I was reading an article a while ago by a prominent Christian Bishop, and I came across his reference to God as (s)he. As I read through the article I realized that there was no particular reason to make such a reference about God, at least as God is understood in the Christian faith. After I finished and took some time to contemplate the structure of God as portrayed in this article, I felt a pulling of the Holy Sprit to express my feelings and understanding of God on this subject of gender.
Are we as a people of faith still wrapped up in the trivial discussion of God’s gender? Are we still so arrogant as to believe that God is male or female, and therefore one of us is better, holier or more preferred by God? To say that God is male or female is to put a limit on God. We believe that God is limitless, thus making that statement false. It would also be incorrect to state that God is genderless. We are created by God both male and female. This is, in part, how God know us and love us and we know and love God. It would be increasingly correct to state that God is gender in its totality. I do not use a word of stated fact here simply because God is indeed a mystery. A mystery is that which the human mind cannot fully comprehend. And as a mystery, we can only apply what God has revealed to us through Sacred Scripture and Tradition.
As we continue to strive in political correctness, some have so exaggerated this issue that we miss the point: that this adds up to but a speck in the question, what is God. Gods very being is Truth and Love. (1CCC-231). God’s love is a love that gives life. A love that allows that life to make its own decisions, good, bad, right, wrong, creative, destructive. A love that gives us the freedom to choose our own path, even a path that does not include this same God.
The directive of how to live our lives is clear and simple. That is to love, love in charity, love one another as God has loved us. Let us live in the simplicity that is the commandment of love. (2Jn. 13:34) Let us live our lives in the love of God that was given to us through our Christ.
I understand the need of some to create controversy by using gender as a tool. In this I mean, the need for some to use this tool as a means to demonstrate their position, their personal quest. But doesn’t that make us look trivial? We, as a people, have a need to elevate ourselves, or our ideals, in doing so we inadvertently bring down that which is God. Would it not be better to live our lives in the love of God in order to bring about the same conditions of conscience? I offer a personal challenge, to see how long you can go without referring to God as either a “he” or a “she”. This will require a deliberate effort to reconstruct your thoughts without the use of gender. Have a little fun with this, after all God does have a sense of humor.
Yes, Jesus said to call God our Father, but not in the sense of Gods gender. This is the God our Father as creator, teacher, guide, etc, and one who loves us as his children. But God is not male; God is not female, in and of itself. For we know that God is so very much more! Let us keep God in proper perspective, “…the one who is and who was and who is to come…” (2Rev. 1:8) that which is truth and love in totality. May Gods love be with you, male and female, always.
1. CCC = Catechism of the Catholic Church
2. Scripture is from the NABRE
By David E.Gonzales
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