Why capitalize improperly?

[Aishikyo]

I don't know whether this is done in Judaism or Islam, but I have noticed it in Christianity.
Some Christians seem to capitalize such word as 'he' and 'him' when referencing God.
I've been trying to figure it out, but it just doesn't make sense to me.
They aren't proper nouns, and so they should not be capitalized, right?

 

[Elessar]

Many Jews and Muslims, but most Christians, use a capitalized pronoun in order to convey the majesty of G-d. I, myself, do not capitalize pronouns when referring to G-d, but then, I rarely use pronouns when referring to G-d.

 

[Aishikyo]

Many Jews and Muslims, but most Christians, use a capitalized pronoun in order to convey the majesty of G-d. I, myself, do not capitalize pronouns when referring to G-d, but then, I rarely use pronouns when referring to G-d.

That's what I've been told.
But I just don't think capitalizing pronouns conveys such a thing.
To me, it simply conveys ignorance and conceitedness.
I myself was once a Christian but I would have never capitalized pronouns to try to convey God's importance.
So, that is why people do it, then?
I disagree with it but I suppose it does make some sense.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I don't know whether this is done in Judaism or Islam, but I have noticed it in Christianity.
Some Christians seem to capitalize such word as 'he' and 'him' when referencing God.

Some atheists, too.

I've been trying to figure it out, but it just doesn't make sense to me.
They aren't proper nouns, and so they should not be capitalized, right?

It's just the convention. God gets His pronouns capitalized, the Queen gets to refer to herself as "we"... English has some odd, inconsistent rules.

 

[Pah]

I don't know whether this is done in Judaism or Islam, but I have noticed it in Christianity.
Some Christians seem to capitalize such word as 'he' and 'him' when referencing God.
I've been trying to figure it out, but it just doesn't make sense to me.
They aren't proper nouns, and so they should not be capitalized, right?

I believe you are right. I frequently do not capitalize "God". It seems as silly as naming a human "Human".

 

[Aishikyo]

I believe you are right. I frequently do not capitalize "God". It seems as silly as naming a human "Human".

Ah, I generally agree with that too.
I don't think I ever really thought about the capitalization of 'god', actually.
I used to simply say Yahweh instead of God but some people got confused and didn't know what Yahweh meant.

 

[Elessar]

Ah, I generally agree with that too.
I don't think I ever really thought about the capitalization of 'god', actually.
I used to simply say Yahweh instead of God but some people got confused and didn't know what Yahweh meant.

Actually, many religious Jews find the use of that term offensive.

 

[Katzpur]

I don't know whether this is done in Judaism or Islam, but I have noticed it in Christianity.
Some Christians seem to capitalize such word as 'he' and 'him' when referencing God.
I've been trying to figure it out, but it just doesn't make sense to me.
They aren't proper nouns, and so they should not be capitalized, right?

I always capitalize "He," "His," and "Him" when referring to God. I realize that these words are pronouns, but since they refer to God, I believe that it is gramatically correct to either capitalize them or not.

 

[Aishikyo]

Actually, many religious Jews find the use of that term offensive.

Really?
I honestly don't know much about Judaism, so I didn't know.
Why is it offensive?
Maybe it's a good thing that I don't use that term anymore.

 

[Aishikyo]

I always capitalize "He," "His," and "Him" when referring to God. I realize that these words are pronouns, but since they refer to God, I believe that it is gramatically correct to either capitalize them or not.

But my question was why.
Why do you capitalize them when referring to God?
I can understand capitalizing God, at least, if you're using God as his name.
But why must 'him', 'he', and such be capitalized?

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

But my question was why.
Why do you capitalize them when referring to God?
I can understand capitalizing God, at least, if you're using God as his name.
But why must 'him', 'he', and such be capitalized?

Why is the past tense of "keep" "kept" and not "keeped"?

Like I said, English is weird.

 

[Aishikyo]

Why is the past tense of "keep" "kept" and not "keeped"?

Like I said, English is weird.

Indeed, English is very strange.
Wait, is it officially proper English to capitalize Him and such when referring to God?
I was under the impression it was not proper English.

 

[Elessar]

Really?
I honestly don't know much about Judaism, so I didn't know.
Why is it offensive?
Maybe it's a good thing that I don't use that term anymore.

The term, along with any attempt to represent the Name as shown in the Torah and the scriptures, is offensive because to attempt to do so outside a religious context would be belittling the Name of G-d. In addition, as the vowels to the Name are lost, to attempt its pronunciation would be to incorrectly speak the Name of G-d. To mispronounce the Name would be insulting.

 

[Elessar]

Indeed, English is very strange.
Wait, is it officially proper English to capitalize Him and such when referring to God?
I was under the impression it was not proper English.

Yes, it is, indeed, proper English to capitalize pronouns when in reference to G-d - due to English having evolved in a context in which the existence of G-d and the truth of Christianity were unquestionable.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Indeed, English is very strange.
Wait, is it officially proper English to capitalize Him and such when referring to God?
I was under the impression it was not proper English.

Yes, it is proper. It's the only instance when it's proper to capitalize a pronoun like that (other than "I", which is capitalized all the time, of course), so I can see why it could be taken as a violation of a hard-and-fast rule, but it's not.

 

[Aishikyo]

The term, along with any attempt to represent the Name as shown in the Torah and the scriptures, is offensive because to attempt to do so outside a religious context would be belittling the Name of G-d. In addition, as the vowels to the Name are lost, to attempt its pronunciation would be to incorrectly speak the Name of G-d. To mispronounce the Name would be insulting.

Oh dear.
Um, I suppose I should apologize then.
I referred to him as such merely because I don't see the god of such scriptures as the Bible, the Torah, and others to be my god, therefore I didn't feel it was right for me to call him 'God.' I figured I'd refer to him by his name. I've never known anyone to be offended by it, but quite a lot of people had no idea what I meant when I said it so i simply went back to calling him God.

 

[Aishikyo]

Yes, it is proper. It's the only instance when it's proper to capitalize a pronoun like that (other than "I", which is capitalized all the time, of course), so I can see why it could be taken as a violation of a hard-and-fast rule, but it's not.

Okay, I see.
Well then, it would seem that the whole point in me posting this has been lost.
I guess it was just a misunderstanding on my part, then.

 

[Charity]

If he, and him or his is referring to God then I wish to use a capital letter. If someone doesn't like it then "whatever"............

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Fun historical tidbit: apparently (and I'm dragging this out of very dusty parts of my memory, so trust it at your peril), at the advent of teletypwriters, codes like Baudot Code were developed, and generally they didn't distinguish between upper- and lower-case letters. The head of Western Union was shown a prototype teletypewriter code where the letters were presented all in lower case. He demanded that before the code go into full use, the letters be changed to all captial letters, stating "the name of the Deity should not be in lower case." The code was changed and it eventually became the industry standard.

Supposedly, that's why all teletypewriters and early computers used all uppercase letters rather than all lowercase letters.

 

[BucephalusBB]

Yes, it is proper. It's the only instance when it's proper to capitalize a pronoun like that (other than "I", which is capitalized all the time, of course), so I can see why it could be taken as a violation of a hard-and-fast rule, but it's not.

As a sidenote, capitalising "I" is an english thing as well..