God is a Woman?

A few weeks ago I witnessed to a Vietnam War veteran panhandling near Walmart. After thanking him for his service, I handed this man a tract while saying, “I was also in the army…now I’m in the army of the Lord.” The expression on his face immediately revealed he wasn’t receptive to the gospel. One of his objections was the Bible always referring to God with masculine pronouns. A joke I’ve seen online is “Why do we say ‘Amen’ at the end of a prayer instead of ‘Awomen’? Same reason we sing Hymns instead of Hers.”

But seriously, I pointed out to this veteran men and women are equal in God’s eyes. Galatians 3:28 says, “…there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” The only time women are always meant to be subordinate to men is in the marital relationship. Ephesians 5:23 says, “For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.” A body cannot have two heads.

It also says in 1 Peter 3:7, “Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.” Husbands are to be leaders but not dictators in their marriages.

While on earth, the Messiah was male and repeatedly referred to God as Father instead of Mother. However, the Almighty does have feminine characteristics. The Hebrew language has gender. The word for God ‘elohiym is both masculine and feminine. When God first made man, He was as much female as He was male (Genesis 1:27). Then God made “man with the womb” by separating the female part from the male. Man and woman then had to come together to be perfectly whole.

Still, feminists have tried downplaying the Fatherhood of God. Back in 1972, Helen Reddy had the number #1 hit “I Am Woman”, which won a Grammy for Best Female Performance. In her acceptance speech, Reddy created controversy by thanking God “…because She makes everything possible.” Nowadays, publishers have released gender-neutral bibles. A best-selling book called “The Shack” depicted God as a female. Ariana Grande had a hit last year with “God is a Woman.”

Jesus said in John 16:27, “for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.” Bad or non-existent relationships with our earthly fathers often skew perceptions of our Heavenly Father. For those of you uncomfortable with addressing God as Father, I suggest watching Dennis Prager’s video “Why God Is a He.” It shows how God is depicted in male terms in hopes of man making the world a kinder and less violent place. However, one cannot know the Father without knowing His Son.

“Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.’” - John 8:42

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