Is God a He, a She, an It, or the sensation you get when biting into a York Peppermint Patty?
After much deliberation, two foil-wrapped candies, and the toss of a coin, my vote goes to “he.” If the Bible god is to be gender-ized, thou shalt refer to him as Him. I guess.
“She” did get 2 nominations from me, for the following reasons:
1) I came into this world through my mother. Sure, my father gave his ounce of input, but my mother did all the work. In this regard, it would be more fitting for the great creator to be a she.
2) I’d like to use “she” as a way of saying Na na-na na-na na! to the legions of men who have written the books and set down the rules that have generated and advanced organizations controlled by men. They did this while the women were raising their children.
How, I wonder, can a modern woman believe in the traditional, most high, He-god, and still be a self-respecting woman?
Fidelity to history and current poll results necessitates the use of “he” as well. The supposedly singular God, the Judeo-Christian-Muslim god, was traditionally a masculine entity and still widely is. Our Father.
(Heinz is my pet name for the god of the Old and New Testaments. Judging by the many religions and the many denominations of the many religions and the many sects of the many denominations of the many religions based upon this one god, it’s apparent that Heinz comes in at least 57 varieties.)
That the Bible is a sexist document is obvious to those few believers who have actually read the whole thing. Livestock play as prominent role as women.
And of course there’s that whole rib thing. Why weren’t both Eve and Adam fashioned out of, say, God’s toes? This little piggy gets a penis; this little piggy gets a vagina. Because on outy trumps an inny, by my decree the piggy with the outy will be the boss of the inny piggy.
The above explanation makes as much sense as the biblical mythology proposing that womanhood began as a spare rib.
But hey, what do you expect a bunch of guys in an ancient culture in ancient times to believe? Wives with as much power and respect as husbands? Puh-lease!
Some modern believers assert that the God is more of an It, lacking gender. By doing so they have given their God an extreme makeover. Cosmetic surgery even. Some of us, however, can still see his wrinkles.
April 10th, 2010 at 9:17 am
Well, that was fun! On the occasions when my ventromedial prefrontal cortex slips out of my control, puts a prayer on my lips, and conjures a god to respond, she’s usually a She–Ishtar, Ariadne, Gaia, Lilleth, Sophia. Usually, though, the impulse turns into an intellectual debate about which goddess is most suited to receive the specific involuntary prayer. Aaaaand, We’re Off!…to other brain regions entirely. I’ve been deep in Karen Armstrong and Robert Wright on the evolution of theism lately; that works better for me than pondering how many angels can dance on the head of my highlighter. Enjoyed this post!