First, an update: today I spoke with the “risk manager” for the construction group that is working behind our house. I recently posted that I had snapped some pictures of a group of brigands (ooh, that sounds serious) that had vandalized some of the construction equipment recently. This risk manager had left a message for me yesterday, having found my phone number on the back of the pictures I printed and delivered to one of workers last week. This gentleman was very appreciative, thanking me multiple times for keeping an eye out. He even offered to send us a gift certificate! I declined, and we talked for a bit longer. I was impressed with the man, as he was so sincere in his gratitude and in his efforts to contact me and show this gratitude. I do not know if the man is a Christian, but he was certainly more gracious than most folks.

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I enjoy reading, and do a lot of it. I enjoy writing, but do not do very much of it, unless you count the emails I send on a daily basis at work. I have the automatic spell checker turned on both at home and at work, and try to proof read almost every email before it is sent to catch the non-spelling errors I often make. I do try very hard to insure that my sentences are clear but not too simple, and that I am using as few words as possible to convey what I am trying to communicate. I am sure I fail miserably much of the time, but I do try to learn from the mistakes I discover.

I despise spelling errors. And I really, really dislike grammar errors. I am sure I make a lot of both types of errors (my sister is undoubtedly laughing about my inability to spell “hooray/hurray” consistently, and a recent gaffe in which I completed a video with “parking lot” as a single word instead of two). And I am sure you will not have to search long to find sentences ending with prepositions.

I mention all of this as an introduction to one of the most substantial problems I have with the King James Version of the Bible: inconsistent pronoun usage when referencing God. And lest you think I am attacking “The Word of God,” don’t get your culottes in a twist; put down your Welches and repeat three times to yourself: “he is talking about a translation, not God’s inspired word.”

In I John 4:4 in the KJV reads as follows:

Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

This is one example of the KJV’s use of impersonal pronouns to reference God or the Holy Spirit. Mind you, I do understand that God is genderless. And I do not pretend to be a Greek scholar. But it seems as if the most consistent translation would read “greater is it that is in you…” or “greater is he who is in you…” (depending on the most correct gender translation). I have harder time talking about “the God that is in me,” and think I would more accurately talk about “the God who is in me.”

And to compound my irritation with this, we sang the song this past Sunday that is based on the KJV version of this verse. I confess that I sang it “Greater is he who is in me” even though everyone else in the building was signing it as it was shown.

Do not misunderstand: this is not a life-or-death deal. But why do so many insist on sticking to something that is at best incorrect based on any grammar rules from the past 100 years, and at worst a subliminal foundation for basic “impersonalization” of God?