Every once in a while the gender of God is debated in churches or on wonderful Internet Forums like this one. There is always someone who takes the hard line position that the Bible or some other worthy religious text refers to God exclusively in male terms. This would include The Urantia Book, since God is most often called Father throughout the text. Then there are people who want to refer to God using female language. I have heard God referred to as Isis, or Sophia, or some other ancient concept of divinity. Both of these positions are a little off putting to me, and so I decided to take a closer look at how The Urantia Book uses gender language to describe divinity.
To start with, you may be surprised to learn that the Hebrew Bible (OT) uses a limited amount of female language to describe God. The Book of Proverbs refers to wisdom as coming from God and being with God at the beginning of all things (Prov 3:19). Wisdom is given a female personality in this quote; (Prov 1:20) Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares (see also 8:11 & 9:1). Christian theologians have connected wisdom to Jesus the Son of God because of the similarities to the description of The Word in the first chapter of The Gospel of John. The concept behind The Word in Greek includes wisdom. And it seems interesting that neither John, nor the early church theologians were concerned about Proverbs use of a female designation. The prophet Isaiah also compares God to a woman nursing her child (Isa 49:15), though does not go too far in the comparison. My guess is that Jewish and Christian theologians see God as big enough to encompass female language, as long as we don’t go too far with it.
The Urantia Book also sees God as all encompassing, and does not have a problem using female language to describe divinity. In many passages the book states that all things consist in God (1453.4) and that God is “no respecter of persons” (452.5). These citations alone should be enough to allow us to speak about God in feminine terms. The book talks about the need to use a variety of English word terms to describe deity, with God the Father being the most often used but not the exclusive one (3.19). But things get really interesting when we see the descriptions used for the other two persons of the divine trinity. The Infinite Spirit is referred to as the Infinite Mother Spirit on many occasions (92.3; 94.6; 95.7). And to muddy up the waters some, The Infinite Spirit is called ‘he’ a few times (205.3). The Eternal Son also goes from male to female language in The Urantia Book. Sometimes referred to as the Mother-Son (87.3), other times called the Universal Mother (79.4). These passages make it clear that gender designations for God are interchangeable. God is big enough to include both male and female language even when talking about a single member of the Divine Trinity.
There is no debate concerning gender language in The Urantia Book. Using any term to describe the Almighty is ok, as long as it conforms to the highest concepts of truth / beauty / goodness / light and life. God is big enough for an infinite number of designations. So call God a Girl or a Boy; call God a Dad or a Mom. As long as we stay focused on the main mission; loving God and loving people, we can call our Father/Mother in heaven whatever works for us.
God Bless You,
William Whitehead
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