Marcus Borg points out many other good reasons to identify and honor the female (as well as non-gendered) images of God throughout the Bible:
- Male images for God are often associated with power, authority, and judgment. When used exclusively, they most often create an image of a punitive God. God must be appeased or else.
- Male images for God most often go with patriarchy—with male primacy and domination in society and the family.
- Male images of God most often go with domination over nature. Nature is often imaged as female (“mother earth”) and domination over women extends to a rapacious use of nature.
Female images of God suggest something different. God is the one who gave birth to us and all that is. God wills our well-being, as a mother wills the well-being of the children of her womb. God is attached to us with a love that is tender and that will not let us go. And like a mother who sees the children of her womb threatened and oppressed, God can become fierce.
It is also important to realize that male and female metaphors for God are not intrinsically incompatible. God as “father” can be compassionate. This is the point of the parable of The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). So also in both Old and New Testaments, “the Lord” whom we are to love with all our heart, strength, and mind is also compassionate—a word whose semantic associations in Hebrew mean “womb-like.”
Moreover, just as God as Lord is demanding, so is God as Wisdom/Sophia. Both images of God combine imperative and compassionate.
.. “The way”—the way of wisdom—is also what “the father” at his best teaches. The issue is not that mothers are better than fathers, but that a particular way of imaging “father” can produce a distorted form of Christianity—as if Christianity is about meeting the requirements of an authority figure who will punish us if we don’t get it right.
Christianity is not about avoiding punishment or gaining reward. It is about loving God and loving what God loves.
Colorado mother fights off mountain lion that attacked her 5-year-old son
The woman was inside of her Colorado home Friday night when she heard the screams.
She ran outside to discover a mountain lion on her 5-year-old son, who had been playing with an older brother, according to the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office.
So the woman, whom authorities haven’t identified, sprang into action. She “was able to physically remove her son from the mountain lion” and received minor injuries to her hands and legs in the process, the sheriff’s office said in a news release
Donald Trump Is Not Your Father
Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams, who predicted Trump’s rise early, sums up the probable general-election matchup nicely:
So when we have Trump versus Clinton, assuming they get to the final match, it’s going to look like mom versus dad. Now, they’re not going to say that, but in our minds we’re going to start seeing them that way. And the thing about dad is that dad is kind of an a-hole, but if you need dad to take care of some trouble, he’s going to be the one you call.
Is there a worse way to choose a president? If you’re hoping Trump will be that strong, protective father figure you always wanted, you’re going to be deeply disappointed. You’re also going to be disappointed by Clinton, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, or Bernie Sanders. This isn’t a matter of their character; it’s a categorizing error. The job of the president is not to be your dad. If you want a mentor — an older, wise voice of experience in your life, go ahead and go find one. The world is full of good people who can perform that role. But the folks busy competing to be the next commander-in-chief aren’t among them.
.. There was a time when Republicans laughed at those who saw presidents as messiah figures destined to deliver instant relief from all of life’s problems. Obama supporter Peggy Joseph may be obscure nationally, but many conservatives remember her words from a 2008 rally, which perfectly encapsulated the ludicrous expectations for Obama’s presidency: “I never thought this day would ever happen! I won’t have to worry about putting gas in my car! I won’t have to worry about paying my mortgage! If I help him, he’s going to help me!”