PNEUMA: GHOST OR SPIRIT?

1. see "what is his name?" for a better clarification on this point.

the closest one can ever get to the original utterance of jesus (pbuh) in the christian scriptures is the greek word "para-cletos" which also has to be rejected because the master did not speak greek! but let's not be difficult for the purpose of this discussion and accept the greek word paracletos and its english equivalent comforter.

ask any learned christian man as to who the comforter is? you will unmistakingly hear - "the comforter is the holy ghost!" from john 14: 26. this sentence is only part of verse twenty six. we will deal with the verse fully in due course. but first we must educate the christian mind with regards to this misnomer — "holy ghost." "pneuma" is the greek root word for spirit. there is no separate word for ghost in the greek manuscripts of the new testament, and the christians now boast 24,000 different manuscripts in their possession of which no two are identical!

the editors of the kjv (the king james version) alternatively called av (the authorised version) and the douay (the roman catholic version) of the bibles gave preference to the word "ghost' instead of the word spirit when translating "pneuma"

the revisers of the rsv (revised standard version) ¹ the most up-to-date version of the bible, are going back, as claimed, to the most ancient manuscripts. these revisers, described as "thirty-two scholars of the highest eminence, backed by fifty co-operating denominations" who courageously re-placed the shady word "ghost" with the word "spirit" hence from now on you will read in all modem translations — "the comforter which is the holy spirit"! however, the christian crusaders and the televangelists stubbornly cling to the spooky ("ghost"-ly) past they will not opt for the newer versions. it's better fishing with the old bait - the kjv and the rcv (roman catholic version).

with the new change in spirit, the verse under scrutiny will read:

but the comforter, which is the holy spirit, whom the father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever i have said unto you. (emphasis added).

(holy bible) john 14: 26

you do not have to be a bible scholar of any calibre to sense that the expression "which is the holy spirit" is actually an interpolation. it ought to be in parenthesis, in brackets, like my words which have been interpolated in the quotation, i.e. "(emphasis added)." although the editors of the rsv have expunged dozens of interpolations from their boasted revised standard version, they have retained this jarring phrase which contradicts other explicit predictions of jesus (pbuh) on the subject of the comforter itself.