CASE STUDY REFLECTION: GOD
“Humankind was created as God’s reflection: in the divine image God created them; female and male, God made them.” Genesis 1: 27
The nature of God informs pastoral ministry by divinely imparting His desires of religious leaders through the Living Word. Can God be referred to as Mother God? To have a personal relationship with God is to have a direct line that can be accessed any second of the day. Pastoral ministries that are successful at leading souls to Christ use it regularly. The communication between God and Pastor helps shape the context of every sermon while framing worldly views consistent with God’s expectations
About the question “Can God be referred to as Mother God?” Man can and does refer to God in many ways, however, it seems that to determine whether any one of those references could be acceptable in God’s sight we must look to His Word. After careful research of how God is referred to in the Bible, I can only support a view that sees God as Father, capable of being motherly, because He is All things. Oden noted, “the central premise of revelation is that God has made himself known.” How God made himself known is critical to the question posed “Can God be referred to as Mother God?”
Perhaps He can but I do not believe that His show of abundant love, compassion, patience, and kindness can be construed as evidence that He is female. Yet, because He is All Things, can also do all things, He mothers the motherless.
God: “Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I who took them up in my arms; but they did know that I had healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with a band of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them.” Hosea 11: 3-4
My reasoning or opinion is based on how many times God is referred to as the Father, King, Messiah, and of creating man in His image. Added to that, I must acknowledge the disparity in how many times the Bible fails to describe God as Mother.
In other words, I find it difficult to dismiss the way God repeatedly makes himself known to His children. He portrays himself as “Our Father, which art in Heaven.” Furthermore, God showing compassion, or displaying attributes commonly associated with women does not make Him a woman.
Oden wrote, “God has left a trail of language behind a stormy path of historical activities. That language is the evidence with which theology has to deal first with Scripture then with a long history with an interpretation of Scripture called church history.” (p.4) Perhaps this question is a product of misconstrued Scripture, which resulted in questioning the essence and validity of church history over time?
As it may be, we could be dealing with an all too disturbing phenomenon of creating confusion where God who is not the Author of confusion injected none. Classmate Becky Tackett, shared Oden’s quote “Scripture, tradition, experience, and reason are a requirement for revelation. (Oden, 1992, page 176). In keeping with tradition, perhaps we would be better served if we resist the urge to stray too far away from Scripture, tradition, experience, and reason.
Can God be referred to as Mother God? Yes, but is it appropriate? In my opinion, it depends on the reason for such a reference.
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