peterr@utcsrgv.UUCP (Peter Rowley) (08/30/84)
Two short comments:
On the gender of God and what it means to women: I am amazed by the degree
to which people can talk about abstract entities and their properties and
ignore the concrete people who are affected. Surely a small girl sitting
in church feels more distant from a male God than does a small boy hearing
the same sermon, and feels less proud of her gender. Perhaps attempts can
be made to reform the language, but I think it is best to treat spirituality
in a more abstract way (yes, tougher to teach to children) which avoids
personifications (and thus authority figures).
On "chairpeople": Wm Cook says this refers to "militant feminists"?!?!?
I doubt that's what the ACM means when they list the chairpeople of
conference sessions. And his other definitions ("chairwoman" is a wimpy
chairperson, for example) are not only ludicrous, but rather distasteful.
p. rowley, U. Torontovallath@ucbcad.UUCP (09/07/84)
It doesn't sound right to talk about the "gender" of God, rather than the sex. As far as my knowledge goes, gender is a grammatical term and in principle independent of the sex. (In German for example, we have 'das Maedchen', Please use 'sex' - it sounds better. From the prurient mind of ... Vallath Nandakumar
sunny@sun.uucp (Sunny Kirsten) (09/08/84)
Greetings: >It doesn't sound right to talk about the "gender" of >God, rather than the sex. As far as my knowledge goes, >gender is a grammatical term and in principle independent >of the sex. (In German for example, we have 'das Maedchen', >Please use 'sex' - it sounds better. > >From the prurient mind of ... Vallath Nandakumar Sex is a condition of the Body Gender is a condition of the Soul Men are spirits incarnated in a body, therefore have both gender of the soul, and sex of the body God is a spirit without a body as we know it, therefore has only gender, not sex as we know it. Men and the planet earth are of a physical reality of low dimension. Spirits exist in many dimensions. God exists in the highest dimension. Bodies are mortal, and have sex. Spirits are eternal, and have gender. God, as a discarnate spirit, has no sex to speak of. When you die, you will cease to have sex. Get it while you're here. There will always be other incarnations in which to learn your lessons. -- {ucbvax|decvax|ihnp4}!sun!sunny (Sunny Kirsten of Sun Microsystems)