What if God was a woman?

[Ithekro]

Having done a little look into some of those myths, from multiple cultures, there are some that are the same (more or less) in the description of an event here and there happening to their people (in Bible terms we are talking Genesis stuff mainly as after that it is mainly life and lineage of the peoples after Abraham until the time of the Greeks and later the Roman Empire). There are differences though. Most of the Old World religions have a flood story of some kind were there was a civilization, then a flood, then a new civilization starts up from the survivors, usually starting from so high mountain around whereever they setup. In the New World however I found something slightly different, but related. A flood story as the beginning. No earlier civilization, just the gods making stuff as the waters gave way to land. This is slightly different, but the idea of a flood is still there.

Of course early civilizations depending on a large river to survive...and rivers flood. So it is entirely possible that each civilization would have a year were the river flooded and wiped out everything, but some people survived, some in makeshift boats. This story gets told over and over again by storytellers, who make it more and more entertaining with each generation of the telling...until the whole world is flooded, rather than just the valley.

However the early jewish chapters of the angels and giants (stuff that was editted out of the Bible by the church...probably because it read to weird for them to consider it for their first millenium AD followers) sounds odd. What could this have been based off of. Storytellers usually have a reason to tell these stories....

[Vexx]

Some historians point to Sumerian and Babylonian myths... the Epic of Gilgamesh for example. Plus there were dozens of minor religions with their own gods and storylines... little bit of this, little bit of that.

[Ithekro]

There is also a genetic suggestion that point to some form of mass near extinction of the human species somewhere in the distant past, also the extinction of our rival humanoid species. It has been suggested that it was this worldwide flood...but there are many thing it could have been...if it really happened.

Male, female, or other....God has a sense of humor. If one don't believe, than the randomness of the universe could also be considered to have a sense of humor.

[risingstar3110]

I plan to say "If God is woman, she's probably a masochist to create such a male-dominated world", but it's more of a joke than actual attempt

[flying ^]

Originally Posted by Archangel Roy

I've been pondering upon this question for weeks. How would the world be like?

it's called goddess...

ask any centenarian japanese who still worship amaterasu

[Magin]

Hm... this is a very interesting question, because the answer I have on this is insanely complex and yet simple at the same time

First and foremost, to draw upon the Judaic history, I think that Lilith would've stayed as Adam's wife... since Adam was apparently created in God's image, going by God as a male, it means that Adam, a reflection of a male God, refused to be dominated by a woman. Now, if god were female... well, let's say for the sake of keeping things in the same route, Adam would've let Lilith be on top for "being fruitful", and men would possibly be the dominated ones, even outside of marriage (that last bit was tongue in cheek, in case anyone forgot their sense of humor...); i.e., the "lesser sex", and we'd potentially be fighting for men's rights in this day and age rather than women's

Of course, on Route B, this gives potential to Eve being the first one created... although again, this probably means that man would be seen as the "lesser sex"

[Raiga]

Well, there would be aliens, time travelers, and espers, and we'd have to find a deadpan snarker to play along with her and keep her from destroying the universe on a whim.

[synaesthetic]

Originally Posted by Raiga

Well, there would be aliens, time travelers, and espers, and we'd have to find a deadpan snarker to play along with her and keep her from destroying the universe on a whim.

Took you guys long enough.

[Last Sinner]

Originally Posted by Raiga

Well, there would be aliens, time travelers, and espers, and we'd have to find a deadpan snarker to play along with her and keep her from destroying the universe on a whim.

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

Took you guys long enough.

And all is well in the universe when she climaxes.

Also, you're forgetting the over 400 year old wise and beautiful harvest goddess with her long fluffy tail, her pointy ears and her hypnotic red eyes.

[OceanBlue]

Originally Posted by Solace

Scientifically speaking however, gender is irrelevant to God. Yes. I used science to support religion. I so went there.

Wouldn't it be this? I thought male and female were defined by their roles in reproduction.

[Irkalla]

Many Gods are women?

[Ahiru77]

In no way related to Madoka. ^^"

[ChainLegacy]

Depends what type of "god" you're referring to... The Greek style gods, who were extremely powerful but not necessarily omniscient and actually quite human in nature could easily be male or female...

But I think the god described in the Abrahamic religions is by definition incompatible with gender. A being of omniscience, that has existed since the beginning of time would not be a man or a woman. Remember, sex is actually an evolved characteristic... it's not an inherent quality of life forms. It's entirely possible for there to be alien species out there without any sexes. Though I tend to believe for complex organism sex is likely to exist in alien species due to convergent evolution, my point is that it isn't biologically *necessary*.

That being said... God, being a deity rather than a heterotrophic species certainly wouldn't be bound by gender. It's entirely irrelevant to a god... gender is a tool of evolution first and foremost and thus would never be needed by god. Second, if god is truly omniscient and omnipresent, then gender labels make even less sense since god would exist within every life form, inanimate object, and atom in space. Pretty damn gender neutral role if there ever were one.

[Tom Bombadil]

In the Chinese myth of creation, all humans was created by Nvwa, who is a female creature that's similar to the western myth of Lamia in appearance.

[synaesthetic]

Even the Greek gods could manifest avatars in whatever sex they wished. They were beings of transcendent power, not human, yet they could take human form easily. I suppose that sort of clouds over the fact that they had set sexes.

[DonQuigleone]

Men and women are waaay too similiar for it to make a difference. Particularly really powerful and/or old Men and Women.

[JC...]

Don't mean to be rude, but this title smells of fail.

[Tiberium Wolf]

Nah. God is man.

Watch this vid of George Carlin and know why God is man.

[Solace]

There's a difference between the organization of religion and the belief in a higher being.

I'm in your religion thread, using your science.

[synaesthetic]

Oh, I don't discount the existence of life (even sentient life) from outside the realm of our perception. I don't know if it exists, but I can't say it doesn't.

You can't prove a negative, after all.

No, what I discount is a Bronze Age fairy tale about a magical guy in the sky who created the world in six days and thinks people who don't sufficiently slob his knob should be condemned to a fiery torture pit for all eternity.

If an actual "god" exists, in the traditional sense of a transcendent being far beyond any human capacity to understand, it is certainly not the God of the Bible, which has suspiciously human (and patriarchal, and racist) motivations.