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God and god?

Sunstone

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
stvdv said:
I have no problem how people write God. I believe there is 1 God though given many names, hence I write always God.

Some write G-d out of respect, some write God out of respect
Some write god out of lack of respect, some write god because they see more than 1 God
And maybe some write god to irritate or trigger others or another emotional reason
God is linked with belief and belief is subjective, so anyone is free to write God however he wants IMO
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You're leaving out people who capitalize or don't capitalize based on conventional English grammar. I would not presume the worse of people who are trying to be clear in their communication by following conventional rules of grammar.
 
9-10ths_Penguin

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
stvdv said:
I have no problem how people write God. I believe there is 1 God though given many names, hence I write always God.
Click to expand...
Though this can create confusion. Grammatically, the statement "there is 1 God" could be taken to mean "there are any number of gods, but only one of them is named 'God.'"

Some write G-d out of respect, some write God out of respect
Some write god out of lack of respect, some write god because they see more than 1 God
And maybe some write god to irritate or trigger others or another emotional reason
God is linked with belief and belief is subjective, so anyone is free to write God however he wants IMO
Click to expand...
I don't see how lowercase necessarily implies respect; it just means we're using the word as a noun and not as a pronoun.
 
9-10ths_Penguin

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
Sunstone said:
You're leaving out people who capitalize or don't capitalize based on conventional English grammar. I would not presume the worse of people who are trying to be clear in their communication by following conventional rules of grammar.
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I'm trying to find a source - and the fact I can't find one might mean the whole thing is bunk - but I had more than one computing teacher or textbook say that the reason early teletypes - and flowing from that, early computers - only printed in uppercase was because they didn't want to be forced to write "God" in only lowercase letters (and because of limitations on the number of characters, they couldn't have both lowercase and uppercase).
 
Sunstone

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
9-10ths_Penguin said:
I'm trying to find a source - and the fact I can't find one might mean the whole thing is bunk - but I had more than one computing teacher or textbook say that the reason early teletypes - and flowing from that, early computers - only printed in uppercase was because they didn't want to be forced to write "God" in only lowercase letters (and because of limitations on the number of characters, they couldn't have both lowercase and uppercase).
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I've heard that too.
 
stvdv

stvdv

Veteran Member: I Share (not Debate) my POV
Sunstone said:
You're leaving out people who capitalize or don't capitalize based on conventional English grammar. I would not presume the worse of people who are trying to be clear in their communication by following conventional rules of grammar.
Click to expand...

I just answered the question 9-10ths_Penguin asked: Would you have a problem with the capitalization in "God is a god?"
 
stvdv

stvdv

Veteran Member: I Share (not Debate) my POV
9-10ths_Penguin said:
Though this can create confusion. Grammatically, the statement "there is 1 God" could be taken to mean "there are any number of gods, but only one of them is named 'God.'"
Click to expand...

True. That's like in advaitha "We use words to explain the unexplainable and even non-duality implies duality. Hence the wise remain silent".
When talking about God/religion/spirituality it's all about personal view/interpretation. So for some there are many gods, for others not.
For me there is no good or bad when it comes to spirituality, because it's a belief system. Some believe, some don't that's all. No judgment.

I am still babbling, so I am still not "wise", to make sure there is no confusion in that area.
 
stvdv

stvdv

Veteran Member: I Share (not Debate) my POV
Sunstone said:
I would not presume the worse of people who are trying to be clear in their communication by following conventional rules of grammar.
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I presume the best of people"who are trying to be clear in their communication by following conventional rules of grammar"
 
stvdv

stvdv

Veteran Member: I Share (not Debate) my POV
ObjectOfMercy said:
Yes, but only when I'm talking about the true and living God, that is, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.
All other talk of god or gods is lowercase, because they are not the true God.
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Just my observation "This is quite a bold statement"

Do you realize you wrote these lines in the "Debate forum"?
I hope you can prove you are right. Or at least that you are not wrong;)

To make the statement "all others are wrong" means at least that you studied and understood all others correctly IMO

But you are "so much convinced that your way is the ONLY highway" that I leave it at that. I agree to disagree on this one. I feel no need to debate
 
Sunstone

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
ObjectOfMercy said:
Yes, but only when I'm talking about the true and living God, that is, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. All other talk of god or gods is lowercase, because they are not the true God.
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So are you saying you use lower case to show disrespect for other people's beliefs about god or the gods? If so, that would speak volumes about you, don't you think?
 
O

ObjectOfMercy

Member
Sunstone said:
So are you saying you use lower case to show disrespect for other people's beliefs about god or the gods? If so, that would speak volumes about you, don't you think?
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Why would I respect a god that God Himself in the Bible calls false gods? Why would I dishonor the true God like that? Should I disrespect the God of truth, whose name is Jealous, to honor a false god which cannot profit anyone?
 
Rival

Rival

se Dex me saut.
Staff member
Premium Member
I use G-d as a name so it's capitalised and dashed when referring to HaShem.

I use gods to denote other gods not out of disrespect, but because 'god/s' is not a name, so it's not capitalised.
 
Manoah

Manoah

Member
9-10ths_Penguin said:
How is "I don't pray to your god" an insult?
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The statement is not in itself insulting. This is true.

I suppose I am just remembering times when it was used in an insulting context or hateful tone. Also it's not so much the "I don't pray" part, but rather lower-case g or "your god" used on purpose to call out a true believer in a less-than-respecting manner. I am sure the users felt challenged by unfair assumptions and justified.
 
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