Is God female?
The original name of God consists of two Hebrew letters (in the sketch I have used the name Yahweh instead). The first letter stands for male and the second for female abilities. The male part is associated with strength, power and jurisdiction, the female part with goodness, grace and mercy. This means God is masculine and yes, he is feminine too!
God blessed them and said, “Be fertile, increase in number, fill the earth, and be its master. Rule the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that crawl on the earth.”
Genesis 1:28 (GW)
God has given men and women together the commission and the authority to rule on earth. Right now, men rule in the world – and women rule a little bit with them. Are women’s abilities valued?
Does God value female abilities? Of course, they are his abilities!
Imagine, God didn’t also have female abilities, which means he wouldn’t be so kind, gracious and merciful! Honestly, I can’t imagine that at all! That would change everything. Imagine if there were no women in the world, how much would be missing without the female capabilities ( regardless of births)?
Women and therefore the female part of the capacities are underrepresented in “ruling” and governing worldwide. Not only in official positions, even in their own lives, many women don’t have control and aren’t allowed to make their own decisions. I find it appalling that in a lot of places the world is still extremely unjust to women (much more so than to men)! Seeing and reading this hurts me! I would like to change that.
Is there anything I can do as an individual to correct this imbalance and make women more noticed and respected? I can start small here and now (and steadily increase).
First of all I should look at what’s hidden in my own mind! Examine my own thoughts again and again and make adjustments! Not every woman is mommy-like, but neither is every woman hysterical or a gossip. I’m advocating that we lower our expectations of how a woman should be and not push her into a mold! I truly wish that we women wouldn’t be so critical of each other, but allow each other to make our own choices.
Something else I can do is donating my money in such a way that girls and women in other countries benefit from it, where they have little or no rights and where life is really hard for them. For example, women’s cooperatives or microcredits, against genital mutilation and for enabling a self-determined life, education for girls or maybe a female godchild.
How would it be if I voted in favor of a woman when I have the choice between a competent woman and a competent man. Just to be nominated for election, a woman has to be good.
In my church, I want to hear sermons from women! Women experience faith differently than men. We are missing something if we don’t have the female perspective on God and the life of faith! Why don’t I listen to sermons by women on the internet, even if they are a bit harder to find?
There are many things I cannot influence directly, but my listing here shows that I definitely have possibilities and I can start with myself!
What I can always do and in my opinion absolutely should do:
Support my female friends, colleagues and all other women, take them seriously, promote them, be benevolent, let them have their say, educate them, praise them in front of other people, promote them by word of mouth, help them, vote for them, cover their backs, give them assignments, listen to them, help them carry their burdens, pray for them and stand up for them in general!
I want to give you room to be the woman God intended you to be, and I desire this freedom for myself as well. Let us help each other in this! Let us create more goodness, grace and mercy for each other and for this world through patience and a lot of positive feminine energy!
