Can God be called a Mother Too?

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Hello, I was just reading our text for Confirmation, and it stated that “We could call God mother too, because mothers as well as fathers give us life and protect and care for us.” Although it sounds reasonable to do so, is that the official teaching of The Church? I don’t want to end up having no answers to this if a question regarding this comes up.
 
In Matthew 23:37 and in Luke 13:34 Christ uses the analogy of a mother hen with her chicks in reference to Himself.

The image of a mother eagle in her nest is used in Deuteronomy.

The symbology of motherhood is used at times, however, God is the Father, not the ambiguous gender neutral parent.
 
Yes, the main point is that the image of motherly traits may be used, calling God actually is a Father, it’s not just an metaphor. So one should most certainly not call God a mother.
 
He has motherly traits, but has revealed Himself as Father, so that is what we must call Him.
 
No God is not Mother too.

God specifically revealed himself to our ancestors in the faith as a Father. And as a single God.
All of the competing cultures of the Near Middle East had mother goddesses: some were the chief gods. Some were among other gods in their pantheons.
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But the LORD revealed himself as One and as Father. These characteristics were unique, and purposeful.

Your Confirmation text is questionable at best, confusing for sure.

I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, you shall not have any strange gods before Me.

Deacon Christopher
 
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God is masculine and revealed himself as a father. While God may have supposed female traits (and honestly these are really traits found in anyone regardless of sex), he is still masculine and this will not change. Your confirmation text is questionable.
 
God is the Father (masculine) because He creates out of that which is not His own substance. What He created was pure, but became corrupted in the Fall.

The problem with earth religions that treat the creator as “mother” is that women create out of that which is her own substance. Since the world is corrupt, that means her own substance is corrupt.
 
I have a couple of points as to why God isn’t to be referred to as “Mother”, or a female entity. 🙂
God created “man” in his image, and from man created women.
Also, God is our Father, the Blessed Virgin Mary is our Mother, and the two of their love for humanity resembles the love of a family.
 
I guess you can ‘God’ anything you want, but keep in mind that God is without gender. In the O.T. and in the N.T. the head of the household is masculine. I will stick with ‘Father.’
 
tschleker said:
God created “man” in his image, and from man created women.
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Made in His image in what way? The term imago Dei refers to human souls, which women also have (believe it or not).
 
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MaryEstelle2 said:
but keep in mind that God is without gender
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I’m fairly certain the hypostatic union is still in effect in Heaven. And since God became incarnate as a man and was assumed bodily into Heaven as a man, it’s safe to say that God (in the second person of Trinity) is a man, no?. Not to mention that God is always referred to with masculine pronouns throughout the Bible.

I would grant that as the Catechism says though (CCC 239) that God transcends distinctions between the sexes.
 
tschleker said:
God created “man” in his image, and from man created women.
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This runs the two creation stories in Genesis together in an unfortunate way. The first says:
God created mankind in his image;
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
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The image of God is the human, male and female together.

In terms of philosophy, God contains every he perfection of everything created, that of mother as well as of father. God is the most perfect mother as well as the most perfect father.

The name father has a long history, so is probably more appropriate, but in some contexts, mother may be more apt. The Hebrew word for mercy, constantly used of God, is based in the word for the womb, the essential characteristic of any woman.

And of course, there are counter elements. Sophia, Wisdom, is personified as a woman in the wisdom literature and is generally taken as embodying God. Hagia Sophia in Istanbul is an important example of devotion to her. And then there was a devotion to “Mother Jesus” that flourished in the later middle ages, even though we know Jesus is male.
 
We ought therefore to recall that God transcends the human distinction between the sexes. He is neither man nor woman: he is God. He also transcends human fatherhood and motherhood, although he is their origin and standard: no one is father as God is Father.
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Catechism of the Catholic Church 239 (emphasis added).

Don’t forget that, although the Bible usually uses the masculine pronoun when referring to God, it also sometimes uses the feminine pronoun as well. God isn’t female; that’s true. But He isn’t male, either.
 
Why are we tied to a binary gender? If we are to be Trinitarian, then how do you explain, what appears to me, to be a sexless “Holy Ghost” entity. Biblical Jews could not even say (know) God’s name, which often denotes sex. Personally I think we’re better off allowing people to imagine God in the way that brings them closest If you were abused by a man, especially if you are a woman, might it be OK to have a more motherly experience?
 
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But no the less masculine. God the father is so called for a reason.
 
ServusDei1 said:
But no the less masculine. God the father is so called for a reason.
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You seem to be assuming your conclusion.
I have always held my peace, I have I kept silence, I have been patient, I will speak now as a woman in labour: I will destroy, and swallow up at once.
Isaiah 42:14.
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Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who are carried by my bowels, are borne up by my womb. Even to your old age I am the same, and to your grey hairs I will carry you: I have made you, and I will bear: I will carry and will save.
Isaiah 46:3-4.
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Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent to thee, how often would I have gathered thy children as the bird doth her brood under her wings, and thou wouldest not?
Luke 13:34.
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I will meet them as a bear that is robbed of her whelps, and I will rend the inner parts of their liver: and I will devour them there as a lion, the beast of the field shall tear them.
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Hosea 13:8.

One could just as easily say “God the mother is so called for a reason.” Or one could follow the Church’s teaching that God is neither male nor female; God transcends merely human gender; and we refer to God as He has taught us: God the Father, God the Son, and God the (obviously gender-neutral) Spirit.
 
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