God and pronouns
When discussing "God" with others, does anyone share the same problem I have using pronouns in the discussion? How do you deal with it?
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.'They' is acceptable if you get the grammar to go with it on here I never give god, a capital G but I might if I were somewhere where it would be offensive to others. I only ever want to speak for myself and let others be with whatever they want to believe.
jacpod
Level 8
Mar 13, 2018
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Thanks, jacpod. I never try to debate god’s existence. I rather tell people I’m a seeker of truth or understanding. Not an authority. If someone presses me, I will ask him or her to define their terms. That is sometimes the end of the discussion. But I’m not trying to trap anyone.
What problem do you have?
God, to most Abrahamist believers, is a "he". If you want to get them cranked up, use "she" or "it" instead. In my experience though unless you want to start a sideshow, most atheists go along with the father-god assumption. There's so much to address it's hard to know where to start, but I think it'd be a phyrric victory to get them to concede that they are a patriarchal belief-system; in fact, most of them see that as a feature rather than a bug.
mordant
Level 8
Mar 13, 2018
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My problem stems from assigning a personified concept to something spiritual. My belief is that no human could understand God because he, she, or it must of necessity be described in human terms. I agree, Mordant, that the topic would render a hollow victory even if I chose to argue it. I just like to ask questions. I also like to ask people to define their terms when speaking of “God.” That is problematic for some folks.
@Kismet67 The ineffability of god is one of the problems with defining god, discussing god, proving god, or pretty much anything-god. If god is beyond comprehension then why even bother. If god is beyond knowing then why do people make knowledge claims about him: he's all knowing, all powerful, all loving, but also incomprehensible? Give me a break.
And it isn't just that he's ineffable, he's also supernatural = above / beyond / outside of nature and therefore the supernatural, even if it existed, would be inaccessible to us as creatures of the natural world. The instant you start describing ANYTHING, much less god, you're not describing a supernatural thing -- by definition. The supernatural is a useless and illogical concept.
So yes ... I agree with your point.
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