The fourth argument is that there are feminine or maternal images in Scripture as well as masculine images, and the presence of these feminine images legitimate feminine references for God. Thus, we can call God Mother equally as validly as Father. It is true that there are feminine images in Scripture, but the reality is that there are exceedingly few. Some of them are Isaiah 42:14, which speaks of God crying out like a mother in labor, and Isaiah 49:15 in which God is likened to a nursing mother. Psalm 131:2 says the same thing. Isaiah 66:13 also likens God to a mother who comforts her child. Matthew 23:37 speaks of God who acts like a hen who gathers her chicks under her wings. Deuteronomy 32:11-12 likens God to a nesting eagle that hovers over its young. And Hosea 13:8 pictures God as a bear robbed of her cubs. I may have missed one or two, but only one or two. I mentioned a number of the apparent references here only because it is generally assumed or at least generally intimated in some circles that feminine images for God are rather common in Scripture. The fact is, for those who want to make that argument, they are embarrassingly rare. I may not have listed them all, but there are fewer than ten of them in the entire Scriptures. But far more important than the number of feminine images is that not all imagery is equal. All the feminine references to God are figures of speech, metaphors and similes. If you take the list I have supplied and read through them, you will often see language like, "like." You will often read the words "like" or "as" in the English translation of these texts. That is the language of analogy, the language of comparison. None of these texts provide or authorize a divine name. And a figure of speech is not equivalent to a name. You can use a feminine figure of speech to apply to me. An example of one that is not feminine, but it gets to the point another way, would be after a test next week, a student might want to refer to me as "a real bear," but that figure of speech will never identify me in the same way that "Mike" will, or "Dr. Williams." And surely, referring to me as a bear will not authorize or license that student to bump into me in the hallway and then call me "Dr. Bear." To name God "Mother" on the basis of a few feminine similes is to confuse functions of language. It is to confuse simile and reference. Feminine images do not justify attributing feminine names to God.

In fact, naming God Mother may be a violation of the third commandment, a commandment which protects God's name. Exodus 20:7 says, "You shall not misuse the name of Yahweh your God, for Yahweh will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name." Notice how God is protecting His name there. He is saying that He has a name and it had better be used correctly. You see, in the Bible, human beings do not name God. We do not have the right to name God. Rather, He names Himself. He reveals His name, and He jealously protects that name. When God encountered Moses on Mt. Sinai and commissioned him to go to Egypt to seek the release of Israel from slavery, Moses wanted to know who was talking to him. Who should he say is sending him? Well, God did not say that it did not matter and Moses could give the people just any name. And God did not say, "Tell them it was the Big Guy in the sky." As a matter of fact, in his very question, Moses identified God as the God of the fathers, yet that was insufficient. God told Moses a name -- Yahweh. God named Himself Yahweh. Naming someone or something presupposes a kind of authority, a kind of power over it. For example, my wife and I have two sons. We named them. No one else had the right, and no one else had the authority to do so. When God created man, He gave them the authority to name the animals, and yes, He gave Adam the authority to name the one taken from his side, Eve. But God named Adam, and God names Himself. Giving God names that He does not authorize is not a mark of worship, nor a mark of intimacy, but it is in fact a mark of hubris. It is a mark of false familiarity. In short, "She Who is Our Mother in Heaven" is not a God of Scripture. She is a false God, a graven image, an idol. She is a creature of our making.

To read the entire transcript follow this link: http://www.covenantseminary.edu/worldwide/en/ST200/ST200_T_24.html

END