Effective Antagonism

There are times we want to discuss a particular subject, teaching, or event in order to learn more about it. Sometimes we want to enter into a dialogue to understand the other person’s point of view, and sometimes we want to talk it over in order to correct or counter what we perceive to be an error in thinking. These are all legitimate aims.

Sometimes we are so convinced of the rightness of our own position that we run roughshod over those that disagree with us. I have seen pastors of many years do this as well as the exuberant young convert who is aflame with passion for his new-found views. Unfortunately, we often do great harm to the cause of God and truth by failing to take into consideration the person with whom we are contending. Next to the Bible, every contender for the truth should be thoroughly familiar with the principals of inter-personal relationships enumerated in How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie. How we pursue our objective will either gain us a hearing or a dismissal as just another troublemaker. Carnegie’s book will help to make it the former rather than the later.

I am not afraid of those with opposing viewpoints nor am I always opposed to having those views expressed in this blog. I, being human, am not perfect and therefore do not have perfect understanding. There are times I need to be corrected. One gentleman who did that in a humble approach was Russell Earl Kelly, PhD, Author of Should the Church Teach Tithing? You can read his comments at http://hermeneutical.blogspot.com/2007/09/honor-lord-with-your-substance.html.

Anyone can write a blog (and I am proof of that) and unless you know that person personally or by reputation you have no idea if he even knows what he is talking about. As a blogger, I have to do my best to establish and hold a readership. Proper use of language, vocabulary, punctuation, and correct spelling go a long way in giving me credibility. But more than that, I have to know what I am talking about. This holds true for those that want to comment on my posts as well. Let me give you a case in point.

The man that wrote in opposition to my article on the Trinity said, “Sorry, but your Trinitarian belief is incorrect. If you will check the Greek, you will find that the Pronoun used when referring to the Holy Spirit is neutral. The Holy spirit [sic] is the power of God. The bible uses the pronoun 'He' when referring to the Holy Spirit and it should be correctly rendered ‘It’. Just check the Greek.”

Any first-year Greek student will chortle upon reading that. “Just check the Greek,” — like the man is a Greek scholar. This man either has not the slightest exposure to the structure of Greek or is suffering from an advanced case of Alzheimer’s. Greek, along with many other languages, has three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. “Spirit” is neuter in gender, not neutral. The word “spirit” may be translated, depending on context, as “wind” or “breath” as well as “spirit.” It does not follow that because spirit is a neuter word that the object represented by the word is. One of the words used in the New Testament for child is tekna (τεκνα). Tekna is also a neuter word. Sometimes it refers to a female and at other times to a male child. No linguist would translate an antecedent or subsequent pronoun referring to tekna as “it.” Checking the Greek has to go beyond a quick reference to Strong’s concordance. By the way, there are also Greek masculine words with feminine endings. At any rate, the Bible translators are correct in assigning an English masculine pronoun to references to the Holy Spirit. This we will, the Lord enabling, show in a future post. If you don’t know Greek don’t use it in an argument. If you don’t know what you are talking about it is better to not say anything than to show your ignorance to the whole world.