With Due Respect: Should we use gender-neutral pronouns for God?

 

To summarise, no. Let me elaborate:

God is revealed in Jesus Christ
He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross - Colossians 1: 15-20

For Christians, the best evidence for God is the personhood and Godhood of Jesus Christ. And Jesus was a man.

In ancient Hebrew, God is referred as male in the Bible
The Lord is my strength and my song,
    and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
    my father's God, and I will exalt him.
 The Lord is a man of war;
    the Lord is his name. - Exodus 15: 2-3

In the Bible, God chose to communicate using male pronouns, and is also exclusively described with male pronouns. In the instances where God uses female imagery, He uses them as an analogy rather than a description.

For a long time I have held my peace;
    I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out like a woman in labor;
    I will gasp and pant. - Isaiah 42:14

Jesus was OK with God's pronouns
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and recovering of sight to the blind,
    to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”

And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” -- Luke 4:16-21

Jesus could have taken opportunities to correct the Scriptures, but he did not.

Conclusion
Despite our modern politics and cultural influences, we must be wary of conflating who God is, and what we desire Him to be. For instance, there could be a genuine intellectual desire to describe God as beyond gender (and thus want to use gender-neutral pronouns) but that is not how God has chosen to reveal Himself in ancient Hebrew.

If God is really the most important being in our lives, then we should seek to conform to what has been revealed about Him, rather than relying on our fickle thoughts, feelings and culture.

For more information:

Torah

Interpreting Scripture

Alternative culture: Anglican General Synod votes to reject report on same-sex marriage

Recently, the Church of England voted 100 to 93 to reject a report that would have allowed gay clergy to practise their sexual preferences (instead of remaining celibate) and allow the conduction of same-sex marriage.

Traditionalism or liberalism?
To the laymen, it may seem like a simple battle between the reactionaries who want to stick to traditional marriages and the radicals who want the church to be more accommodating to our homosexual friends.

However, to me, there is a greater battle than that. It is a battle of identity. Do we define ourselves by our sexuality or traditions, and reason our way from there? Or are we willing to identify ourselves as Christians and be willing to follow what Jesus said.

What did Jesus say about marriage?
“But at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and female.' ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” 
-- Mark 10: 5-9

For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.

-- Matthew 15: 19

Jesus not only affirms that marriage should be between male and female (Mark 10:5-9), he also spoke against sexual immorality in Matthew 15:19, which would have included homosexuality.

Let's be clear: Being homosexual does not send someone to hell, and being heterosexual does not send someone to heaven. We can only can be with God when we believe Jesus is Lord and has taken our sins away.

Conclusion
My stand on the matter is well-represented by Sam Allberry in the video below: