So what are everyone's thoughts on changing God's pronouns to "They" and "Them" since in the biblical texts God is said to have referred to himself as "We" and "Us" and could possibly even be that God thought "themself" to be both genders.
Wouldn't that just be the frosting on the cake! Seems the question came up in the UK last February about the possibility of making God's gender be more inclusive. Maybe God is trans or intersex after all! Makes the idea of creation more meaningful, if it's a dyad (male and female or some other force of opposites) doing the creating. Those are my thoughts anyway as far as the source of creation.
I very much dislike the idea of God/s anyway, especially the one described in the bible!
[npr.org]pronouns-church-of-england
I thought of "it," seconding @Skado. "It" would not only be gender neutral but a (feeble) step away from anthropomorphizing.
But zxlprtunhdwqadl works just as well.
"They/them" bugs me when used for a singular entity (other than a schizophrenic). It makes me stop and think, wait a minute - who else are we talking about now??!
I use "they" when I'm talking about someone for whom I don't know their gender. There is also the royal "we" which could be why some of the biblical stories have "God" referring to himself as "we" unless he is considering himself just one of many gods. And in that case "they" would be appropriate.
I do wonder/agree with you in that sometimes there is a person who presents as female, has a feminine name, dresses in a feminine fashion, yet prefers "they/them" for pronouns, instead of "she." Or vice-versa. But if someone lets their preference known, I try to adapt. I think sometimes their preference for they/them is a statement of solidarity to their friends and acquaintances for whom they/them is a welcome pronoun. It doesn't hurt me to refer to them anyway they like.
@Julie808 they may present a female sometimes and male at others, depending on how they feel. I agree with you- they get to choose who they are, and what they say shouldn't be questioned. I've thought for years that both gender and sensuality are on a spectrum and people define for themselves where they are on that spectrum.
That which does not exist, cannot refer to itself in any manner.
They can be used. Elohim in Hebrew is both singular and plural.
I tried looking for reference for the word Deity. In modern usage Deity is plurraified by adding -ies to make deities. However, I have understand previously in my experience that Deity in original greek could also be plural with out adding the -ies. I just cannot find a reference right now to confirm what I thought I remembered.
Elohim (Hebrew: אֱלֹהִים, romanized: ʾĔlōhīm: [(ʔ)eloˈim]), the plural of אֱלוֹהַּ (ʾĔlōah), is a Hebrew word meaning "gods" or "godhood". Although the word is plural, in the Hebrew Bible
I have pointed out to a few believers I know that since God doesn't have genes, so no X let alone Y chromosomes, and neither has nor needs any secondary male sexual characteristics, that means by the conservative definition, he is not male. So, the only reason he would be male, is if that is how he identifies....
From a metaphysical point of view, male and female are principles, like Yin and Yang, and everything male or female in nature is simply derived from these two principles.
So yet once again this so called higher entity has to have another human construct - gender.
Yep, in "our" image, or whatever. I just thought the idea was interesting and surprising and something I hadn't heard of before. I personally like the idea of creation springing from dual sources, but I'm not fond of the idea of god/s.
@Julie808 It all started with a big bang, and things have been getting more complex and interesting ever since. There is absolutely no evidence of intelligence or intention behind any of it.
@Flyingsaucesir And there never was.
@jackjr But people sure have made up a lot of shit, haven't they?
My belief is that personal pronouns have become the new modern distraction. For example, I will not invite "they/them" to dinner using a gender selected choice. We have always had different genders and trans people. "God makes no misnakes." (Mistakes) OK, what about the 2 headed calf? Call your god being whatever you want to. Do this same distraction for yourself if you like. Human kind has always been just who and what we are from the beginning. The difference is that some are just now finding the freedom to speak out.
It seems that men like a male god because it validates their feelings of superiority. Maybe women like the notion of God as father figure, but I wouldn't want to generalize.
To me it's wasted effort to categorize a figment of one's imagination.
Anytime i'm in discussion with a believer, i say, "Your god" and deflect the ownership to them. i don't recall using a pronoun for god. Always wondered, if god is a "he" (male) doesn't he want a mate? or he just gets off watching and manipulating?
I also like, "your hypothetical god," or "that supposed deity."
God comes in Three Parts (a bit like Gaul, I suppose), being God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Therefore God is plural, and so must be referred to as "They". However, being triune, God is also singular, and so must be referred to as "He". Thus we have that God must be referred to as They/He or He/They, or possible Theyhe or Hethey.
God is also omnipotent, meaning that It can be exclusively male, exclusively female, and exclusively both male and female all at the same time, meaning that the above should be corrected as Theyheshe, Theyshehe, Heshethey and Shehethey, all of which be used simultaneously.
God could also be hermaphroditic, which complicates matters even further. I will leave it to others to devise the appropriate pronouns.
I'm already using he/she/they on those rare occasions when I refer to the Abrahamic God with a pronoun. It used to be just he/she, but lately I have been adding they, just for fun.
i could name my pet unicorns, but they still won't come when called.
I could see using the pronoun, “it” for which “they” and “them” are also appropriate.
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It is my understanding that the god in the bible was originally a part of a pantheon of many gods. Yahweh, was originally a minor war god, which the Hebrews took out of the pantheon to worship and favoe individually.
Anthropologists say that the Jewish/Hebrew tribes started as a group of people who were outcasts from neighboring lands who banded together to form a single group. They most likely took as a war god for worship because they were outcasts and wanted favor in war and to be feared by those who cast them out.
It is no secret that the "ten commandments" were mostly lifted from or plagiarized from the Egyptian Book of the Dead. They just added in all the stuff about there only being one god and no other gods, hoping to gain favor from teh war god they patronized.
So, the us and them in scripture is left over from when there was more than one god worshiped.
However the idea of the far right Christians heads exploding when god is referred to as they, does make me smile a bit.
The key words are: "make god". Humans invented god/s and each have defined it according to their beliefs. If we call god "Shit-face", and it became popular with believers, then they would be singing songs like: Shit-face loves me, this I know.
in the end it is a useless debate as are all thing religious