second, the last question is kind of moot here. The reason that most languages have a default of masculinity is the same reason God is seen that way. Since men have always controlled things in most cultures, everything in those cultures tends toward masculinity. Early cultures saw God as a man because that's what the men, who had all of the power, taught, just like things that weren't masculine or feminine by nature tended to be viewed as masculine by default. (Although this last point is questionable, considering there are plenty of things in that type of language, i.e. romance languages, that might seem masculine or even neutral, but are called by a feminine name, including higher ideas like freedom and brotherhood which were viewed as things to strive for.)