AboutJohn of AllFaith Expertise To varying degrees I have worked and studied with many different groups including:
The Noahides, Gaudiya Vaisnavism, Swami Muktinanda's Sidha Yoga Foundation, the Yoga Society (of Sri Ramamurti Mishra), Sikhism, various Pagan and neo-Pagan groups, Sunni Islam (Wahabi), Taoism, various Buddhist sects (including the Dharmad Hatu of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche), various diverse Hindu sects, numerous Christian denominations and movements, and have been involved with numerous other groups and movements too numerous to mention. I refer to my personal beliefs as AllFaith.
See my questions and answers at allfaith.com/questions
A Statement to Students about Plagiarism any why I answer questions:
Plagiarism is a crime.
Plagiarism can end careers, lead to expulsion from school, the loss of financial aid, and can even result in fines and imprisonment in some cases. Its not worth it!
Despite this a small percentage of those who ask questions at AllExperts, Yahoo Answers etc. copy and paste our answers as their own, often without giving credit. This is plagiarism. Its not worth it!
We all know that one can google a homework question and in many cases find an easy response, but so can your teachers! Many teachers are aware that some students do this and catch their cheating students.
To read more about this go to the following link. Its a conversation between one such teacher from a respectable institution of learning and me: where she writes: ...I have had over 20 students copy your work in the past 3 months...
Understand that if you plagiarize you are cheating your instructors, your answerer, your fellow students, everyone who respects you... and ultimately yourself. Its just not worth it!
Please use our answers to help in your research, not to replace it.
Learn, don't cheat.
Experience Experience: A lifetime spent Reaching for the One.
I hold an MA in Religious Studies from JFKU. I hold three Christian ordinations. I hold a counseling ordination from the Interfaith Seminaries of Santa Cruz. I am an initiated Vaishnava bramana (Gopinath Gaudiya matha and ISKCON), have practical experience with many other branches Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Paganism, Wicca (Welsh Traditionalist mainly), Judaism and other traditions. I own and manage AllFaith.com
Question Hi, thank you very much for your useful website.
Could you please tell me who that Comforter in John 16:7.
Thank you again
God bless.
Answer Hi John,
Thanks, I like to be of help when I can.
That verse of course says: Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
The word Comforter here means basically the same as it does in English. One who gives comfort, who gives support etc. But consider the meaning of the word "him" (...I will send him unto you.) here:
According to Strong's:
Autos: 846 aujtovß Autos (ow-tos');
Word Origin: Greek,
from the particle au [perhaps akin to the base of (109) through the idea of a baffling wind] (backward)
himself, herself, themselves, itself
he, she, it
the same
The word is not a personal pronoun that references a "he" who is third Person of a Trinity, but more of a consciously directed gender nonspecific "It". We note the reference of the idea of a 'wind'. This Comforter therefore references the Mighty Wind described at Acts 2:2. It is the inspiring Wind of God, God's Spirit, not a individual being.
The disciples had been depending on the physical presence of their master, but Jesus tells them that now they must depend on the Spirit of God to lead them. This is the same idea John speaks of:
I John 2:26 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
The Spirit of God, as a Wind of Divine Inspiration, will lead those who are open to God's direction. That Holy presence is our comfort, our inspiration.
John 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit
