Pronoun ideology

(Garth D. Wiebe, video June 2023, article created July 2024)

Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that the sudden, planned, intentional, and often forced (i.e. bullied) change in pronouns is the result of godless, radical feminism, followed by LGBTQIA2S+ gender ideology.  Language does evolve over time, but not that suddenly and intentionally according to an agenda like that.

Such generic terms as pronouns do not in themselves defile us.  However, 1 Cor 8 and 10, on the subject of meat sacrificed to idols, applies.  We can eat any meat we want, but if someones says, "This is meat sacrificed to idols," we should not eat it (1 Cor 10:25-28).  If it was the centuries-long drift of language usage it would be okay.  But if we know that the pronouns are being changed to accommodate godless ideologies of feminism and sexual perversion, then we should not accommodate it, for by doing so we are guilty of appeasement and acceptance, compromising godly principles.

The following are plural:  they, them, their, they're, themselves
Note:  There is no such word as "themself."

Wrong:  I've been living under a rock, and they are a nice rock.
Right:  I've been living under a rock, and it is a nice rock.

Wrong:  That rock themselves were big, but I tossed them aside.
Wrong:  That rock themself was big, but I tossed them aside.
Right:  That rock itself was big, but I tossed it aside.

Wrong:  Someone corrected me and they turned out to be wrong.
Right:  Someone corrected me and he turned out to be wrong.

Wrong:  If anyone will come after me, let them deny themselves and follow me.
Wrong:  If anyone will come after me, let them deny themself and follow me.
Right:  If anyone will come after me, let him deny himself and follow me.

Wrong:  Everyone should check their grammar.
Right:  Everyone should check his grammar.

Right:  That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.

Here are some references (an English dictionary and a grammar reference book) to explain in more detail:

Bible Greek New Testament:

ανερ (translit. "aner"), ανθρωπος (translit. "anthrōpos"):  man
γυνη (translit. "gunē"):  woman
αδελφος (translit. "adelphos"):  brother
αδελφη (translit. "adelphē"):  sister

The same applies in biblical Greek as with English, that if you know someone is a female, then use the feminine form (woman, sister); otherwise, use the masculine form if unknown or unspecified.

Since this is the way it is in the Bible, then we should not object to continuing to do it this way in English, as it was in the mid-twentieth century.  Moreover, the word of God does it this way for a reason:  God created the man in the image of God. He created the woman from the man.  Altogether, "mankind" therefore includes both men and women ("Adam-kind").  But there is an order and a precedence.  That is why the radical feminists and LGBTQIA2S+ ideologists despise the Biblical precedent and convention.

The major translations that have intentionally been gender-altered to accommodate radical feminism and sexual perversion are the NIV 2011, TNIV, NRSV, NLT, NCV, CEV, CSB, and the NASB 2021.  There is some gender neutral language in the ESV here and there, but not as an agenda.

Modern translations now want to translate αδελφος "brother or sister," plural "brothers and sisters."  But the following scriptures use αδελφος (brother) and αδελφη (sister) in the same verse:  Matt 12:50, 19:29, Mark 3:35, 6:3, 10:29-30, Luke 14:26, 1 Cor 7:15, 9:5, James 2:15.  Obviously, it would be silly to translate those as "brothers and sisters and sisters."

The following scriptures have both ανθρωπος and γυνη in the same verse:  Matt 19:3,5,10, Mark 10:7, John 4:28, 16:21, 1 Cor 7:1, Eph 5:31, Rev 14:4.  Obviously, it would be silly to translate them "person" and "woman" instead of "man" and "woman."

The above two lists of scriptures with the male and female words show that the gender-altered translations are not translating "man" or "brother" to be faithful to the original text and intent, but re-imagining them to accommodate feminism and sexual perversion.

As I mentioned in my accompanying video, I too was lulled into conformance through the decades, as you can still see my misuse of "they/them" here and there in videos that I now cannot change, because YouTube does not provide a means to edit or replace existing posted videos.  However, I have scanned through all my articles and fixed the errors where I have found them.  I hope that others will follow in my example, exercise some reflection and self discipline, do the right thing, go against the crowd, and take a stand against the new feminist/LGBTQIA2S+ pronoun ideology.

Here is the script for my accompanying video:

https://www.wiebefamily.org/pronouns_video_script.txt:

I grant this work to the public domain.