Marvin, watching us today on Facebook, writes the following: "I have a friend
that wants to call God 'She' and not a 'He,' because God doesn't really have a sex, so
there's nothing wrong with calling God a 'He' then there shouldn't--" oh, so-- "IF there's
nothing wrong with calling God a 'He,' then there shouldn't be anything wrong
calling God a 'She.' Is my friend right?" No. Your friend is wrong, and this is why. Now
from a Catholic and Christian perspective, God has revealed Himself as
Father. He has not revealed Himself as "Mother." Therefore it would be
inappropriate for us to refer to--to pray the "Our Mother," for example, because He
has revealed Himself in a profound way. If you're a Cath--I don't know if this
person is Catholic. It doesn't say. Doesn't say, but I would encourage to
take a look at paragraph 239 and 240 in the Catechism. It very, very dis-- in a very
clear and succinct way, points out that God is neither male nor female, is not a
man or a woman. There's no genitalia with God. Now we can talk about the
Incarnation, the second person of the Blessed Trinity was incarnate, and so God
experiences--that is, the second person of the Blessed Trinity experiences
what it is to be man because of the Hypostatic Union, that's a great mystery.
But God in His eternal nature cannot be male or female.
Why? Because that would limit God. We talked about, earlier, if you have a thing
that is "this but not that," then that's not God, because that posits potency or a
lack of something in that being. God has no lack, so there can't be male or female.
Now, but you say, "Well wait a minute, doesn't it imply lack, then, to say God is
Father?" No, and this is why: because when God reveals Himself as Father, He's not
revealing Himself as male, or as having genitalia.
The Catechism points out there's two essential things being revealed here:
and that is that God is the first origin or first cause of all things, and that He
is the transcendent authority. Like--and we use the analogy of male. Why?
Because look at the conjugal act in marriage. The man acts from the outside
in, right? Hence the man better images God. Why?
Because the man's the transcendent authority who delivers the seed. It's the
woman who receives the seed and brings forth life. That's why she better images
the creation. She better images the Church, if you will, the one who receives.
She better images humanity; the father images God. Hey--if you're making
connections, here are some of the reasons why. The priests are male because it, by
nature, better images God. So the point is--or especially God as Father. But the
point is, God is not revealing Himself as Father in any sense of limiting Himself.
It's revealing something about his perfections as transcendent authority
and first cause. We talked about earlier, you know, Thomas Aquinas' argument
from cause. He is the first cause that Himself is not caused, hence He is
eternal. He can't be acted upon. He can't die, right? How could God die?
Because what do we say when somebody dies? "Oh what was the...cause of death?"
Right? Well God can't be caused as the first cause, because if He can be
caused, then He's not the first cause. He's not God. And so what we
have to be careful to do, and this is what the Catechism points out in
paragraph 239-240, is we don't understand his Fatherhood in any sense that would
limit Him to something that is less than God. We understand it as God revealed
Himself, but we refer to Him as "Him" as a matter of grammar, for one, because you
don't refer to a father as "She." Thank You, Marvin, for that question.