GOD AS THE MOTHER FROM HELL

The Bible uses some motherly images of God but God is clear that his preferred term is father and pronouns are he and him and his.  He is never called mother.  Jesus goes as far as to say that he would like to gather his people like a chicken gathers her hens.  He avoids saying like a mother gathers her children.  A man who has to raise his children on his own has to do some motherly things but he is not a mother.

In Genesis we read that he made them male and female in HIS own image.  Thus a woman is declared to be a male who has not reached the male standard.  Eve is made from Adam's rib to stress the point.  She is not made from his side but his rib.  He can spare a rib so his wellbeing matters more than bringing her into existence.  The notion that she came from his side to be his equal and stand by him is a nice thought but that is not what the story says.  The story declares her inferior.  While woman may be the image of God it does not mean that she is as good an image as God is.  A poor painting is still a painting of you.

God as motherly then is no great endorsement of women and it is no wonder a patriarchal misogynistic God does not like the image much.

God is a disastrous "mother" or parent anyway.  He won't even use parent as his word.  No, he has to attack women by calling himself father.

The psychologist Erik Erikson has some important insights. Babies who are not looked after correctly are marked by their needs that have been unmet. They learn not to trust others and this can impact them forever. A small child needs to be her or his own person within reason. If that is blocked they lose confidence in themselves. Again this can leave a scar. Yet many say that parents should not be their children’s friends for friends don’t do tough love the way parents can and need to. Being your child’s friend is abdicating many of your duties as a parent.

Anyway what has this to do with God?  God has programmed the children to be damaged by their parent's mistakes and thus he is an abuser.  When parents mean well their children still suffer.  Sometimes even more so?

Telling a child God loves them and matters most for that reason is setting them up to feel neglected by God.  They feel they are being watched by God all the time which amounts to feeling abused or violated.  The child cannot be their own person under such surveillance.  A father watching his daughter all the time will invade her privacy and she will sense he is perverted.  This has been reported of God by many children and young people.