NON-SEXIST LANGUAGE: WHAT A CHALLENGE!

I recently wrote a commentary on Revelation.  Realizing that masculine pronouns applied to God will offend some people--and I do not want to offend anyone--I found much difficulty expressing myself.  Gradually, as I worked through my book, I realized that the whole issue of non-sexist language really stems from inadequate grammar and not from human thinking.  We all know God is a spirit.  God does not have a physical body.  Having no physical body means that God is neither male nor female.  Only living, physical beings are male and female.  All nonliving physical things are neuter, at least in English.  However, some languages include nonliving things as male or female.  Confusing, isn't it?

Most languages we are familiar with have only three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter.  English, as I mentioned, uses masculine and feminine only for living, physical beings that reproduce sexually.  All nonliving physical beings are neuter.  No matter what language we speak, we all know that God, angels, devils are living beings, yet they do not reproduce sexually.  Therefore, we all recognize that masculine and feminine pronouns are not correct for them.  Neuter pronouns are even less correct.  What English needs is a fourth gender that provides pronouns other than masculine, feminine, and neuter.  We English-speaking people cannot imagine such pronouns--try inventing some--but that is what we need: pronouns for spiritual beings.

Try speaking about God or spirits without using pronouns.  It's almost impossible, so ingrained is the habit to use pronouns rather than repeat nouns over and over again.  When speaking, I can come close, but I can't eliminate pronouns referring to God.  I can avoid pronouns when I write, but it required practice.  And I also chose several synonym nouns so I do not overwork any single noun.

Referring to God with masculine pronouns is a problem with our language, not our thinking.  Since there are no adequate pronouns, we use masculine pronouns only because longstanding tradition always used masculine pronouns.  We can read into masculine pronouns whatever we like.  Most of these insights are not relevant.  If English had a fourth gender for spiritual beings, everybody would use that gender.  Then, all concern about maleness applied to God would disappear.  I learned later that India has more than twenty-five hundred dialects and most have non-masculine, non-feminine and, non-neuter pronouns that are specific for spiritual beings.   These languages have more than three genders.  People who speak those languages tell of humorous word plays when trying to translate from these languages into English.  At the opposite extreme, a Persian language has no distinction of gender in pronouns.  The same pronouns suffice for both masculine and feminine genders.

How challenging!: writing a book discussing God's Revelation and never using a single pronoun referring to God.  I believe I am the only author who wrote a commentary devoid of sexist language.  Now I'm working on non-sexist spoken conversation.  Wish me luck!  And I will pray that God may keep you in the palm of ..... Whoops!  There I go again.

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