He or he?

AngelAmidala · Feb 18, 2002

I do a lot of devotional reading and sharing on various boards, and there's something that I noticed that kind of puzzles me.

Some authors will write a sentence about God or Jesus and say something like, "God will never leave us because He loves us."

Other authors would take the same sentence and make it say, "God will never leave us because he loves us."

The first one, "he" is capitalized and in the second one it isn't.

I just am trying to figure out, why is that done? I always thought it was supposed to be He, not he. But then there are these pretty well-known devotional writers using he and not He.

Any help given, I'd appreciate!

lucypevensie · Feb 18, 2002

Well, back in English class in high school we were taught that it is proper to capitalize pronouns referring to deity, that it's just a basic rule of English/spelling/writing/whatever. 'Course, I went to a Christian school and we had Christian textbooks, so... So I always capitalize it based on what I learned. but I know what you mean, I've seen it the other way around too.

Mike K · Feb 18, 2002

I agree with lucy. Sometimes I just forget to capitalize the He, or Him. I don't really think its blasphemy or anything, just proper grammar.

Droobie · Feb 18, 2002

For me, it's a rule of thumb that any word that describes Him is capatalised...

Deird · Feb 18, 2002

But then, if you look in the Bible, they don't capitalise it...
Weird.
I sometimes do, and sometimes don't, depending on how I'm feeling at the time.

Snor Snor · Feb 18, 2002

I do it to show respect that He is more worthy of the capital than us, just like how Jesus is more worthy to have the capital "Son," and we only get "son." Get it?

The capital is actually an important thing when desrcibing some stuff

You don't HAVE to do it, but I think it just shows some respect to Him that He's more worthy to have something more "special" than us

AngelAmidala · Feb 18, 2002

*nods*

Thanks everyone so far for their responses! I capitalize it out of habit myself, and try to do it when I'm typing up devotional readings...just because it looks strange to me without the capital H. *shrugs* That could just be me though.

filosofer · Feb 18, 2002

Really, only two Bible capitalize the pronouns that refer to God, NAS and NKJV. Even the KJV didn't do that.

Sometimes it is helpful if several pronouns are used in a paragraph to use the capitalization just to keep everything straight.

Rule of thumb: if the Bible you are quoting from uses the capital letter, then use the capital letter for the pronoun. If the Bible does not capitalize the pronoun, then don't.

JohnR7 · Feb 19, 2002

>>But then, if you look in the Bible, they don't capitalise it...

Some translation do and some don't. I would not be able to refer to God without using a capital. Also I try to avoid refering to the Bible as an "it", although that is hard to do at times.

For me, it just would not be showing the proper respect for the Diety of God, if I did not use a capital letter. Thanks, JohnR7

Optimus_P · Feb 19, 2002

well in my personal general useage. If i use something to descripe Him where the word God is implied it will be capitol out of respect.

In my normal english he/him/his and so on is not capiltolized. But when refering to the Father it ...... its just to show respect, no one is higher or on the same level as God.

StogusMaximus · Feb 19, 2002

I don't think it is necessary to say He, and nobody would be offended if you said he. To me God is to great for he. God has to be He, God is even to great for HE. I think to be proper one should refer to God as HE!

AngelAmidala · Feb 19, 2002

Those are really big letters.

fieldmouse3 · Feb 19, 2002

I always capitalize it out of respect, I guess.....and my Bible (NIV) capitalizes sometimes, sometimes not.

StogusMaximus · Feb 20, 2002

Originally posted by AngelAmidala
Those are really big letters.

The better to spell with my dear.

ph · Feb 20, 2002

I always capitalize not only He, but any word referring to God. Example: Mary had a Baby, and she took care of Him; or, God is the One Who created the world.

Personally, I wouldn't feel right doing it any other way. I just feel, as several others have said, that it is a way of showing that God can't be described using a single average pronoun; He should be given a distinctive one.

He or he?

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