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 Off-Topic / Debate / 4524
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Subject: 
Re: Does God have a monopoly on gods?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Sat, 4 Mar 2000 21:24:06 GMT
Viewed: 
1075 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Peter Callaway writes:
Dan Boger wrote:
well now.  I've decided years ago that if there is such a thing as god,
I'd refer to it as a she, just because that will make things more
interesting.  I never said that said God is the one mentioned in the
Bible, or the Koran, or the Tora...  as my wife rightly points out, who
cares what chromosomes God has, if it's xx or xy?  why would god even
have a gender?

You've decided that God is a she just to make things more interesting.
That's about as rational as me calling you "Rebecca" just to make things
more interesting. You may say that's OK, I can call you what I want, but
the fact remains that it is not who you are. Calling someone by a different
name or different gender just to make things interesting is arrogant.

Say, this bring up an interesting point (for me, anyway).  I'm curious about
something...

Over my lifetime, I've heard God referred to as He millions of times, and in
more recent years, occasionally I've heard Him referred to as She, but I
don't think I've ever heard God referred to yet as It or Thon.

To a theist, would someone referring to God as It (rather than He) be
considered insulting, or would it be flattering since it acknowledged that
God is more than human and doesn't necessarily need a gender?

A second question -- which is more insulting:  She or It?  That is, is it
worse for God to be female than to be genderless?

--Todd



Message has 3 Replies:
  Re: Does God have a monopoly on gods?
 
(...) Colleen McCullough, who has read thousands of classical sources, writes invocations in her historical fiction that start, "Jupiter Optimus Maximus, of whatever name you prefer, of whichever sex you prefer..." I've not yet encountered this in (...) (25 years ago, 4-Mar-00, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
  Re: Does God have a monopoly on gods?
 
(...) To answer your first question, Christians refer to God as "He" and "Father" because that's how Jesus referred to Him. Since we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, then it is natural to expect Him to know the correct way to address God. I (...) (25 years ago, 5-Mar-00, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
  Re: Does God have a monopoly on gods?
 
(...) It's just an European language thing isn't it? We have only one word for third singular person in Turkish, "o". So a Turkish speaking christian it doesn't make any difference, if that thing called god is a male, female or neither. Isn't it (...) (25 years ago, 5-Mar-00, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Does God have a monopoly on gods?
 
(...) What proof have you looked for? Give me some indication and then we can take this further. (...) You've decided that God is a she just to make things more interesting. That's about as rational as me calling you "Rebecca" just to make things (...) (25 years ago, 4-Mar-00, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

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