posted
Here is a question for those of you who, like me, beleive in God or in a supreme being. Do you believe that God is male, or female. In my opinion, God goes beyond gender, but was given male traits cause of the way he provides for his creations, ie humanity, like a father did in traditional times, hence Jesus himself called God "father".
*said in a poster I saw at someone's door, at college
------------------ When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
The problem comes from the fact that "it" sounds slightly offensive, so that's out. And the problem with saying "She", is that it really sticks out. If it's a genderless being, calling it "She" draws far more attention to the gender than calling it "He", simply because we're used to the latter.
As a (very weak example), take ships. They don't actually have a sex in the accurate use of the word, but many people call them "she". If you called them "he" though, it sticks out for miles.
And the English language does tend to use the male versions of word when talking about all of humanity. "Man", "Mankind", "history" and so on. If someone insists that the lesson be called "herstory", or "genderlestory", then that person needs to get a real hobby. God is written down using the male forms. In all likelihood, He isn't a gender at all. But calling Him a Her is like changing His name because you don't like how it's spelt.
------------------ "I can't believe we're actually gonna meet Guru Lou. Everyone says he's the wisest man in the universe. He's sensitive, creative, has a great sense of humour, and he's a really smooth dancer. *giggles*" "You're confused Polly. We're not meeting Paul Newman." - Polly & Speedy; Samurai Pizza Cats
posted
Of course, lots of languages have all kinds of gendered but non-living nouns...even English did, until the French came along and wrecked it. Actually, most Old English pronouns had identical forms for the masculine and neuter.
Speaking of French influence on English, "history" comes from a French word, which came from a Latin word, which came from a Greek word, which came from the Indo-European word *weid-. Thus, there's no connection to the masculine possessive pronoun.
------------------ Frank's Home Page "Tetris is, and this is fact people, confirmed by the Rand Corporation; fifteen thousand times more addictive than crack. I spent three years in a Tetris-induced haze, barely eating, wandering the streets panhandling for Gameboy batteries." - Simon Sizer
[This message has been edited by The Shadow (edited July 10, 2000).]
------------------ "The lies I told are not falsehoods according to my definition of truth." Bill Clinton "All stupid people are liberals, because they don't know any better." Rob Rodehorst "Don't underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups" - Dilbert, Scott Adams
------------------ Frank's Home Page "Tetris is, and this is fact people, confirmed by the Rand Corporation; fifteen thousand times more addictive than crack. I spent three years in a Tetris-induced haze, barely eating, wandering the streets panhandling for Gameboy batteries." - Simon Sizer
They make good sense. 
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