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Ms. God

cantata

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Well, assuming for a moment that she isn't fictitious, is it any more peculiar to refer to her with the feminine pronoun than with the masculine, bearing in mind that she is not generally thought to have a gender per se anyway? Would the neutral pronoun be better, or would referring to God as 'it' be regarded as disrespectful?
 
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selfinflikted

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Well, assuming for a moment that she isn't fictitious, is it any more peculiar to refer to her with the feminine pronoun than with the masculine, bearing in mind that she is not generally thought to have a gender per se anyway? Would the neutral pronoun be better, or would referring to God as 'it' be regarded as disrespectful?

I don't think it's wrong to refer to any diety however you like. Besides, the BibleGod is probably referred to as "he, him" most often because of the highly patriarchal society in which he (god) was born (see? I just did it there). Anyhoo, in short, no, I don't think it should matter one iota.
 
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yasic

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Simple answer: If your assuming God exists, then obviously this God has his/her opinion of this answer. Until you know who the true God is and what his/her view is, you cannot say one way or the other.

If you do not assume that God exists, than feel free to call it whatever you like.
 
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GeratTzedek

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It doesn't bother me if people refer to G-d as She. It says, He made mankind in His image, male and female he made them. IOW, G-d is beyond gender. Gender is part of creation. The only reason we don't call G-d an it, is because that rather makes Him sound like some kind of object.

It very much DOES bother me, however, when people take things which are already written, such as songs or scripture, and ALTER them to say "she" or to remove male pronouns. Write new stuff if you like, but don't alter documents.

The G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is most often referred to in the male sense because we accentuate his qualities of justice and law giving. However, one prophet reminds us that he loves us like a mother who nurses her young. His unique presence as Shekinah is thought of as feminine.
 
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Pogue

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No more so than saying 'he'. God is more than we can ever understand, and that means that he transcends gender. I use 'he' out of habit, but certainly have no objection to people using 'she' if that's what they want. I don't think we can ever fully express God using language, so 'she' is just as good as 'he'.
 
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MoonlessNight

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I do question the motivations of people who use feminine pronouns exclusively when referring to God. At least how I use masculine pronouns (and maybe this is just because of a background in other languages) I include a gender neutral category. However, to me at least, feminine pronouns are used exclusively to feminine things and since we don't really have noun gender in English (excluding stuff like referring to the ocean or a ship with feminine pronouns) that pretty much means something of a female gender, which God isn't. I am also wary because I have encountered feminist theology which encourages people to create a female image of God, which all too often means distorting God as much as people who think of Him as a bearded man in the sky do.

And I certainly think that altering traditional documents, hymns, prayers, etc. to remove masculine pronouns in reference to God is very suspect because it does seem to indicate that referring to God with masculine pronouns is very wrong.

Linguistically we are not well equipped since God should be referred to using personal language, i.e. calling God an "it" is far worse than any other option, and this would also be why God is addressed to in the familiar form when it is available in a language. And the habit of replacing every "He" with "God" is just awkward. But on the other hand the pronouns we have that are personal can carry the wrong implications.

I guess what I mean is that both terms are acceptable depending on what the person means, but masculine pronouns have perhaps a better linguistic and historical basis so I find exclusive use of feminine pronouns very suspect.
 
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cantata

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I often use "she" to refer to God in the same way that many contemporary philosophers, especially philosophers of ethics, use female examples in their writings: I wish to raise the consciousness of my readers, and I do not want people to think that I am using "he" in a gendered way.

I also like imagining God with some feminine characteristics. It's fun to think about.

I wouldn't recommend changing traditional literature, but I do think referring to God as "she" now and again can be helpful. However, interestingly, some people here who shall not be named seem to regard it as mockery.
 
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TheBear

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However, interestingly, some people here who shall not be named seem to regard it as mockery.
Isn't it amazing how some people take offense on behalf of an all-powerful deity? I guess that's all part of the package of believing in an anthropomorphic god.
 
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cantata

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Isn't it amazing how some people take offense on behalf of an all-powerful deity? I guess that's all part of the package of believing in an anthropomorphic god.

Yes. It's all very peculiar.
 
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selfinflikted

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Hm. Thinking about this more has led me to realise something. Because most people prefer to use the male pronoun (he, him) to describe biblegod is more than likely the reason I had always imagined biblegod as a man perched on a cloud, stroking his beard, and doing other typically male-like things. I suppose if I'd always heard biblegod referred to as "she", I would've conjured up a mental image of a feminine god with curlers in her hair and painting her nails. lol. It's kind of comical if you think about it. I suppose that if you wanted people to conjure an image of an ALL POWERFUL diety, you'd pretty much have to describe him as male, otherwise you'd have an inferior female god (speaking strictly in the context of a patriarchal society, since I wouldn't for one minute believe that a female god couldn't have done a much better job ;) )
 
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cantata

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I suppose that if you wanted people to conjure an image of an ALL POWERFUL diety, you'd pretty much have to describe him as male, otherwise you'd have an inferior female god (speaking strictly in the context of a patriarchal society, since I wouldn't for one minute believe that a female god couldn't have done a much better job ;) )

Indeed. According to Tori Amos, God needs a woman to look after him anyway.

Is it a running gag that you misspell deity? You seem to do it a lot. :)
 
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quatona

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Is it offensive to refer to God with the feminine pronoun?
I have problems imagining someone saying "he" without thinking of a person with masculine traits (whatever that maybe in the cultural, social and personal background of the person). [This, btw., is different in German, where a lot of gender neutral objects come as grammatically feminine or masculine.]
I have a hard time believing that which some Christians would me believe: That they keep saying "he" yet don´t think "he", but instead of some gender-unspecific entity or even unpersonal force.
Anyways, if it´s true what they say, the pronoun doesn´t matter anyways. One would be as "wrong" as the other. "He" and "she" are gender-specific, and "it" is not for persons.
Thus, taking offense requires quite a bit of will to be offended - unless the person in fact clings to a patriarchal god concept.
 
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selfinflikted

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Indeed. According to Tori Amos, God needs a woman to look after him anyway.

Is it a running gag that you misspell deity? You seem to do it a lot. :)

lol

No, Ms. Grammar Police, it isn't intentional ;) I find often that letters that are adjacent in the spellings of certain words that fingers on seperate hands have to type will 50% of the time be in reversed order because of the speed at which I type. Unfortunately, there is no running gag about it, just my lackluster ability to read over what I've written before I click the submit button.
 
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