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Question Title Posted By Question Date
God as she Henry Thursday, January 6, 2005

Question:

Dear Bro. I have a question I'm sure you can help me with.

My sons religion teacher refers to God as a she because he says that this way the students can question their own boxes that they put God in. That this way it helps them realize that the scriptures use several metaphors for God, "Mother Hen", "Good Shepherd", "Vine and Branches", etc. Jesus, he said, used different images for God that the people of that time were not comfortable with so this way the students can understand the resistance Jesus faced in his time.

I know that Jesus taught us to pray using "Father" and not mother and He never refered to God as a she. How can I best respond. I feel that by referring to God as a "She" it opens up the door for students to think of God as a goddess.

Thank you for you reply.



Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM

Dear Henry:

I think you need to confront this teacher and perhaps report the teacher to the pastor because to call God "she" is improper and a violation of sound theology at best and flirting with heresy at worst.

To think of God as "Father" is not putting God in our personal box. "Father" is how God has revealed himself to us.

The Catechism states:

203 God revealed himself to his people Israel by making his name known to them. A name expresses a person's essence and identity and the meaning of this person's life. God has a name; he is not an anonymous force. To disclose one's name is to make oneself known to others; in a way it is to hand oneself over by becoming accessible, capable of being known more intimately and addressed personally.

Since God has revealed Himself as "Father", as "He", what kind of arrogance do we have to refer to Him in any other way? For example, what kind of arrogance would I have if I insisted on calling you Henretta instead of Henry? God did not have to reveal Himself to us, but once He did we need to have respect for that Revelation.

With that said, God is neither male or female. God transcends the human distinction between the sexes. However, to call God "mother" or "she" is to mess with theology. There are theological reasons for why God refers to Himself as "Father".

The Catechism states:

239 By calling God "Father", the language of faith indicates two main things: that God is the first origin of everything and transcendent authority; and that he is at the same time goodness and loving care for all his children. God's parental tenderness can also be expressed by the image of motherhood, (cf. Isa 66:13; Ps 131:2) which emphasizes God's immanence, the intimacy between Creator and creature. The language of faith thus draws on the human experience of parents, who are in a way the first representatives of God for man. But this experience also tells us that human parents are fallible and can disfigure the face of fatherhood and motherhood. We ought therefore to recall that God transcends the human distinction between the sexes. He is neither man nor woman: he is God. He also transcends human fatherhood and motherhood, although he is their origin and standard (cf. Ps 27:10; Eph 3:14; Isa 49:15): no one is father as God is Father.

I would also recommend checking out the article The Goddess Project for some insight into this trend to call God "she."

Cardinal Ratzinger in The Ratzinger Report remarked:

“Christianity is not a philosophical speculation; it is not a construction of our mind. Christianity is not ‘our’ work; it is a Revelation; it is a message that has been consigned to us, and we have no right to reconstruct it as we like or choose. Consequently, we are not authorized to change the Our Father into an Our Mother: the symbolism employed by Jesus is irreversible; it is based on the same Man-God relationship he came to reveal to us.”

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary 


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