Jaron asked:

If God is a woman, why were men invented?

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The scientific definition of a woman is "Unguiculate, claviculate placental mammal, with orbits
encircled by bone; three kinds of teeth, at least at one time of life; brain always with a posterior lobe
and calcarine fissure; the innermost digit of at least one pair of of extremities opposable; hallux with a
flat nail, or none; well-developed caecum; two pectoral mammae." For men, the only substitution is
the last three words, which need to be replaced by "penis pendulous, testes scrotal". Now from this it
transpires that the only word in your question that makes any sense at all is "IF". And this finding
should enable you to answer it yourself.

Jürgen Lawrenz

Sydney

The perennial question! And we could ask it the other way around! We know of course that God is
genderless. Unfortunately the Western tradition has always used a gender pronoun, usually a He.
This has led to all sorts of linguistic and even theological sexism. Indeed there was a debate in
medieval scholastic philosophy as to whether or not women had souls! Language is indicative of
meaning, and in many respects is semiotic so the use of a gendered term for a genderless existent
has caused many problems. This has led to the whole movement for 'inclusivity of language', at least
in Christian theology and liturgy. It is important that the person in their totality is seen and not simply
their gender. The human person cannot be reduced to their gender, that they are male or female, is
incidental to the truth of their humanity, but it as male or female that that humanity is experienced. It is
when the humanity of a person is acknowledged, that their gender can be seen as integral to their
reality and not an addendum to be oppressed, exploited, or discriminated again. So, if God is a
woman, why were men invented? Perhaps because God realised that men and women are to be
together as co-equal partners in the journey through life.

Fr Seamus Mulholland OFM