Sunday, January 08, 2006

What if God was a her?


I was rollin' around, in my mind it occurred:
What if God was a her?
Would I treat her the same? Would I still be runnin' game?
In what type of ways would I want her?
Would I want her for her mind or her heavenly body?
Couldn't be out gettin' bogus with someone so godly.
If I was wit' her would I still be wantin' my ex?
The lies, the greed, the weed, the sex.
Wouldn't be ashamed to give her part of my check.
Wearin' her cross, I mean the heart on my neck.
Her I would reflect on the streets of the Chi'
Ride wit' her, 'cause I know for me she'd die.
Through good and bad call on her like I'm chirpin' her
Couldn't be jealous 'cause other brothers worship her
Walk this earth for her, glory, I'm grateful
To be in her presence I try to stay faithful.

These are lyrics from the song "Faithful" on Common’s tight CD Be (If you haven't copped it yet, I strongly recommend you get it. It's a winner). Although I realize that God has no particular gender, this song still made me wonder just how we would treat God if God were female. What would change about our perceptions?

Would we be quick to put away the dominant images of God's power? How would this effect the treatment of women throughout the world, religions and otherwise? How would the conservative body of the church deal with the idea that God isn’t some white dude?

Frankly, it wouldn’t surprise me too much if there were people in the church who would refused to worship that type of God. In fact, they would probably reject the whole conept of God, altogether.

This leads me ask you: What if God was whatever you didn’t like? If you can’t stand gay people, what would you do if you discovered that God was gay? Or black? Or white? Or Asian? Or Hindu? Or Muslim? Or Christian? How faithful would would you be?

- ACL

8 "Insiders" spoke their mind. Join in...:

Anonymous said...

Profound question....But I can't get beyond the "God has no gender" concept because he calls himself Father. Therefore, he must be a male. He made man, then woman. I think he is a he. We know Jesus was male. It doesn't bother me to think of God as male in gender.

Just thinking out loud

Andre said...

If you examine the Bible closely, two things are pointed out: (1)God is a Spirit (John 4:24)and doesn't have the physical properties of a man (i.e. sex organs) and (2) God is described by using both masculine and feminine attributes.

True, whenever God revealed himself to men, He did so in male form. Likewise, we have tagged on the male titles in describing God (He, His, Him, etc...). But, I think that identifying the difference between masculine/feminine and male/female is helpful. In terms of the former, we can talk about traits, images and relationships, but the latter seems a bit more anatomically based.

Thanks for your comments!

Anonymous said...

Please dont think that I'm trying to diss what your saying, but its still hard for me to get.

If God goes by both male and female, why didn't He just call Himself "It"?

That's gotta be because He made man (males) in His own image. Women came later.

Anonymous said...

I think I would respect Her a lot less. I tend to dislike bossy women types. :)

Anonymous said...

I think I'm with Layla on this one. Jesus constantly referred to God as the Father, which could only mean that He was male. In the Gospels alone, Christ uses the term "Father" in direct reference to God nearly 160 times!

Plus, Genesis reminds us that man was made in the image and the likeness of God. That should tell you!

Andre said...

I think that there's some explanation that goes into the whole "made in God's image" idea. Yes, Genesis does say: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" (1:26-27). But I don't think that it means what it sounds like. What this passage means, I think, is that the "image" by which man and woman were created has to do more with the spiritual attributes. I mean, man has a mind, free will, intellect, emotions, and moral capacity...just like God. Plus, God injected the "breath of life", which completely gave man God's imagery. But, the Bible never mentions God's physical attributes.

That being the case, man and woman are only patterned after the image of God. Man is NOT a miniature copy of God.

Again, I should emphasize that being made in the image of God has nothing to do with physical characteristics.

Thanks for your comments!

Anonymous said...

wow.. you nailed it Andre. great stuff.

i've gotta pick up that album, too.

Anonymous said...

Terrific post, Andre.

You really challenged me on why it is that I worship God. I have to really sit down and assess my relationship with God knowing that, whatever race, gender, or ethnicity He chooses to reveal Himself with...He's still GOD!

You've got a marvelous way of spittin' knowledge!

Peace and blessings!