Why Bother with Greek, When You Can T Read English

Why Bother with Greek, When You Can T Read English

WHY BOTHER WITH GREEK, WHEN YOU CAN’T READ ENGLISH?

A few years ago, Gary Hudson went into a temper tantrum over an article of ours, "Finding a Handful on Purpose." Gary was upset at the faulty Greek scholarship contained therein. He called us on August 18, 1989 to pump us regarding our educational credentials, so that he could discredit us in his newsletter.

It tickles us to think that such an intelligent intellectual would waste his time trying to discredit and silence a poor, ignorant, uneducated nobody like Herb Evans, who has never pretended to be a Greek scholar nor expert. Still, we do not intend to sit idly by, while Bible Correctors manipulate the Greek, using root words and half truths to discredit the King James Bible. We do have the credentials necessary to expose Bible Correctors, who try to pull the wool over Bible believers' eyes.

Our self-styled Bible Corrector began the phone conversation under the guise of a future book order but could not contain himself and began to threaten us with demolition by himself and the Dean Burgon Society. We later learned that this deceptive fraud was not a spokesman for the society, since all that he ever did was speak at one of their meetings. His demolition job on me was nothing more than a fizzled firecracker.

Gary faulted our use of 1 John 4:16 and 1 John 1:5 to support our defense of "God is a Spirit,' a supposed KJB error, rather than Gary's "God is Spirit" in John 4:24, which we offered 'God is love' and 'God is light' (1 John 4:16; 1 John 1:5)" as the construction (English) that Gary was trying to force into John 4:24. Our friend, who obviously can't read English, went into a tirade and tantrum over the Greek construction.

Gary ranted and raved about the missing "ESTI" in John 4:24, flooding us with Greek grammars (in the Light of Historical Research - of course) to prove that the Greek word for "is" does not have to be in the text, something we already knew and indicated but is not the case in the passages, which contain the English construction that Gary needs. Gary's argument emphasizes the missing Greek article in John 4:24. So, after you allow them to take the indefinite article, "a," they will be after the word "is" for removal, and it will then read "God Spirit.” Any way you cut it, the Greek construction is different in John 4:24 from the other two passages. So, why the fuss that the English is also different in John 4:24? The Greek word order is also different, "HO THEOS AGAPE," "HO THEOS PHOS" as opposed to PNEUMA HO THEOS in John 4:24. So what? Who makes the Greek Grammar rules anyway?

Gary Hudson says, "There is not a single work on Greek grammar in existence, not an 'interlinear,' nor Greek scholar that would back the incredible reasoning of 'DR.' Evans on the Greek of John 4:24!" You see this Bible Corrector believes that the Bible must follow the rules that the Greek scholars, grammars, and interlinears pontificate to us, after the fact, although such grammars and interlinears did not exist in 1611, only the Greek scholars that translated the 1611 KJB. And the modern Greek grammars and interlinears change in the light of HISTORICAL RESEARCH along with your modern bibles.

Well, poor Gary does not know that George Ricker Berry in his interlinear does support the indefinite article "a" being left in John 4:24. He renders it "A Spirit God [is]." Imagine that! But is our critic after only one indefinite article because it does not occur in the Greek or all of them? Should "a man in soft clothing" in Luke 7:25 have the "a" removed? Well, It is not in the Greek. Should "who was a sinner" in Luke 7:37 have the "a" removed? It is not in the Greek. Should "if he were a prophet" in Luke 7:39 have the "a" removed? It is not in the Greek. Oh, you would not carry a half truth that far? Ah, huh!What we have here is a simple case of anger because Gary Hudson's supposed error in the King James Bible was spoiled and overturned. But then, Gary, why bother with Greek, when you can't read English? Oh, by the way, Gary, the old Martin Luther German Bible has John 4:24 rendered, “Gott ist EIN Geist” - God is a Spirit. And the German language, unlike English, uses gendered nouns. Of course, the modern German bibles have changed John 4:24, like the modern English Bibles have changed it. Isn’t that something, Martin Luther made the same exact error as the King James Translators almost a hundred years before they did. What a coincidence! Hmm mmm!

-- by Herb Evans, Flaming Torch - Nov/Dec 1989 - p. 5