Monday, January 29, 2018

Am I Sinning?

Am I sinning when I fail to capitalize divine pronouns? Many Christians, when they write about God, either Father, Son, or Spirit, capitalize pronouns that refer to them. They think God is honored by such a practice. By implication, I am sinning, or failing to give proper reverence, when I do not capitalize those pronouns. I have thought about this a lot. My conclusion? I do not believe I am disrespecting God by my failure to use capitals in divine pronouns.

Do we not realize that the bible is all written in capital letters? So, not only are capitals used for divine pronouns, but also with human. So, what does that show? It shows that the bible writers did not feel like they were exalting men by using capitals in human pronouns nor were they intending to honor God by using capitals.

Some also think that every noun used in reference to God must also be capitalized, as in Lord, Messiah, Christ, Jesus, Lamb, Prince, King, Son, Father, Spirit, Man, etc.

On this subject we find this in wikipedia

Reverential capitalization is the practice of capitalizing words, particularly pronouns, that refer to a deity or divine being, in cases where the words would not otherwise have been capitalized:

and God calleth to the light 'Day,' and to the darkness He hath called 'Night;' and there is an evening, and there is a morning — day one. -- Genesis 1:5, Young's Literal Translation (1862)

In this example, "God" is in capitals because it is, like "Day" or "Night", a noun which is here a proper name, whereas "He" is an example of reverential capitalization, since while proper names are capitalized universally, reverence for any particular divinity—belief therein implied on the part of the author who capitalizes pronouns in reference to such being—is not universal. In short, when pronouns are capitalized which usually are lowercase, this usually implies that the writer personally reveres and regards as a deity the antecedent of that pronoun.

Nouns, which are not proper names, can also be capitalized out of reverence of the entity they refer to. Such examples include "the Lord", "the Father", "the Creator".

Capitalizing nouns

Capitalization, punctuation, and spelling were not well standardized in early Modern English; for example, the 1611 King James Bible has:

For our heart shall reioyce in him: because we haue trusted in his holy name. -- Psalms 33:21

Capitalizing pronouns

In the 19th century, it became common to capitalize pronouns referring to the Christian God, in order to show respect:

For in Him doth our heart rejoice, For in His holy name we have trusted. -- Psalms 33:21, Young's Literal Translation (1862) In the 20th century this practice became far less common:

For our heart rejoices in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. -- Psalms 33:21, World English Bible (1997)

HERE is one writer who takes my position.
Bill Mounce's article is also a good defense of my position.

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