Bob,
Yes, about pronouns. That first site you provided is based on poor reasoning and just as the author claims Bible translators are biased in their interpretation, so is she biased against the Trinity which affects her translation.
She completely ignores other Scripture which indicate the Spirit's personality, as do you. See point #1 from my previous post, for starters.
Also:
In Greek, both masculine and neuter words are used to refer to the Holy Spirit. The Greek word translated “Helper,†“Comforter†and “Advocate†in John 14-16 is parakletos, a masculine word in Greek and thus referred to in these chapters by Greek pronouns equivalent to the English “he,†“him,†“his,†“himself,†“who†and “whom.â€Â
Because of the masculine gender of parakletos, these pronouns are grammatically correct in Greek. But to translate these into English as “he,†“him,†etc., is grammatically incorrect.
She provides no good reason as to why these pronouns shouldn't be translated as they are. Also, she ignores what Jesus said in John 14:16, ""I will ask the Father, and He will give you
another Helper [parakletos], that He may be with you forever." The word "another" essentially means "like the first one, but distinct" or "an additional one similar to the first."
This means that Jesus is also a
parakletos, and yet I'm sure that she wouldn't translate the pronouns referring to Christ as "it." So why does she argue against "he" or "him" when in referrence to the Holy Spirit as
parakletos?
Not only that, the following point she makes contradicts her previous point:
There is absolutely no justification for referring to the term “Holy Spirit†with masculine pronouns, even in Greek. The Greek word pneuma, usually translated “spirit†but also translated “wind†and “breath,†is a grammatically neuter word. So, in the Greek language, pronouns equivalent to the English “it,†“its,†“itself,†“which†or “that†are properly used in referring to this word for “spirit.â€Â
She wants to have it both ways: neuter nouns
require neuter pronouns, but masculine pronouns are sometimes grammatically incorrect when referring masculine nouns. How does that work? I do realize that in the Greek, pronouns do not necessarily indicate personality, but that doesn't mean we can pick and choose which way we want to translate pronouns.
If Greek masculine pronouns can be translated as "it," then surely neuter pronouns can be translated as "he."
I really like the following mistake, although it isn't an error in reasoning; it just made me chuckle:
"For example, in
French the word livre, meaning “
book,†is of the
masculine gender and is referred to by a pronoun equivalent to the English “
h/u].†"
Yet, she states this: "By the same token, you would never translate a particular French sentence as “I’m looking for my book so I can read her.†"
I could go on about that site, but it really isn't necessary. I think I've proved my point.
