YOU MIGHT BE WONDERING about the title of this page and just what the "testimony of the pronouns" might be.  Well, this testimony represents a teaching out of the Holy Bible of Christianity, Old and New Testaments, and it permits the relevant passages themselves to speak to the reader on the subject of the nature of God.  Since understanding the nature of God is basic to understanding God, it behooves us who claim to be believers to delve into this testimony and see just what is it that the passages are saying to us.

First a definition: In English grammar, a pronoun takes the place of a noun.  Pronouns stand for people or things without naming them.  Personal pronouns (the subject of this article) indicate by their form whether the pronoun refers to the person speaking (first person), the person spoken to (second person), or the person or thing spoken about (third person).  "I, my, mine, me" are first person singular.  "We, our, ours, us" are first person plural.  "You, your, yours" are second person singular and also plural.  "He, his, him" are third person singular, with the exception of "he" which can also be neuter.  "Their, their, theirs, them" are third person plural.  (She, her, etc. are feminine pronouns).

If you read the statement "He built the house" you could safely assume the builder was a singular masculine person.  To identify this singular person, you would consult the context of the statement.  By the same token, the God of the Holy Bible is identified by some 20,000 or so singular pronouns. From this "testimony" you could assume that the subject (God) is a singular, masculine being.  And you would be right. You would be assuming a condition or nature of God that is called "biblical monotheism."  The rules of grammar dictate that if a person is referred to as "I" or my" or "me," that person is a singular being, and not a plural being.  Those who break these rules utter nonsense.  That is, you might write about a certain man, say your father, called Joe, and quote him as saying, "I have a headache."  It would be ludicrous to suggest from this that your father is two persons, or three, or one hundred. The word "I" defines a limit to our assumptions in normal grammar.  If you were to then say to another person, "He has a headache," we would know immediately that you were speaking of a single human being and in all likelihood, it would be a man.  Words mean things and pronouns are very specific words that mean specific things.  There is no greater weight for the monotheistic nature of God in the Bible than is the weight of all these personal pronouns that depict him as one person or being.  Those polytheists in the Armstrong "binitarian" camp who deny this testimony and who assert that God is NOT a single being have never, to my knowledge, seen fit to address these pronouns.  THEY ARE TOTALLY IGNORED!  To assert and teach others a polytheistic (two or more gods) doctrinal position based on a few passages and to ignore the great weight of some 20,000 testimonials is foolish and deceitful. And further, to deny the definitions of "polytheism" (two or more gods) and "monotheism" (one God) as some of these people also do, I am sorry to have to say, is plain dishonest.  In effect, these people are denying the very Bible and the very God, the singular Yahweh they claim to know.  This really troubles me.

One example of THOUSANDS is Genesis 1:26-27.  Polytheists quote ONLY verse 26 and emphasize the word "us" as depicting two "Gods."  "Then God said, 'Let US make man in OUR image, according to OUR likeness' " (v.26).  They are satisfied.  But continuing IN CONTEXT: "So God created man in HIS own image; in the image of God HE created him; male and female HE created them" (v.27).  Verse 27 is devastating to the binitarian polytheist. It is no wonder they don't quote it!  You might read Gen.1:29; 2:2-3; or Gen.17:1-10 where18 examples of personal singular pronouns for God or the Lord Yahweh are found.  God is speaking to the host of heaven in verse 26 and that the actual creating was apparently done by God acting alone, in verse 27 (1Ki.22:19ff).  Then there is the "Shema" of Deuteronomy 6:4. "Hear, O Israel: the Lord [Yahweh] our God [Elohim] is one."  Finally, the Lord himself speaks to every foolish polytheist in our midst:

“You are my witnesses,” says the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he.  Before me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after me.  I, even I, am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior.  I have declared and saved, I have proclaimed, and there was no foreign god among you; therefore you are my witnesses,” says the Lord, “that I am God" (Isa.43:10-12).  "So the scribe said to him, 'Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but he' " (Mk.12:32; cf. Rom.3:30; 1Cor.8:6; Eph.4:4-6; 1Tim.2:15; Jas.2:19 ).

You might noticed that I do not use the capitalization of pronouns and other words that usually refer to Go (Yahweh) or to Jesus the Christ.  The RSV uses the correct grammar; no pronoun is a proper name and therefore they should not be capitalized, as it is done in many Bibles.  The reason they are capitalized is because the Trinitarian Roman Church fought hard to turn Jesus into a God and they needed to emphasize that change by capitalizing any word referring to him or to the Father.  It is more than annoying to try to read passages with such artificial anti-grammar included.  I rebel against such foolishness and you should, too, if you wish to be grammatically correct and not fall in line with the Roman Catholic tradition of men who placed themselves above the rabble of the “laity.” (END)     

THE TESTIMONY OF THE PRONOUNS