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Current time: December 4, 2024, 12:47 pm
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Gender of Holy Spirit
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Gender is a definition and is not dependent on society. It is perceived by the society at the time, but that doesn't necessarily change the truth behind it. Gender is not mercurial. Our understanding and interpretation should hopefully be mercurial. Male and female is as objective and rigid a definition as the sky being blue. Yes, societally we agree on the sky being blue but what's to stop it from being chartreuse in 2000 years? Whatever we call it we're still describing the same thing, the color of the sky. Another example of the wonderful revolving lexicon would be if I said I were gay. I would only be meaning it in the pre 20th century definition, not the modern etymology of homosexual. It would have better to say I'm positive and optimistic. That seems like a topic for another thread though.
Back to your point. I would say that definitions are a reflection of societal norms at the time. If you said gender is dependent on a scientifically genetic definition I would agree. Perhaps you could rephrase to "The grammatical gender for animate objects in traditional noun classes is usually male, female or other as interpreted by societal norms of the time". Language reflects society because society defines language. Objects being described don't cease existing because society interprets their definitions differently. Which is exactly why I didn't want to get into a pedantic etymology of language and simply discuss the symbolic meaning. I don't think it matters in the slightest what gender the OP thinks the Holy Spirit is, or what the writers thought it was when it was written.
"There ought to be a term that would designate those who actually follow the teachings of Jesus, since the word 'Christian' has been largely divorced from those teachings, and so polluted by fundamentalists that it has come to connote their polar opposite: intolerance, vindictive hatred, and bigotry." -- Philip Stater, Huffington Post
always working on cleaning my windows- me regarding Johari 
Like most fictional characters, it can be whatever they want it to be.
It could be a Holy Goat for all I care.  (November 16, 2018 at 11:54 am)TwoKnives99 Wrote: Right, on review, this may not be the best place to ask this question. Why would we devote time to pondering the attributes of something that does exist to possess attributes? Existence is more salient than other attributes, would you not agree? 
In the original Battlestar Galactica series the character of Starbuck was male; in the remake the character was female. That has implications for how the story can unfold and how people interpret the interplay between the characters but to ask if Starbuck is actually male or female doesn't make much sense.
Give me a reason to believe that the entity in question actually exists in reality and not just a collection of ancient myths and we can look at what gender attribute is most appropriate. Until then the only question is what effect the gender used may affect the way people interpret the fictional stories. 
Neither male nor female, apparently.
Trans? Playing Cluedo with my mum while I was at Uni: "You did WHAT? With WHO? WHERE???" 
As it' s part of the Holy Trinity - I' d say it's trisexual.
That is - it' ll try damned near anything. It's a fully equipped rock and roll machine..... That about right?? 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it the holy spirit that accosted an unwed teenage girl alone in the desert in dead of night....and..hey presto..she was with child?
Strongly suggests that the "holy spirit" was packing peen.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
 (November 16, 2018 at 11:48 am)TwoKnives99 Wrote: Before I begin, I would like to clarify that I am part of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, which is the Indian branch of the Syriac Orthodox Church, which uses the Divine Liturgy of St. James and our liturgical language is Syriac. It's a bit like wondering what unicorns taste like, isn't it? Just do whatever pisses the fundamentalists off the most and you're probably doing the right thing.
Being an antipistevist is like being an antipastovist, only with epistemic responsibility instead of bruschetta.
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