The word god is old english derived from the 6th century german word gott.
How can god be the name of an entity penned 1500 years before the word existed?
How can god be the name of an entity penned 1500 years before the word existed?
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God and god?
- Thread starter Sunstone
- Start date
The answer to that has been given.
God is above all names but is known to us through those names.
Thus if we speak of our one God, through the name Jesus, or Moses or Abraham, or Krishna, or Zoroaster, or Buddha or Muhammad or the Bab or Baha'u'llah, we likewise use a capital.
Regards Tony
If you choose to see those names as God, you can likewise choose to write the name as you choose.
On the other hand as they are names, be they fictional or based on some historical figure, a capital is thus appropriate.
Regards Tony
74x12
Well-Known Member
Yes, but I question the point of us having two alphabets with upper and lower case. Even worse if you include cursive as two more alphabets.
Stanyon
WWMRD?
I'm not a theist but I do capitalize God, Devils, Demons, etc. not because I believe in any of them but just out of respect for those that do and their varied understandings of them. I may disagree with people's beliefs but for me it is just a matter of personal taste to capitalize them.
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I get what you mean, but even given that, why would devils be capitalized? It's akin to capitalising 'giraffes'.
Stretchy the Giraffe, sure. It's effectively his name.
Stanyon
WWMRD?
It's only fair, the Devil deserves his due
Heh...
The Devil makes sense. I thought you meants 'devils'....like a race of beings.
Stanyon
WWMRD?
Could be that too
What unfair assumption? It seems like the only assumption in the term "your god" is that whatever god you believe in isn't universally accepted as "the" god.
... which is true. No god (or God) is universally accepted.
IndigoChild5559
Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
God is usually capitalized in monotheism (since it is a proper noun), and not capitalized in polytheistic systems (since it is not). Of interesting note are henatheistic systems where the gods are lower case, except the main God, which is capitalized (i.e. Mormonism).
Some atheists will refer to the monotheistic God as god as a way of degrading him.
stvdv
Veteran Member
Athena for sure I would capitalize.
What what you do if someone belittles your wife (de-capitalizes her)?
In India they have Radha and Krishna, Sita and Rama etc.
Lady always comes first. Better capitalize her. That's one of the good things I learned in India.
I prefer to capitalizes both God and Goddess.
How is this "a way of degrading him?" Don't you think that God is a god?
Using the lowercase "god" to refer to God just means the person is talking about gods in a general sense.
Sometimes I get the sense from some people - usually Christians - that treating their religion as just one religion out of many is insulting to them. Is that what's going on here? Is it that calling God a god puts God on equal footing with other gods you consider "lower" in some way?
In my version of henotheism, it's God, and gods. God for the supreme, and gods for the rest.
So there was no god before the 6 century AD, thanks for making that clear.
They are precisely as fictional as your god.
In your view a capital is appropriate. As a dyslexic it is simply to much bother to get another person to check whether i capitalise a myth.
Manoah
Member
I was referring to unfair assumptions by Christians or whatever religion might be presuming or dominating. I have seen people chide and sneer one another in political converstions as well. I was trying to note that sometimes both parties feel misused. I don't think the objective statements by themselves are degrading necessarily or by default.
stvdv
Veteran Member
Oh my god, you have a good point here. If that is the case, that some think their god is better than other's god (or other's lack or lack thereof) then I prefer to only use the word god. Before I mentioned that I only use the word "God", never "god". The reason is that I don't like this "my way is the highway" so I call everything the same. I never thought that people only call their "God" capitalized and other's "god" not because of arrogance.
No that is incorrect and was not said.
Many civilizations have lived upon this earth.
Regards Tony