Why does everyone figure God is Male?

Damn, this thread is old dude. But yeah, you have a good point, not everyone pictures God as a male indeed. And perhaps the ones who did thought so in the past were once a minority

 

Sure is an oldie...

A male God is a relatively new idea as I understand it, primarily as a result of christianity.
Doesn't the idea of a one and only true creator infer the idea of something that transcends gender?

 

I'll have to look through the ethnographic, anthropological, and historical data before I can make a serious reply but at first glance I find it hard to believe that male gods are a recent invention.

Consider the following facts: In hunter-gatherer and horticultural societies the tribes are typically (perhaps always?) controlled by men (usually called 'big men'). Also Pharaohs were mostly men, and were considered gods. Male gods obviously predate Christianity because Judaism predates Christianity.

Personally I could never believe in a god that possessed sex or gender traits. The idea that god has a sex or a gender has always struck me as silly.

 

Emanresu, you might want to check out The Once and Future Goddess by Elinor W. Gadon. I am speaking of cultures that predated the Egyptians.

 

Not necessarily, it could still happen to be male I guess.

Duh :2thumbsup:

 

Why would one place a limit (male, female, whatever) on an Infinite Limitless power?

 

I thinks God is a transsexual... how could she-he not be? ..

 

Probably because it would take a truly GIANT pair of balls to create this wonderful little planet and then allow us to make a mess of it like we've made of the earth and to let it continue as it it is, without some kind of corrective action. Seems to me that if we ever needed some corrective action,NOW would be a good time. Not happenening. Agnostic(for insurance purposes).

 

Exactly.
Maybe we're talking two different things here.
Certainly male gods precede christianity. The title of the thread is God, as in a monotheistic religion. There have always been male and female gods in polytheistic religions but the OP as I read it refers to God which I took to mean a monotheistic religion.
Most of the monotheistic religions use male gender adjectives even while official teachings may emphesize the lack of gender in God. I believe the catholic catechism even states God is without gender.
It is the writings of most of the monotheistic religions that refer to "Him", "The Father", etc etc that has led culture to refer to God as a male. And most of those religions come in relatively recent times, compared to the ancient religions which always (as far as my limited learning goes) worshiped multiple gods, both male and female.


I didn't mean to say christianity invented the male god.

 

mother nature, sounds female to me. it's a sexist view, men have ruled the world forever basically and why would they go against their own self-interest and say that god is really a female and that females are all powerful?