Is it considered bad to worship God as a female instead?

[valerian moon]

I don't really believe God was a male, because as a feminist, I believe women are also capable of amazing things.
Is it okay to worship Him as a Her?

[Heartsong]

Yes, absolutely. In my mind (and I had this thought even when I was a Christian) is that, if we're all made in "His" image, then he must be both male and female. Just my thought, though.

[Xiao Rong]

Absolutely! (well, I'm not a Christian myself, so of course I'd say so) If you look into the history of feminist religious thinkers, you'll find many who struggled with the idea of God being exclusively male, and there are many different ways of looking into God/dess and honoring the sacred feminine. There are some who see a God and a Goddess (in fact, I think even Mormons have a Mother Goddess figure, whom they don't talk about very often). You might also be interested in When God was a Woman by Merlin Stone, who argues that long before there was a God the Father / Sky-Father figure, there was the Earth Mother. I am also particularly fond of the quote, "I found God in myself / and I loved her / I loved her fiercely", by Ntozake Shange.

[loona wynd]

I don't really believe God was a male, because as a feminist, I believe women are also capable of amazing things.
Is it okay to worship Him as a Her?

If you don't believe in a God than you don't need to worship a God. If you only believe in a Goddess than you can just worship a Goddess. I wouldn't consider it a form of Christian witchcraft though. I'd consider it religious witchcraft though.

[Xiao Rong]

(Perhaps this would be better suited in the Gods & Goddesses forum, which is where I am moving it).

[loona wynd]

(Perhaps this would be better suited in the Gods & Goddesses forum, which is where I am moving it).

Thats what I thought originally when I read the topic. Its always perfectly fine to believe in what ever form of the divine you believe in. The divine is a mystery we must all understand in our own way.

[seidkonacat]

I don't think it's a bad thing at all, even with a Christian god. Recently I've been reading "Lost Christianities: The Battles For Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew," by Bart D. Ehrman. The female aspect of God is something that has been ignored and suppressed over the centuries. I highly recommend the book, if that's the kind of thing you're after.

[Holdasown]

I personally have always considered the Holy Spirit the female side of God. That's not biblical just an observation.

[loona wynd]

I personally have always considered the Holy Spirit the female side of God. That's not biblical just an observation.

It might not be in the Cannon but there is Christian lore out there to suggest this is the case. There is also the Goddess or divine figure known as Sophia in lost Christian Lore as well.

[Seraphin]

Christians believe that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are three personas of ONE God which can't be separated. Just as a man is encased within numerous sheaths, which consist of body, soul and spirit, so is the Deities and even YHVH or Yahweh (the Father is the soul, the Son is the physical form or the body and the Holy Ghost is the well... Spirit .)

Now, according to some recent theology I've read, it's through the being of YHVH (Fatherly aspect) and the spirit of YHVH (Motherly aspect) that the Son of YHVH, the physical manifestation of YHVH was immaculately conceived, and eventually introduced to the world by the means of a woman named Mary.

Because there's "God the Father" and "God the Son", I believe there should be "God the Mother", an metaphorical role which can be portrayed by the Holy Spirit.

Also, in some Judeo-Christian lores, the Holy Spirit was considered to have been with YHVH from the beginning of Creation. See Proverbs 8:22-31:

Adonai made me as the beginning of his way,
the first of his ancient works.
I was appointed before the world,
before the start, before the earth’s beginnings.
When I was brought forth, there were no ocean depths,
no springs brimming with water.
I was brought forth before the hills,
before the mountains had settled in place;
he had not yet made the earth, the fields,
or even the earth’s first grains of dust.
When he established the heavens, I was there.
When he drew the horizon’s circle on the deep,
when he set the skies above in place,
when the fountains of the deep poured forth,
when he prescribed boundaries for the sea,
so that its water would not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
I was with him as someone he could trust.
For me, every day was pure delight,
as I played in his presence all the time,.
playing everywhere on his earth,
and delighting to be with humankind.

Source: Complete Jewish Bible

Sophia or Wisdom is known also as the Holy Spirit and she is believed to be the Heavenly Mother -- brought forth by God's side.

Genesis 1: 26-27 So God created humankind in his own image;
in the image of God he created him:
male and female he created them.

Source: Complete Jewish Bible

In that passage, we can conclude that the "image of God" is composed of male and female! So to answer your question, I don't think its bad to worship God as female.

[nightflighter]

Wonderful points, Seraphin! Especially when one knows the Names. Are you familiar wit "Ki"? Raised in a "church" family, I was taught to never question anything. In my later years, I've found a multitude of "Stars in the Sky", if you will, concerning the "Divine Feminine". There HAS to be the "polarity" to make things happen.

[Seraphin]

Ki? I'm not sure... Are you referring to the life force Qi?

[seidkonacat]

Wonderful points, Seraphin! Especially when one knows the Names. Are you familiar wit "Ki"? Raised in a "church" family, I was taught to never question anything. In my later years, I've found a multitude of "Stars in the Sky", if you will, concerning the "Divine Feminine". There HAS to be the "polarity" to make things happen.

I'm not familiar with "Ki," but I do remember my very-staunchly-Christian godmother telling me once that she believed that the Holy Spirit was feminine in nature, thus unique among the Christian Trinity. She was a rather old-school proudly-conservative, incredibly-faithful kind of Episcopalian Christian, which made the revelation of her pseudo-Goddess-worshipall the more remarkable. It seems to crop up in the most unlikely of places.

[MistressOfTheMoon]

Oh wow. Didn't know the Holy Spirit was a motherly aspect until now. Thanks for the info Seraphin! Really useful.

As for this question, I say it is not bad to worship God as a female. But I do hope you will not shun the male aspect of the Universe as unecessary

[loona wynd]

Ki? I'm not sure... Are you referring to the life force Qi?

Ki/Qi/Chi as I understand it are all terms for the same thing. Energy. This is part of why Reiki means universal energy. Ki is energy Rei is universal.