What is the gender of god?
The image of god I had in the childhood was always of a man. Usually, that of an old man with a white beard. When I read about Jesus and saw his portraits, the image in my mind changed. Then when I saw the image of Buddha it changed again. As I read more about the religions around the world, the image kept on changing. But most of the time the image was that of a male. The only time I came across female gods were in the fertility cults and in the ‘Sakthi’ concept of Hinduism.
But, why this masculine image for god? Is it because religions around the world are dominated by men? I feel the image of god that we have today is the result of the male domination that exists in our society. If that is the case then the whole concept of god is nothing but a well calculated move on the part of male dominated religions to control society and women.
Although the traditional masculine image is under attack from feminists and other groups, the image of god that is spread by major religions around the world remains the same. A major discussion on the masculine image of god will shake the very basis of many religions. So many religious leaders shy away from such discussions.
By the way what image do the cats have for their gods?
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Gods gender, and Cats
The way I see it, males are the active thinkers in sociey. The ideas come from them. Women have the luxury of rambling thru the ideas, selecting the ones they prefer, and generally keeping the men in order.
As God is the Creator, he surely must be male.
As God is the loving Father... here we have a issue.
Perhaps God has qualities of both sexes; the best of each.
of course we are anthropomorphicising the whole time. Which is to say, we are viewing God with human qualities. He(or She) may be well beyond our comprehension.
As to the issue of cats, thats easy! Cats are Gods angels!
I agree to the last part of your comment
I agree to the last part of your comment but i cannot digest the first part. God might have both qualities that is interesting. By the way if god is the creator then what about the theory of evolution.
What about Evolution?
Mornin, Abhilash,
The Biblcal account of Creation (whic happens to be the version I am familiar with) says Creation took 6 days. I read it to my sons, when they were little. Very Beautiful. I loved the part where "God created the animals...".
But such accounts of Creation perhaps should not be taken literally.
God is more complex than that. An attribute of God is order; cause and effect.
Evolution was Gods work. He works thru evolution.
Evolution
Ooops. I "entered" twice.
Michaelangelo has a lot to answer for
The Jahwists (early form of Judism) got it right when they conceived of God as utterly transcendant, and banned all images of God as woefully inadequate.
In our technology-laden society, we have lost touch with earlier times when women were bound by the practical demands of child-bearing and -nursing (remember, no bottles, no disposable diapers) and it fell to men, with greater strength and free hands, to ensure that women had a safe place to conduct these activities. The image of God the Protector (masculine) competes with the image of God the Procreator (feminine). Where interpopulational conflict is low and/or there is a high investment in technology, the feminine predominates; where there is a high risk of warfare/piracy, the masculine predominates. And what is the Torah, the ultimate source book for three of the four "great Religions", but an account of nearly perpetual war and interpopulational strife? Read The Greek Myths by Robert Graves for an imaginative (though anthropologically suspect) take on this matter.
And as for the cats, these lines of Ambrose Bierce may serve:
The pig is taught through sermons and epistles
To think the God of Swine has snout and bristles.